Having (probably!) dealt with the orgiastic rites of the moon-goddess in the previous chapter (but converted later into a self-contradictory law about men who suspect their wives of adultery but have no proof), by providing the means to purge those who have participated (and endorsing the conviction that this is what those last verses were about), the text now moves on to "this is what we, the Beney Yisra-El, do, instead of all those pagan obscenities, to dedicate ourselves, body as well as soul, to the deity": the laws of Nazirut.
See also, Genesis 49:26; Leviticus 15:31; Leviticus 22:2; Leviticus 25:5...
6:1 VA YEDABER YHVH EL MOSHEH LEMOR
וַיְדַבֵּר יְהוָה אֶל מֹשֶׁה לֵּאמֹר
KJ (King James translation): And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
BN (BibleNet translation): Then YHVH spoke to Mosheh, saying:
6:2 DABER EL BENEY YISRA-EL VE AMARTA ALEYHEM ISH O ISHAH KI YAPHLI LINDOR NEDER NAZIR LEHAZIR LA YHVH
דַּבֵּר אֶל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם אִישׁ אוֹ אִשָּׁה כִּי יַפְלִא לִנְדֹּר נֶדֶר נָזִיר לְהַזִּיר לַיהוָה
KJ: Speak 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:
BN: Speak to the Beney Yisra-El, and say to them: When either a man or a woman shall clearly utter a vow, the vow of a Nazir, to consecrate themselves to YHVH...
YAPHLI: The root is PAL'A (פלא), which has the sense of something different, but different because challenging, something that elevates and exalts the human, though the word is also used for the divine. See for example Exodus 15:11 - which is a central verse in today's liturgy - and a very famous usage in Isaiah 28:29 (for the usage, click here); or Psalm 77:12, 118:23 and 139:14... many others.
LINDOR...NEDER: Literally "to take the pledge".
Note that a woman can be a NAZIRAH as well as a man.
6:3 MI YAYIN VE SHECHER YAZIR CHOMETS YAYIN VE CHOMETS SHECHER LO YISHTEH VE CHOL MISHRAT ANAVIM LO YISHTEH VA ANAVIM LACHIM VIYEVESHIM LO YOCHEL
מִיַּיִן וְשֵׁכָר יַזִּיר חֹמֶץ יַיִן וְחֹמֶץ שֵׁכָר לֹא יִשְׁתֶּה וְכָל מִשְׁרַת עֲנָבִים לֹא יִשְׁתֶּה וַעֲנָבִים לַחִים וִיבֵשִׁים לֹא יֹאכֵל
KJ: He 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.
BN: He shall abstain from wine and strong drink: he shall drink no grape alcohol, nor any alcohol made of spirits, nor shall he drink any liqueur made from grapes, nor eat fresh grapes or dried.
MI YAYIN VE SHECHER: This sounds odd to us moderns, because surely wine (yayin) is a strong drink (shecher); shichur, or shicker in Yiddish, comes from the latter, and means "drunk". But in Biblical times the wine was watered down, and grape-wine was mostly used for religious purposes, honey-wine (mead) being preferred for social occasions. MISHRAT ANAVIM distils the grape (or just the pomae) rather than fermenting it, and was probably an early form of either Grapa or Brandy, rather than of Burgundy or Pinot Noir; click here for a fuller explanation.
CHOMETS: note the similarity with CHAMETS. The translation as "vinegar" doesn't work, not because it is linguistically incorrect (it isn't) but because culturally it changes meaning: the suggestion becomes more about "plonk" than mistaking it for balsamic salad dressing. The point about the chamets is the yeast, which ferments the grape juice, turning it into alcohol. So the Nazir vow becomes connected with Passover, which is the opening of the Lenten season in Christianity, and quite likely was of the same order in the ancient world too.
Refraining from alcohol is the norm of ascetic retreats, but why must he also abstain from fresh and dry grapes? Presumably the ancients believed the alcohol was already present before fermentation or distillation.
6:4 KOL YEMEY NIZRO MI KOL ASHER YE'ASEH MI GEPHEN HA YAYIN ME CHARTSANIM VA AD ZAG LO YOCHEL
כֹּל יְמֵי נִזְרוֹ מִכֹּל אֲשֶׁר יֵעָשֶׂה מִגֶּפֶן הַיַּיִן מֵחַרְצַנִּים וְעַד זָג לֹא יֹאכֵל
KJ: All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk.
BN: All the days of his Nazirut he shall eat nothing that is made from the grape-vine, from the pressed grapes even to the grapestone.
Who eats the grapestones anyway?
6:5 KOL YEMEY NEDER NIZRO TA'AR LO YA'AVOR AL ROSHO AD MEL'OT HA YAMIM ASHER YAZIR LA YHVH KADOSH YIHEYEH GADEL PERA SE'AR ROSHO
כָּל יְמֵי נֶדֶר נִזְרוֹ תַּעַר לֹא יַעֲבֹר עַל רֹאשׁוֹ עַד מְלֹאת הַיָּמִם אֲשֶׁר יַזִּיר לַיהוָה קָדֹשׁ יִהְיֶה גַּדֵּל פֶּרַע שְׂעַר רֹאשׁוֹ
KJ: All 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.
BN: Throughout the days of his vow of Nazirut no razor shall come upon his head; until the period of retreat is finished; during that time, while he is dedicating himself to YHVH, he shall remain pure, he shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow long.
Note that the practice is not being introduced here, but only its detail defined; we can assume then that the practice already existed and was familiar to the Beney Yisra-El; though of course, if the book was not in fact written until centuries after Mosheh, it may have been familiar to contemporaries of the period of writing, but still not to Mosheh. I mention this only because long hair was very unusual in ancient Mitsrayim (Egypt) for men, though normal for women.
And why grow your hair long? Was the issue the not-cutting, or the having of the long hair? Cutting is one of the 39 Melachot, the activities forbidden on the Sabbath, so not-cutting as part of a holy period makes sense. At the same time, we know the importance of long hair from the story of Shimshon and Delilah, where his long hair connects him to the sun (the name Shimshon means "the sun"); traditional imagery of Shimshon draws his long hair as though they were the sun's rays (the "seven locks" of Judges 16:13 and 16:19 provide the source of this), and it is precisely the cutting of his hair that takes away his power. The key verse in that story is 16:17, where Shimshon tells Delilah: "No razor has ever been used on my head... because I have been a Nazir dedicated to Elohim from my mother's womb. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man". But in fact this seems to place greater emphasis on the not-cutting than on the hair itself, and Numbers 6:18 (below) also emphasises this, by giving the hair up as part of the ceremonial post-Nazirut sacrifices, and with the cutting and shaving of the head to ensure the full harvest is removed made part of the ceremony.
Further to the discussion in the previous chapter (cf verses 15, 18, and 26-29), I pointed out as one of the key explainers the fact that her sacrifice was a MINCHAT HA ZIKARON, a "memorial offering", a permanent "plaque" - so to speak - to record her dedication to the goddess. Precisely the same happens here with the giving of the hair when it is cut; it too becomes a "memorial offering"; and of course dedicating oneself as a hierodule has the same high religious sanctity as committing oneself to Nazirut, and therefore adds further weight to my speculation in chapter 5.
6:6 KOL YEMEY HAZIRO LA YHVH AL NEPHESH MET LO YAV'O
כָּל יְמֵי הַזִּירוֹ לַיהוָה עַל נֶפֶשׁ מֵת לֹא יָבֹא
KJ: All the days that he separateth himself unto the LORD he shall come at no dead body.
BN: During the days in which he consecrates himself to YHVH he shall have no contact with a dead body.
Because it would render him unclean (cf Numbers 19:11).
6:7 LE AVIV U LE IMO LE ACHIV U LE ACHOTO LO YITAMA LAHEM BE MOTAM KI NEZER ELOHAV AL ROSHO
לְאָבִיו וּלְאִמּוֹ לְאָחִיו וּלְאַחֹתוֹ לֹא יִטַּמָּא לָהֶם בְּמֹתָם כִּי נֵזֶר אֱלֹהָיו עַל רֹאשׁוֹ
KJ: He 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.
BN: He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother, for his brother, or for his sister, when they die; because his consecration to his god is is his primary responsibility.
ELOHAV: Note the term, in place of the regular YHVH, though YHVH is restored in the next verse.
AL ROSHO: Is the play on words deliberate? On the one hand, it is on his head as his responsibility, on the other as his hair.
Does this verse now alter our understanding of Leviticus 10? There, Mosheh forbade Aharon to mourn for his sons, Avi-Hu and Nadav, when they died taking "strange fire" from the altar. At the time it seemed cruel, though this was mitigated somewhat later on. But Mosheh's reason, given in 10:3, was that Aharon as Kohen Gadol represents the holiness of YHVH, and therefore must remain holy in all things and at all times: a state of permanent Nazirut which the next verse here will now endorse.
6:8 KOL YEMEY NIZRO KADOSH HU LA YHVH
כֹּל יְמֵי נִזְרוֹ קָדֹשׁ הוּא לַיהוָה
KJ: All the days of his separation he is holy unto the LORD.
BN: All the days of his Nazirut he is holy to YHVH.
6:9 VE CHI YAMUT MET ALAV BE PET'A PIT'OM VE TIM'E ROSH NIZRO VE GILACH ROSHO BE YOM TAHARATO BA YOM HA SHEVIYI YEGALCHENU
וְכִי יָמוּת מֵת עָלָיו בְּפֶתַע פִּתְאֹם וְטִמֵּא רֹאשׁ נִזְרוֹ וְגִלַּח רֹאשׁוֹ בְּיוֹם טָהֳרָתוֹ בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי יְגַלְּחֶנּוּ
KJ: And 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.
BN: And if a man should suddenly fall down dead beside him, and he defiles his consecrated head, then he shall shave his head on the day that he is ritually cleansed; on the seventh day he shall shave it.
Once again the act of shaving the head appears to be more important than the having of long hair - and with that, the suggestion that growing the hair is precisely for the purpose of having much more to shave, and offer up. And yet, in every commentary since Talmudic times, Jewish and non-Jewish, religious and secular, it is the long hair and not the not-cutting which is pointed out, and always making the connection with the sun-god, and the hair as a representation of the rays of the sun casting their light on the earth. Why is this? I think it is a way of recognising, without having to fully acknowledge it, that YHVH was himself a sun-god (as we shall confirm from the Yevarechecha later in this chapter), while his original consort - Sarai/Sarah to his Av-Ram/Av-Raham most likely in the earliest Beney Yisra-El myths, Lilit to his Adam in the Edomite version, Delilah to his Shimshon in this Danite tale - was the moon-goddess, and that - this is the problematic part for both religions - they participated together, and equally, in the creation of Creation, because all Nature requires a male and female contribution... but both religions, being avowedly patriarchal, needed to remove or at least reduce ("exemption" transformed into "exclusion") the role of the female. But the original laws, the ones being given here, state very clearly the male-female equality (verse 2), as does the Shimshon-Delilah story, where his power is only by day, and hers, always and unchallengeably, by night.
BA YOM TAHARATO: It is not stated, but I think we can assume that this ritual cleansing is the act of bathing in the Mikveh.
6:10 U VA YOM HA SHEMINI YAVI SHTEY TORIM O SHNEY BENEY YONAH EL HA KOHEN EL PETACH OHEL MO'ED
וּבַיּוֹם הַשְּׁמִינִי יָבִא שְׁתֵּי תֹרִים אוֹ שְׁנֵי בְּנֵי יוֹנָה אֶל הַכֹּהֵן אֶל פֶּתַח אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד
KJ: And 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:
BN: And on the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, to the Kohen, to the door of the Tent of Meeting.
The irony of this in the context is inexorable - these were the principal symbols of the moon goddess in all the ancient cults, from Egypt to Babylon...
6:11 VE ASAH HA KOHEN ECHAD LE CHAT'AT VE ECHAD LE OLAH VE CHIPER ALAV MEY ASHER CHAT'A AL HA NEPHESH VE KIDASH ET ROSHO BA YOM HA HU
וְעָשָׂה הַכֹּהֵן אֶחָד לְחַטָּאת וְאֶחָד לְעֹלָה וְכִפֶּר עָלָיו מֵאֲשֶׁר חָטָא עַל הַנָּפֶשׁ וְקִדַּשׁ אֶת רֹאשׁוֹ בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא
KJ: And 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.
BN: And the Kohen shall prepare one for a sin-offering, and the other for a burnt-offering, and make atonement for him, because he has sinned by reason of the dead; and he shall hallow his head that same day.
Thereby restoring to the Nazir his sun-power.
6:12 VE HIZIR LA YHVH ET YEMEY NIZRO VE HEVI KEVES BEN SHENATO LE ASHAM VE HA YAMIM HA RISHONIM YIPLU KI TAM'E NIZRO
וְהִזִּיר לַיהוָה אֶת יְמֵי נִזְרוֹ וְהֵבִיא כֶּבֶשׂ בֶּן שְׁנָתוֹ לְאָשָׁם וְהַיָּמִים הָרִאשֹׁנִים יִפְּלוּ כִּי טָמֵא נִזְרוֹ
KJ: And 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.
BN: And he shall consecrate the days of his Nazirut to YHVH, and he shall bring a yearling he-lamb as a guilt-offering; but the former days shall be void, because his consecration was defiled.
Which is really tough, given that the sin was not his fault.
6:13 VE ZOT TORAT HA NAZIR BE YOM MEL'OT YEMEY NIZRO YAVI OTO EL PETACH OHEL MO'ED
וְזֹאת תּוֹרַת הַנָּזִיר בְּיוֹם מְלֹאת יְמֵי נִזְרוֹ יָבִיא אֹתוֹ אֶל פֶּתַח אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד
KJ: And 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:
BN: And this is the law of the Nazir, when the days of his consecration are fulfilled, he shall bring it to the door of the Tent of Meeting;
OTO: The "it" in question being the offering in the next verse, which is not the same as the special offering for the accidental defilement of verses 9-12.
6:14 VE HIKRIV ET KARBANO LA YHVH KEVES BEN SHENATO TAMIM ECHAD LE OLAH VE CHAVSAH ACHAT BAT SHENATAH TEMIMAH LE CHATAT VE AYIL ECHAD TAMIM LI SHELAMIM
וְהִקְרִיב אֶת קָרְבָּנוֹ לַיהוָה כֶּבֶשׂ בֶּן שְׁנָתוֹ תָמִים אֶחָד לְעֹלָה וְכַבְשָׂה אַחַת בַּת שְׁנָתָהּ תְּמִימָה לְחַטָּאת וְאַיִל אֶחָד תָּמִים לִשְׁלָמִים
KJ: And 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,
BN: And he shall present his offering to YHVH, one yearling he-lamb without blemish for a burnt-offering, and one yearling ewe-lamb without blemish for a sin-offering, and one ram without blemish for peace-offerings.
6:15 VE SAL MATSOT SOLET CHALOT BE LULOT BA SHEMEN U REKIYKEY MATSOT MESHUCHIM BA SHAMEN U MINCHATAM VE NISKEYHEM
וְסַל מַצּוֹת סֹלֶת חַלֹּת בְּלוּלֹת בַּשֶּׁמֶן וּרְקִיקֵי מַצּוֹת מְשֻׁחִים בַּשָּׁמֶן וּמִנְחָתָם וְנִסְכֵּיהֶם
KJ: And 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.
BN: And a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil, and their meal-offering, and their drink-offerings.
One serious feast to end the period of abstinence. This isn't mere sacrifice for the purpose of dinner, this is grande bouffe with beverages and desserts! I recommend the Cabernet Ramatayim Tsophim '92.
6:16 VE HIKRIV HA KOHEN LIPHNEY YHVH VE ASAH ET CHATATO VE ET OLATO
וְהִקְרִיב הַכֹּהֵן לִפְנֵי יְהוָה וְעָשָׂה אֶת חַטָּאתוֹ וְאֶת עֹלָתוֹ
KJ: And the priest shall bring them before the LORD, and shall offer his sin offering, and his burnt offering:
BN: And the Kohen shall bring them before YHVH, and shall offer his sin-offering, and his burnt-offering.
Note that these are sin-offerings, not thanksgiving offerings. Can we then assume that a person chooses Nazirut as a method of expiation for some sin, acknowledged or unacknowledged?
6:17 VE ET HA AYIL YA'ASEH ZEVACH SHELAMIM LA YHVH AL SAL HA MATSOT VE ASAH HA KOHEN ET MINCHATO VE ET NISKO
וְאֶת הָאַיִל יַעֲשֶׂה זֶבַח שְׁלָמִים לַיהוָה עַל סַל הַמַּצּוֹת וְעָשָׂה הַכֹּהֵן אֶת מִנְחָתוֹ וְאֶת נִסְכּוֹ
KJ: And 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.
BN: And he shall offer the ram as a sacrifice of peace-offerings to YHVH, with the basket of unleavened bread; the priest shall also offer its meal-offering, and its drink-offering.
Are SHELAMIM really peace-offerings, or is this merely poor translation? SHALOM, as noted several times previously, does indeed mean "peace", but only as one aspect of the full meaning of the word, which is "completion" or "perfection"; and it is precisely the "completion" of the period of Nazirut that is being ceremonially acknowledged. In Temple times, of course, an additional play on words comes into effect, because these SHELAMIM are taking place in Yeru-Shala'im, which city also takes its name from the same root.
See verse 26 below.
See verse 26 below.
6:18 VE GILACH HA NAZIR PETACH OHEL MO'ED ET ROSH NIZRO VE LAKACH ET SE'AR ROSH NIZRO VE NATAN AL HA EYSH ASHER TACHAT ZEVACH HA SHELAMIM
וְגִלַּח הַנָּזִיר פֶּתַח אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד אֶת רֹאשׁ נִזְרוֹ וְלָקַח אֶת שְׂעַר רֹאשׁ נִזְרוֹ וְנָתַן עַל הָאֵשׁ אֲשֶׁר תַּחַת זֶבַח הַשְּׁלָמִים
KJ: And 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.
BN: And the Nazir shall shave his consecrated head at the door of the Tent of Meeting, and shall take the hair of his consecrated head, and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of peace-offerings.
GILACH: This is very precise. Simply to cut the hair would use LACHTOCH (לחתוך) or possibly LESAPER (לספר), but the verb here is LIGLO'ACH (לגלח), which means "to shave". The same verb is used by Shimshon in Judges 16:17 - "אִם-גֻּלַּחְתִּי - IM GULACHTI - If I am shaved..."
6:19 VE LAKACH HA KOHEN ET HA ZERO'A BESHELAH MIN HA AYIL VE CHALAT MATSAH ACHAT MIN HA SAL U REKIK MATSAH ECHAD VE NATAN AL KAPEY HA NAZIR ACHAR HITGALCHO ET NIZRO
וְלָקַח הַכֹּהֵן אֶת הַזְּרֹעַ בְּשֵׁלָה מִן הָאַיִל וְחַלַּת מַצָּה אַחַת מִן הַסַּל וּרְקִיק מַצָּה אֶחָד וְנָתַן עַל כַּפֵּי הַנָּזִיר אַחַר הִתְגַּלְּחוֹ אֶת נִזְרוֹ
KJ: And 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:
BN: And the Kohen shall take the shoulder of the boiled ram, and one unleavened cake out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them upon the hands of the Nazir, after he has shaved his consecrated head.
SHELAH: No question that this means "boiled" (see Exodus 23:19 where the commandment that initiates the separation of meat and milk is given); what is not clear, or even easy to deduce, is the point at which the meat is boiled, and by whom, and even why; let alone how long they wait to complete the ceremony, to ensure the boiled meat is cool enough to handle.
Again reasserting the sacred significance of the head over the hair. Indeed, to such an extent that I am left posing a further question: was declaring Shimshon a Nazir simply a conveniently pragmatic way of absorbing an entirely non-Yisra-Eli custom that had become part of popular culture - in the way that Christianity made saints of all the Celtic gods and goddesses of Eireland? Shimshon's lifetime Nazirut is anyway a problem, because Nazirut is specified as being both a vow that must be self-made by an adult, and having a limited time-frame.
AL KAPHEY: AL, not EL. This is ceremonial. He is not simply handing the wave-objects to the Nazir, but the Nazir holds his hands open, palms open, and the Kohen lays the wave-objects "upon" his hands; and then, as per the next verse, he removes them and it is the Kohen who then waves them. Why not the Nazir?
6:20 VE HENIPH OTAM HA KOHEN TENUPHAH LIPHNEY YHVH KODESH HU LA KOHEN AL CHAZEH HA TENUPHAH VE AL SHOK HA TERUMAH VE ACHAR YISHTEH HA NAZIR YAYIN
וְהֵנִיף אוֹתָם הַכֹּהֵן תְּנוּפָה לִפְנֵי יְהוָה קֹדֶשׁ הוּא לַכֹּהֵן עַל חֲזֵה הַתְּנוּפָה וְעַל שׁוֹק הַתְּרוּמָה וְאַחַר יִשְׁתֶּה הַנָּזִיר יָיִן
KJ: And 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.
BN: And the Kohen shall wave them for a wave-offering before YHVH; this is holy for the Kohen, together with the breast of waving and the thigh of heaving; and after that the Nazir may drink wine.
Answering my last question: why not the Nazir? Because they are gifts for the Kohen, and therefore his to wave, to show the gods that he has received his due.
6:21 ZOT TORAT HA NAZIR ASHER YIDOR KARBANO LA YHVH AL NIZRO MILVAD ASHER TASIG YADO KE PHI NIDRO ASHER YIDOR KEN YA'ASEH AL TORAT NIZRO
זֹאת תּוֹרַת הַנָּזִיר אֲשֶׁר יִדֹּר קָרְבָּנוֹ לַיהוָה עַל נִזְרוֹ מִלְּבַד אֲשֶׁר תַּשִּׂיג יָדוֹ כְּפִי נִדְרוֹ אֲשֶׁר יִדֹּר כֵּן יַעֲשֶׂה עַל תּוֹרַת נִזְרוֹ
KJ: This 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.
BN: This is the law of the Nazir who makes a vow, and of his offering to YHVH for his Nazirut, besides that for which his means suffice; according to his vow which he makes, so he must do after the law of his Nazirut.
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6:22 VA YEDABER YHVH EL MOSHEH LEMOR
וַיְדַבֵּר יְהוָה אֶל מֹשֶׁה לֵּאמֹר
KJ: And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
BN: Then YHVH spoke to Mosheh, saying:
6:23 DABER EL AHARON VE EL BANAV LEMOR KOH TEVARCHU ET BENEY YISRA-EL AMOR LAHEM
דַּבֵּר אֶל אַהֲרֹן וְאֶל בָּנָיו לֵאמֹר כֹּה תְבָרְכוּ אֶת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אָמוֹר לָהֶם
KJ: Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them,
BN: Speak to Aharon and his sons, and tell them: This is how you shall bless the Beney Yisra-El; you shall say to them:
Known as the Priestly Blessing because of this instruction. For a more detailed explanation of the Yevarechecha, and its regular usage in synagogue, see "A Myrtle Among Reeds" (p54ff).
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6:24 YEVARECHECHA YHVH VE YISHMERECHA
יְבָרֶכְךָ יְהוָה וְיִשְׁמְרֶךָ
KJ: The LORD bless thee, and keep thee:
BN: May YHVH bless you and watch over you.
YHVH in his role as Vishnu, the Sustainer.
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6:25 YA'ER YHVH PANAV ELEYCHA VIY'CHUNECHA
יָאֵר יְהוָה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ וִיחֻנֶּךָּ
KJ: The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
BN: May YHVH set his face to shine on you, and be gracious to you.
Confirming the lateness of the text, the development of YHVH as the volcano-god of Sinai-Chorev into the fully-fledged Omnideity, aborbing into himself the previously separate sun-god, whose own hair is now fully grown. But also YHVH in his role as Brahma, the Creator.
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6:26 YISA YHVH PANAV ELEYCHA VE YASEM LECHA SHALOM
יִשָּׂא יְהוָה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ, וְיָשֵׂם לְךָ שָׁלוֹם
KJ: The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
BN: May YHVH turn his face towards you, and make everything in your life complete.
The latter part of this is usually translated as "and bring you peace"; but - as per my note to verse 17 - SHALOM means a great deal more than "peace"; and so I have offered a translation with the full meaning.
The YEVARECHECHA appears here somewhat out of context, in a chapter that gives the laws of Nazirut. But remember, the chapters are not in the original Ezraic, or the Greek Septuagint, or even the Masoretic, but are a Christian sub-division later on. The Yehudit scrolls are continuous, separated only by paragraph breaks (pey breaks), or when the foot of one piece of parchment is reached, and the next is stitched on. Nonetheless, the YEVARECHECHA needs to be treated as a stand-alone piece, and its very structure confirms this, each phrase being a separate line (samech breaks being the third type of textual separation).
6:27 VE SAMU ET SHEMI AL BENEY YISRA-EL VA ANI AVARECHEM
וְשָׂמוּ אֶת שְׁמִי עַל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וַאֲנִי אֲבָרְכֵם
KJ: And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.
BN: So shall they put my name upon the Beney Yisra-El, and I will bless them.
SAMU ET SHEMI: meaning what exactly? As YHVH created the world, and everything in it, by naming it, so placing his name on a person's head (the act of blessing includes, figuratively or literally, the placing of the hand of the person giving the blessing on the head of the recipient), confers the holiness.
samech break
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