6:9 “‘If anyone dies very suddenly 4 beside him and he defiles 5 his consecrated head, 6 then he must shave his head on the day of his purification – on the seventh day he must shave it.
1 tn The word order is different in the Hebrew text: Do this…and they will live. Consequently, the verb “and they will live” is a perfect tense with a vav (ו) consecutive to express the future consequence of “doing this” for them.
2 tn The perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive continues the instruction for Aaron.
3 tn The distributive sense is obtained by the repetition, “a man” and “a man.”
4 tn The construction uses the imperfect tense followed by the infinitive absolute, יָמוּת מֵת (yamut met). Because the verb is in a conditional clause, the emphasis that is to be given through the infinitive must stress the contingency. The point is “if someone dies – unexpectedly.” The next words underscore the suddenness of this.
5 tn The verb is the Piel perfect with a vav (ו) consecutive; it continues the idea within the conditional clause.
6 sn The expression is figurative for the vow that he took; the figure is the metonymy because the reference to the head is a reference to the long hair that symbolizes the oath.
7 tn Heb “and take, a man, his censer.”
8 tn This verb and the following one are both perfect tenses with vav (ו) consecutives. Following the imperative they carry the same force, but in sequence.