What Does Numbers 6:21 Mean in the King James?
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.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The Nazarite’s “separation” shares its root with a crown: the vow marks a life as set apart.
THE MEANING
The vow has a defined shape: the separation has its own instruction and offering, alongside what the hand can attain. The commitment and its material expression stand together as the lived form of setting apart.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that a vow is only an inward intention, detached from what the person actually brings.
THE ROOT
נֵזֶר
nezer
GROWS FROM
נזר
n-z-r
To dedicate or set apart; the related noun can mean consecration or crown.
The root links the Nazirite’s separation with נֵזֶר (nezer), a word also used for a crown or diadem. This gives the vow’s setting apart the sense of a marked, distinct status.
ALSO GROWS
nazir: A consecrated person, especially one bound by a Nazirite vow.
נָזִיר
It names the person whose vow gives the separation its embodied form.
nezer: Consecration; also a crown or diadem.
נֵזֶר
The shared word links the Nazirite’s set-apart status with the image of a crown.
קָרְבָּן
qorban
GROWS FROM
קרב
q-r-b
To approach or draw near.
The offering is a qorban, from the root of approaching and coming near. The word holds both a gift and a movement: the vowed act carries the person toward nearness with the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
qarab: To approach or draw near.
קָרַב
This verb shares the root behind the offering and names the movement it carries.
qarov: Near or close.
קָרוֹב
The same root places nearness within the meaning of the offering.
תּוֹרָה
torah
GROWS FROM
ירה
y-r-h
To point, direct, or teach.
Torah carries the sense of instruction or direction, associated with the root yarah, “to point or teach.” The repeated phrase “law of his separation” places the vow within a named course of practice.
ALSO GROWS
yarah: To point, direct, or teach.
יָרָה
Its verbal sense supplies the directional force associated with Torah as instruction.
moreh: A teacher or instructor.
מוֹרֶה
The same root family names one who directs through teaching.
THE PATTERN
Setting something apart takes visible form through a promised word and what is brought before God.
If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth.When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed.I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.THE THREAD
But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works.Numbers calls the offering qorban, from q-r-b, the root of approaching and coming near. Psalm 73:28 uses that same root for “draw near to God,” revealing the offering as an act of nearness as well as a gift.
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