Numbers 6:5

6:5 “‘All the days of the vow ¹  of his separation no razor may be used on his head ²  until the time ³  is fulfilled for which he separated himself to the Lord. He will be holy, ⁴  and he must let ⁵  the locks of hair on his head grow long.

Numbers 6:21

6:21 “This is the law ⁶  of the Nazirite who vows to the Lord his offering according to his separation, as well as whatever else he can provide. ⁷  Thus he must fulfill ⁸  his vow that he makes, according to the law of his separation.”

Numbers 19:12

19:12 He must purify himself ⁹  with water on the third day and on the seventh day, and so will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third day and the seventh day, then he will not be clean.

Numbers 19:19

19:19 And the clean person must sprinkle the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day; and on the seventh day he must purify him, ¹⁰  and then he must wash his clothes, and bathe in water, and he will be clean in the evening.

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¹ tc The parallel expression in v. 8 (“all the days of his separation”) lacks the word “vow.” This word is also absent in v. 5 in a few medieval Hebrew manuscripts. The presence of the word in v. 5 may be due to dittography.

² sn There is an interesting parallel between this prohibition and the planting of trees. They could not be pruned or trimmed for three years, but allowed to grow free (Lev 20:23). Only then could the tree be cut and the fruit eaten. The natural condition was to be a sign that it was the Lord’s. It was to be undisturbed by humans. Since the Nazirite was to be consecrated to the Lord, that meant his whole person, hair included. In the pagan world the trimming of the beard and the cutting of the hair was often a sign of devotion to some deity.

³ tn Heb “days.”

⁴ tn The word “holy” here has the sense of distinct, different, set apart.

⁵ tn The Piel infinitive absolute functions as a verb in this passage; the Piel carries the sense of “grow lengthy” or “let grow long.”

⁶ tn Actually, “law” here means a whole set of laws, the basic rulings on this topic.

⁷ tn Heb “whatever else his hand is able to provide.” The imperfect tense has the nuance of potential imperfect – “whatever he can provide.”

⁸ tn Heb “according to the vow that he vows, so he must do.”

⁹ tn The verb is the Hitpael of חָטָא (khata’), a verb that normally means “to sin.” But the Piel idea in many places is “to cleanse; to purify.” This may be explained as a privative use (“to un-sin” someone, meaning cleanse) or denominative (“make a sin offering for someone”). It is surely connected to the purification offering, and so a sense of purify is what is wanted here.

¹⁰ tn The construction uses a simple Piel of חָטָא (khata’, “to purify”) with a pronominal suffix – “he shall purify him.” Some commentators take this to mean that after he sprinkles the unclean then he must purify himself. But that would not be the most natural way to read this form.