What Does Numbers 6:21 Mean?
This is the instruction of the separated one who has vowed, and of his drawing near unto the LORD for his separation, beyond what his hand can reach. According to the vow which he has vowed, so he must do after the instruction of his separation.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
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 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.
“drawing near” in this verse is qorban. 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 vows a vow to the LORD, or swears an oath to bind a binding upon his living soul, he does not pierce his word; he does according to all that goes out of his mouth.When you vow a vow to God, do not linger to make it whole. For there is no delight in the thick-headed. Make whole what you have vowed.Therefore I urge you, brothers, through the compassions of God, to set your bodies beside God as a living sacrifice, set apart, well-pleasing to him, which is your true service.THE THREAD
But for me, drawing near to God is good; I have set my shelter in the Lord LORD, to recount all your 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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