Números 6

ARC · Chapter 6/36

1E fallou o Senhor a Moysés, dizendo:

2Falla aos filhos d'Israel, e dize-lhes: Quando um homem ou mulher se tiver separado, fazendo voto de nazireo, para se separar ao Senhor,

3De vinho e de bebida forte se apartará: vinagre de vinho, nem vinagre de bebida forte não beberá; nem beberá alguma beberagem d'uvas; nem uvas frescas nem seccas comerá.

4Todos os dias do seu nazireado não comerá de coisa alguma, que se faz da vinha, desde os caroços até ás cascas.

5Todos os dias do voto do seu nazireado sobre a sua cabeça não passará navalha: até que se cumpram os dias, que se separou ao Senhor, sancto será, deixando crescer as guedelhas do cabello da sua cabeça.

6Todos os dias que se separar ao Senhor não se chegará a corpo d'um morto.

7Por seu pae, ou por sua mãe, por seu irmão, ou por sua irmã, por elles se não contaminará, quando forem mortos; porquanto o nazireado do seu Deus está sobre a sua cabeça.

8Todos os dias do seu nazireado sancto será ao Senhor.

9E se o morto vier a morrer junto a elle por acaso, subitamente, que contaminasse a cabeça do seu nazireado, então no dia da sua purificação rapará a sua cabeça, e ao setimo dia a rapará.

10E ao oitavo dia trará duas rolas, ou dois pombinhos, ao sacerdote, á porta da tenda da congregação:

11E o sacerdote offerecerá um para expiação do peccado, e o outro para holocausto; e fará propiciação por elle, do que peccou no corpo morto: assim n'aquelle mesmo dia sanctificará a sua cabeça

12Então separará os dias do seu nazireado ao Senhor, e para expiação do trespasso trará um cordeiro d'um anno: e os dias antecedentes serão perdidos, porquanto o seu nazireado foi contaminado.

13E esta é a lei do nazireo: no dia em que se cumprirem os dias do seu nazireado, tral-o-hão á porta da tenda da congregação:

14E elle offerecerá a sua offerta ao Senhor, um cordeiro sem mancha d'um anno em holocausto, e uma cordeira sem mancha de um anno para expiação do peccado, e um carneiro sem mancha por offerta pacifica;

15E um cesto de bolos asmos, bolos de flor de farinha com azeite, amassados, e coscorões asmos untados com azeite, como tambem a sua offerta de manjares, e as suas libações.

16E o sacerdote os trará perante o Senhor, e sacrificará a sua expiação do peccado, e o seu holocausto:

17Tambem sacrificará o carneiro em sacrificio pacifico ao Senhor, com o cesto dos bolos asmos: e o sacerdote offerecerá a sua offerta de manjares, e a sua libação.

18Então o nazireo á porta da tenda da congregação rapará a cabeça do seu nazireado, e tomará o cabello da cabeça do seu nazireado, e o porá sobre o fogo que está debaixo do sacrificio pacifico.

19Depois o sacerdote tomará a espadua cozida do carneiro, e um bolo asmo do cesto, e um coscorão asmo, e os porá nas mãos do nazireo, depois de haver rapado o seu nazireado.

20E o sacerdote os moverá em offerta de movimento perante o Senhor; isto é sancto para o sacerdote, juntamente com o peito da offerta de movimento, e com a espadua da offerta alçada; e depois o nazireo beba vinho.

21Esta é a lei do nazireo, que fizer voto da sua offerta ao Senhor pelo seu nazireado, além do que alcançar a sua mão: segundo o seu voto, que fizer, assim fará conforme á lei do seu nazireado.

22E fallou o Senhor a Moysés, dizendo:

23Falla a Aarão, e a seus filhos, dizendo: Assim abençoareis os filhos d'Israel, dizendo-lhes:

24O Senhor te abençoe e te guarde:

25O Senhor faça resplandecer o seu rosto sobre ti, e tenha misericordia de ti:

26O Senhor sobre ti levante o seu rosto, e te dê a paz.

27Assim porão o meu nome sobre os filhos d'Israel, e eu os abençoarei.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

God institutes the Nazirite vow, by which men or women temporarily consecrated themselves to him, avoiding wine, haircuts, and contact with corpses. The chapter ends with the classic priestly blessing that Aaron was to pronounce over the people.

Explanation

The Nazirite vow was a voluntary, temporary vow of extraordinary dedication to God, open to any ordinary person (not only priests), showing that the pursuit of deeper consecration was not exclusive to a religious elite. The three signs — no wine, no haircuts, no contact with the dead — represented total separation from the distractions and impurities of everyday life for a set period. The priestly blessing that closes the chapter ('The Lord bless thee, and keep thee...') is one of the most repeated and beloved passages in the whole Bible, still used in Jewish and Christian worship today. The application for today: seasons of special consecration and intense seeking of God remain a valid and powerful spiritual practice.

Fun facts

  • Samson (Judges 13) and probably Samuel were Nazirites from birth, a lifelong vow made by their parents, unlike the temporary, voluntary vow described here in Numbers.
  • The priestly blessing (vv. 24-26) was found engraved on two small silver scrolls in Jerusalem, dated to around 600 BC — the oldest biblical text ever discovered archaeologically, confirming the extremely ancient use of these exact words.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Números 6:1The Lord speaks to Moses again, now to introduce the law of the Nazirite vow, a special and temporary commitment of dedication to God.
  2. Números 6:2Both men and women could make this vow of special separation to the Lord, called the Nazirite vow.
  3. Números 6:3Whoever took the Nazirite vow, man or woman, committed to drink no wine and nothing made from grapes, neither fresh nor dried, for the length of the vow. It was a way of setting oneself apart temporarily for special dedication to God, giving up something ordinary from everyday life as a sign of that commitment.
  4. Números 6:4For as long as the vow lasted, the Nazirite could consume absolutely nothing connected to grapes: not seeds, not skin, nothing that came from the vine.
  5. Números 6:5He also could not cut his hair for the whole time of the vow; letting the hair grow freely was, in practice, the visible sign that the person was set apart for God.
  6. Números 6:6For as long as the vow lasted, the Nazirite could not go near a dead body, not even that of a close relative, because that would break the state of purity the vow required. If this happened accidentally, the whole vow had to start over, as the following verses show.
  7. Números 6:7Even if his father, mother, brother, or sister died, the Nazirite could not go near the body, because the dedication to God, symbolized in the hair, took priority over that mourning.
  8. Números 6:8Throughout that whole period, the person was considered holy, that is, set apart specifically for the Lord.
  9. Números 6:9If someone died suddenly right next to the Nazirite, unintentionally defiling his state of separation, he had to shave his head on the seventh day as part of the purification.
  10. Números 6:10On the eighth day after this accidental defilement, the Nazirite would bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest, at the entrance of the tent of the congregation.
  11. Números 6:11The priest would offer one bird for the atonement of sin and the other as a burnt offering, making atonement for the unwanted contact with death, and the Nazirite’s separation was restarted that very day.
  12. Números 6:12The person had to start the days of the vow over from zero, also bringing a lamb as a guilt offering; all the time already completed before the defilement was lost.
  13. Números 6:13Here begins the description of how a Nazirite vow officially ended, when completed without interruption: the person was brought to the entrance of the tent of the congregation.
  14. Números 6:14To close out the vow, the Nazirite would offer a lamb without blemish as a burnt offering, an ewe lamb without blemish for sin, and a ram as a peace offering.
  15. Números 6:15Along with the animals came unleavened cakes and wafers as well, made with fine flour and oil, plus the grain offering and the customary drink offerings.
  16. Números 6:16The priest would present all of this before the Lord, sacrificing first the sin offering and then the burnt offering.
  17. Números 6:17Next, the priest would sacrifice the ram as a peace offering, along with the unleavened cakes, the grain offering, and the drink offering.
  18. Números 6:18When the period of the vow ended, the Nazirite would shave off the hair he had let grow throughout that whole time and burn it together with the peace offering. This gesture marked the formal end of the special separation and the return to normal life.
  19. Números 6:19After the Nazirite shaved his head, the priest would place in his hands the boiled shoulder of the ram, an unleavened cake, and an unleavened wafer.
  20. Números 6:20The priest would wave these portions as an offering presented to the Lord; from that moment on, with the ritual finished, the Nazirite could finally drink wine again.
  21. Números 6:21This sums up the law of the Nazirite: each person fulfilled the vow as promised, including any extra offering he could afford beyond what was required.
  22. Números 6:22The Lord speaks to Moses once more, changing subject to something quite different: the official formula for the priestly blessing.
  23. Números 6:23The instruction is directed to Aaron and his sons: they are the ones responsible for pronouncing this specific blessing over the people of Israel.
  24. Números 6:24This is the blessing the priests were to pronounce over the people, word for word, as a fixed formula. It asks for protection, God’s favor, and peace, and for a long time afterward it went on being used as a formal blessing in religious settings.
  25. Números 6:25The second part of the blessing asks that the Lord’s face shine upon the person and that He be gracious to her — a poetic way of asking for divine favor and kindness.
  26. Números 6:26The third part closes by asking that the Lord turn His face toward the person and give her peace, completing the three-part blessing begun in the previous verse.
  27. Números 6:27In pronouncing this blessing, the priests were, in effect, placing God’s name on the people; but it is the Lord Himself who guarantees that the blessing actually comes to pass.

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