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Numbers 6

KJV · Chapter 6/36

1And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

2Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the Lord:

3He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried.

4All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk.

5All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the Lord, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow.

6All the days that he separateth himself unto the Lord he shall come at no dead body.

7He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother, for his brother, or for his sister, when they die: because the consecration of his God is upon his head.

8All the days of his separation he is holy unto the Lord.

9And if any man die very suddenly by him, and he hath defiled the head of his consecration; then he shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing, on the seventh day shall he shave it.

10And on the eighth day he shall bring two turtles, or two young pigeons, to the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation:

11And the priest shall offer the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, and make an atonement for him, for that he sinned by the dead, and shall hallow his head that same day.

12And he shall consecrate unto the Lord the days of his separation, and shall bring a lamb of the first year for a trespass offering: but the days that were before shall be lost, because his separation was defiled.

13And this is the law of the Nazarite, when the days of his separation are fulfilled: he shall be brought unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation:

14And he shall offer his offering unto the Lord, one he lamb of the first year without blemish for a burnt offering, and one ewe lamb of the first year without blemish for a sin offering, and one ram without blemish for peace offerings,

15And a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, and wafers of unleavened bread anointed with oil, and their meat offering, and their drink offerings.

16And the priest shall bring them before the Lord, and shall offer his sin offering, and his burnt offering:

17And he shall offer the ram for a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the Lord, with the basket of unleavened bread: the priest shall offer also his meat offering, and his drink offering.

18And the Nazarite shall shave the head of his separation at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall take the hair of the head of his separation, and put it in the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace offerings.

19And the priest shall take the sodden shoulder of the ram, and one unleavened cake out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them upon the hands of the Nazarite, after the hair of his separation is shaven:

20And the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the Lord: this is holy for the priest, with the wave breast and heave shoulder: and after that the Nazarite may drink wine.

21This is the law of the Nazarite who hath vowed, and of his offering unto the Lord for his separation, beside that that his hand shall get: according to the vow which he vowed, so he must do after the law of his separation.

22And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

23Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them,

24The Lord bless thee, and keep thee:

25The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:

26The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

27And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.

📖 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. Numbers 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. Numbers 6:2Both men and women could make this vow of special separation to the Lord, called the Nazirite vow.
  3. Numbers 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. Numbers 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. Numbers 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. Numbers 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. Numbers 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. Numbers 6:8Throughout that whole period, the person was considered holy, that is, set apart specifically for the Lord.
  9. Numbers 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. Numbers 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. Numbers 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. Numbers 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. Numbers 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. Numbers 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. Numbers 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. Numbers 6:16The priest would present all of this before the Lord, sacrificing first the sin offering and then the burnt offering.
  17. Numbers 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. Numbers 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. Numbers 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. Numbers 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. Numbers 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. Numbers 6:22The Lord speaks to Moses once more, changing subject to something quite different: the official formula for the priestly blessing.
  23. Numbers 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. Numbers 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. Numbers 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. Numbers 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. Numbers 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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