Discovery BoxNumbers 6:10-21 
Context6:10 On the eighth day he is to bring 1 two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest, to the entrance to the tent of meeting. 6:11 Then the priest will offer one for a purification offering 2 and the other 3 as a burnt offering, 4 and make atonement 5 for him, because of his transgression 6 in regard to the corpse. So he must reconsecrate 7 his head on that day. 6:12 He must rededicate 8 to the Lord the days of his separation and bring a male lamb in its first year as a reparation offering, 9 but the former days will not be counted 10 because his separation 11 was defiled.
6:13 “‘Now this is the law of the Nazirite: When the days of his separation are fulfilled, he must be brought 12 to the entrance of the tent of meeting, 6:14 and he must present his offering 13 to the Lord: one male lamb in its first year without blemish for a burnt offering, one ewe lamb in its first year without blemish for a purification offering, one ram without blemish for a peace offering, 14 6:15 and a basket of bread made without yeast, cakes of fine flour mixed with olive oil, wafers made without yeast and smeared with olive oil, and their 15 grain offering and their drink offerings. 16
6:16 “‘Then the priest must present all these 17 before the Lord and offer 18 his purification offering and his burnt offering. 6:17 Then he must offer the ram as a peace offering 19 to the Lord, with the basket of bread made without yeast; the priest must also offer his grain offering and his drink offering.
6:18 “‘Then the Nazirite must shave his consecrated head 20 at the entrance to the tent of meeting and must take the hair from his consecrated head and put it on the fire 21 where the peace offering is burning. 22 6:19 And the priest must take the boiled shoulder of the ram, one cake made without yeast from the basket, and one wafer made without yeast, and put them on the hands of the Nazirite after he has shaved his consecrated head; 23 6:20 then the priest must wave them as a wave offering 24 before the Lord; it is a holy portion for the priest, together with the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the raised offering. 25 After this the Nazirite may drink 26 wine.’
6:21 “This is the law 27 of the Nazirite who vows to the Lord his offering according to his separation, as well as whatever else he can provide. 28 Thus he must fulfill 29 his vow that he makes, according to the law of his separation.”
1 tn The imperfect tense in this verse is still instructional rather than a simple future. The translations can vary, but the point that it is directive must be caught.
2 tn The traditional translation of חַטָּאת (khatta’t) is “sin offering,” but it is more precise to render it “purification offering” (as with the other names of sacrifices) to show the outcome, not the cause of the offering (see Lev 4). Besides, this offering was made for ritual defilements (for which no confession was required) as well as certain sins (for which a confession of sin was required). This offering restored the person to the ritual state of purity by purifying the area into which he would be going.
3 tn The repetition of “the one…and the one” forms the distributive sense of “the one…and the other.”
4 tn The burnt offering (Lev 1) reflects the essence of atonement: By this sacrifice the worshiper was completely surrendering to God, and God was completely accepting the worshiper.
5 tn The verb וְכִפֶּר (vÿkhipper) is the Piel perfect with vav (ו) consecutive. The meaning of the verb is “to expiate, pacify, atone.” It refers to the complete removal of the barrier of fellowship between the person and God, and the total acceptance of that person into his presence. The idea of “to cover,” often linked to this meaning, is derived from a homonym, and not from this word and its usage.
6 tn The verb “to sin” has a wide range of meanings, beginning with the idea of “missing the way or the goal.” In view of the nature of this case – the prescribed ritual without confession – the idea is more that he failed to keep the vow’s stipulations in this strange circumstance than that he committed intentional sin.
7 tn The verb simply means “to consecrate,” but because it refers to a vow that was interrupted, it must here mean to “reconsecrate.”
8 tn The same idea is to be found now in the use of the word נָזַר (nazar), which refers to a recommitment after the vow was interrupted.
9 tn The necessity of bringing the reparation offering was due to the reinstatement into the vow that had been interrupted.
10 tn Heb “will fall”; KJV “shall be lost”; ASV, NASB, NRSV “shall be void.”
11 tc The similar expression in v. 9 includes the word “head” (i.e., “his consecrated head”). The LXX includes this word in v. 12 as well.
12 tn The Hebrew text has “he/one shall bring him”; since there is no expressed subject, this verb should be taken in the passive sense – “he shall be brought.” Since the context suggests an obligatory nuance, the translation “he must be brought” has been used. Some scholars solve the problem by emending the Hebrew text here, but there is no manuscript evidence to support the emendation.
13 tn Heb “he shall offer his offering” – the object is a cognate accusative.
14 sn The peace offering שְׁלָמִים (shÿlamim) is instructed in Lev 3 and 7. The form is always in the plural. It was a sacrifice that celebrated the fact that the worshiper was at peace with God, and was not offered in order to make peace with God. The peace offering was essentially a communal meal in the presence of God. Some have tried to equate this offering with similar sounding names in Akkadian and Ugaritic (see B. A. Levine, In the Presence of the
15 tn The suffixes in the MT are plural in this verse, whereas in v. 17 they are singular. This seems to be a matter of stylistic choice, referring to whomever may be taking the vow.
16 sn The offerings for the termination of the Nazirite vow would not have been inexpensive. This indicates that the person making the short term vow may have had income, or have come from a wealthier section of society. Short term vows had to be considered carefully as this ruling required a good amount of food to be brought.
17 tn “all these” is supplied as the object.
18 tn Heb “make.”
19 tn The “peace offering” is usually written as “a sacrifice of peace” (זֶבַח שְׁלָמִים, zevakh shÿlamim). The word “sacrifice” is related to the word “to slaughter,” and so indicates that this is a bloody offering in celebration of peace with God.
20 tn Some versions simply interpret this to say that he shaves his hair, for it is the hair that is the sign of the consecration to God. But the text says he shaves his consecrated head. The whole person is obviously consecrated to God – not just the head. But the symbolic act of cutting the hair shows that the vow has been completed (see Acts 21:23-24). The understanding of the importance of the hair in the ancient world has been the subject of considerable study over the years (see R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 436; and J. A. Thompson, “Numbers,” New Bible Commentary: Revised, 177).
21 sn Some commentators see this burning of the hair as an offering (McNeile, Numbers, 35; G. B. Gray, Numbers [ICC], 68). But others probably with more foundation see it as destroying something that has served a purpose, something that if left alone might be venerated (see R. de Vaux, Israel, 436).
22 tn Heb “which is under the peace offering.” The verse does not mean that the hair had to be put under that sacrifice and directly on the fire.
23 tn The line does not include the word “head”; it literally has “after the consecrating of himself his consecrated [head].” The infinitive construct is here functioning in the temporal clause with the suffix as the subject and the object following.
24 sn The ritual of lifting the hands filled with the offering and waving them in the presence of the
25 sn The “wave offering” may be interpreted as a “special gift” to be transferred to the
26 tn The imperfect tense here would then have the nuance of permission. It is not an instruction at this point; rather, the prohibition has been lifted and the person is free to drink wine.
27 tn Actually, “law” here means a whole set of laws, the basic rulings on this topic.
28 tn Heb “whatever else his hand is able to provide.” The imperfect tense has the nuance of potential imperfect – “whatever he can provide.”
29 tn Heb “according to the vow that he vows, so he must do.”
