Lectionary Calendar
Monday, September 15th, 2025
the Week of Proper 19 / Ordinary 24
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Read the Bible

New Century Version

Numbers 6:8

While they are Nazirites, they belong to the Lord in a special way.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Fraternity;   Nazarite;   Scofield Reference Index - Separation;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Nazarites;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Nazarite;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Nazirite;   Priest;   Samson;   Vow;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Abstain, Abstinence;   Consecrate;   Priest, Priesthood;   Easton Bible Dictionary - John the Baptist;   Nazarite;   Samson;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - John the Baptist;   Pentateuch;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Birds of Abomination;   Consecration;   Hair;   Nazirite;   Sanctification;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Clean and Unclean;   Nazirite;   Numbers, Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Nazirite;   Vote;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Nazarite ;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Nazarene;   Nazarites;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Propitiation;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Naz'arite,;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Samuel the Prophet;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Corpse;   Hair;   Nazirite;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Blessing, Priestly;   Mishnah;   Nazarite;   Nazir;   Priestly Code;  

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
All the days of his separation he is holy to the LORD.
King James Version
All the days of his separation he is holy unto the Lord .
Lexham English Bible
He will be holy for Yahweh all the days of his separation.
New English Translation
All the days of his separation he must be holy to the Lord .
Amplified Bible
'All the time of his separation he is holy to the LORD.
New American Standard Bible
'All the days of his consecration he is holy to the LORD.
Geneva Bible (1587)
All the dayes of his separation he shalbe holy to the Lord.
Legacy Standard Bible
All the days of his Nazirite vow he is holy to Yahweh.
Complete Jewish Bible
Throughout the time of his being a nazir he is holy for Adonai .
Darby Translation
All the days of his separation he is holy to Jehovah.
Easy-to-Read Version
It is holy because you have given yourself fully to the Lord for the full time of that dedication.
English Standard Version
All the days of his separation he is holy to the Lord .
George Lamsa Translation
All the days of his separation he is holy unto the LORD.
Good News Translation
As long as you are a nazirite, you are consecrated to the Lord .
Christian Standard Bible®
He is holy to the Lord during the time of consecration.
Literal Translation
All the days of his separation he shall be holy to Jehovah.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
and ye whole tyme of his abstinence shall he be holy vnto the LORDE.
American Standard Version
All the days of his separation he is holy unto Jehovah.
Bible in Basic English
All the time he is separate he is holy to the Lord.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
All the dayes of his seperation, he is holy vnto the Lorde.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
All the days of his Naziriteship he is holy unto the LORD.
King James Version (1611)
All the dayes of his separation he is holy vnto the Lord.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
All the days of his vow he shall be holy to the Lord.
English Revised Version
All the days of his separation he is holy unto the LORD.
Berean Standard Bible
Throughout the time of his separation, he is holy to the LORD.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
ech dai of his departyng schal be hooli to the Lord.
Young's Literal Translation
all days of his separation he [is] holy to Jehovah.
Update Bible Version
All the days of his separation he is holy to Yahweh.
Webster's Bible Translation
All the days of his separation he [is] holy to the LORD.
World English Bible
All the days of his separation he is holy to Yahweh.
New King James Version
All the days of his separation he shall be holy to the LORD.
New Living Translation
This requirement applies as long as they are set apart to the Lord .
New Life Bible
He is holy to the Lord all the days he is set apart.
New Revised Standard
All their days as nazirites they are holy to the Lord .
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
All his days of separation hallowed, is he unto Yahweh.
Douay-Rheims Bible
All the days of his separation he shall be holy to the Lord.
Revised Standard Version
All the days of his separation he is holy to the LORD.
THE MESSAGE
"For the entire duration of your consecration you are holy to God .
New American Standard Bible (1995)
'All the days of his separation he is holy to the LORD.

Contextual Overview

1 The Lord said to Moses, 2 "Tell the Israelites: ‘If men or women want to promise to belong to the Lord in a special way, they will be called Nazirites. 3 During this time, they must not drink wine or beer, or vinegar made from wine or beer. They must not even drink grape juice or eat grapes or raisins. 4 While they are Nazirites, they must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, even the seeds or the skin. 5 "‘During the time they have promised to belong to the Lord , they must not cut their hair. They must be holy until this special time is over. They must let their hair grow long. 6 During their special time of belonging to the Lord , Nazirites must not go near a dead body. 7 Even if their own father, mother, brother, or sister dies, they must not touch them, or they will become unclean. They must still keep their promise to belong to God in a special way. 8 While they are Nazirites, they belong to the Lord in a special way. 9 "‘If they are next to someone who dies suddenly, their hair, which was part of their promise, has been made unclean. So they must shave their head seven days later to be clean. 10 Then on the eighth day, they must bring two doves or two young pigeons to the priest at the entrance to the Meeting Tent.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

2 Corinthians 6:17, 2 Corinthians 6:18

Reciprocal: Numbers 6:4 - separation

Cross-References

Genesis 6:12
When God saw that everyone on the earth did only evil,
Genesis 6:17
I will bring a flood of water on the earth to destroy all living things that live under the sky, including everything that has the breath of life. Everything on the earth will die.
Genesis 19:19
You have been merciful and kind to me and have saved my life. But I can't run to the mountains. The disaster will catch me, and I will die.
Psalms 84:11
The Lord God is like a sun and shield; the Lord gives us kindness and honor. He does not hold back anything good from those whose lives are innocent.
Psalms 145:20
The Lord protects everyone who loves him, but he will destroy the wicked.
Proverbs 3:4
Then you will be respected and will please both God and people.
Proverbs 8:35
Those who find me find life, and the Lord will be pleased with them.
Proverbs 12:2
The Lord is pleased with a good person, but he will punish anyone who plans evil.
Jeremiah 31:2
This is what the Lord says: "The people who were not killed by the enemy's sword found help in the desert. I came to give rest to Israel."
Luke 1:30
The angel said to her, "Don't be afraid, Mary; God has shown you his grace.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

All the days of his separation he [is] holy unto the Lord. Set apart for his service, separate from all others, especially the dead, and under obligation to abstain from the above things; from drinking wine, from shaving his hair, and from defiling himself for the dead, and to be employed in holy and religious exercises during the time his vow is upon him.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The law of the Nazarite is appropriately added to other enactments which concern the sanctity of the holy nation. That sanctity found its highest expression in the Nazarite vow, which was the voluntary adoption for a time of obligations to high and strict modes of self-dedication resembling, and indeed in some particulars exceeding, those under which the priests were placed. The present enactments do not institute a new kind of observance, but only regulate one already familiar to the Israelites Numbers 6:2.

Numbers 6:2

A Nazarite - Strictly, Nazirite. This term signifies “separated” i. e., as the words following show, “unto God.” It became a technical term at an early date; compare Judges 13:5, Judges 13:7; Judges 16:17.

Numbers 6:3

Liquor of grapes - i. e. a drink made of grape-skins macerated in water.

Numbers 6:4

From the kernels even to the husk - A sour drink was made from the stones of unripe grapes; and cakes were also made of the husks Hosea 3:1. This interdict figures that separation from the general society of men to which the Nazarite for the time was consecrated.

Numbers 6:5

Among the Jews the abundance of the hair was considered to betoken physical strength and perfection (compare 2 Samuel 14:25-26), and baldness was regarded as a grave blemish (compare Leviticus 21:20 note, Leviticus 13:40 ff; 2 Kings 2:23; Isaiah 3:24). Thus, the free growth of the hair on the head of the Nazarite represented the dedication of the man with all his strength and powers to the service of God.

Numbers 6:7

The consecration of his God - i. e. the unshorn locks: compare Leviticus 25:5 note, where the vine, left during the Sabbatical year untouched by the hand of man, either for pruning or for vintage, is called simply a “Nazarite.”

The third rule of the Nazarite interdicted him from contracting any ceremonial defilement even under circumstances which excused such defilement in others: compare Leviticus 21:1-3.

Numbers 6:9-12

Prescriptions to meet the case of a sudden death taking place “by him” (i. e. in his presence). The days of the dedication of the Nazarite had to be recommenced.

Numbers 6:13

When the days of his separation are fulfilled - Perpetual Nazariteship was probably unknown in the days of Moses; but the examples of Samson, Samuel, and John the Baptist, show that it was in later times undertaken for life. Again, Moses does not expressly require that limits should be assigned to the vow; but a rule was afterward imposed that no Nazarite vow should be taken for less than thirty days. To permit the vow to be taken for very short periods would diminish its solemnity and estimation.

Numbers 6:14, Numbers 6:15

The sin-offering (compare the marginal references), though named second, was in practice offered first, being intended to expiate involuntary sins committed during the period of separation. The burnt-offering (Leviticus 1:10 ff) denoted the self-surrender on which alone all acceptableness in the Nazarite before God must rest; the peace-offerings (Leviticus 3:12 ff) expressed thankfulness to God by whose grace the vow had been fulfilled. The offerings, both ordinary and additional, required on the completion of the Nazarite vow involved considerable expense, and it was regarded as a pious work to provide the poor with the means of making them (compare Acts 21:23 ff; Acts 1:0 Macc. 3:49).

Numbers 6:18

Shave the head - As the Nazarite had during his vow worn his hair unshorn in honor of God, so when the time was complete it was natural that the hair, the symbol of his vow, should be cut off, and offered to God at the sanctuary. The burning of the hair “in the fire under the sacrifice of the peace offering “represented the eucharistic communion with God obtained by those who realised the ideal which the Nazarite set forth (compare the marginal reference).

Numbers 6:20

The priest shall wave them - i. e. by placing his hands under those of the Nazarite: compare Leviticus 7:30.

Numbers 6:21

Beside that that his hand shall get - The Nazarite, in addition to the offerings prescribed above, was to present free-will offerings according to his possessions or means.


 
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