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Amplified Bible

Numbers 6:3

he shall abstain from wine and strong drink; he shall drink no vinegar, whether made from wine or strong drink, nor shall he drink any grape juice nor eat fresh or dried grapes.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Abstinence, Total;   Food;   Fraternity;   Nazarite;   Prohibition;   Vinegar;   Wine;   Scofield Reference Index - Separation;   Thompson Chain Reference - Abstinence;   Agriculture-Horticulture;   Asceticism;   Fruit, Natural;   Grapes;   Nazarites;   Self-Indulgence-Self-Denial;   Social Duties;   Temperance;   Temperance-Intemperance;   Total Abstinence;   Vinegar;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Diet of the Jews, the;   Nazarites;   Vine, the;   Wine;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Vinegar;   Wine;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Farming;   Food;   Grapes;   Nazirite;   Samson;   Vow;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Abstain, Abstinence;   Priest, Priesthood;   Easton Bible Dictionary - John the Baptist;   Leaven;   Nazarite;   Samson;   Wine;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Abstinence;   John the Baptist;   Pentateuch;   Wine;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Consecration;   Dried Grapes;   Hair;   Nazirite;   Strong Drink;   Vinegar;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Clean and Unclean;   Food;   Nazirite;   Numbers, Book of;   Raisins;   Vinegar;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Marriage;   Nazirite;   Vote;   Wine ;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Nazarite ;   Vinegar;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Nazarene;   Nazarites;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Camp and encamp;   Nazarites;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Naz'arite,;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Abstinence;   Vinegar;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Samuel the Prophet;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Drink, Strong;   Drunkenness;   Food;   Fresh;   Hair;   Nazirite;   Raisins;   Vinegar;   Wine;   Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia - Abstinence;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Ascetics;   Blessing, Priestly;   Commandments, the 613;   Hatra'ah;   Mishnah;   Nazarite;   Nazir;   Priestly Code;  

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of fermented drink, neither shall he drink any juice of grapes, nor eat fresh grapes or dried.
King James Version
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.
Lexham English Bible
he will abstain from wine and fermented drink; he will not drink wine vinegar or vinegar of fermented drink; he will not drink the fruit juice of grapes or eat fresh or dry grapes.
New Century Version
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.
New English Translation
he must separate himself from wine and strong drink, he must drink neither vinegar made from wine nor vinegar made from strong drink, nor may he drink any juice of grapes, nor eat fresh grapes or raisins.
New American Standard Bible
he shall abstain from wine and strong drink; he shall consume no vinegar, whether made from wine or strong drink, nor shall he drink any grape juice nor eat fresh or dried grapes.
Geneva Bible (1587)
He shall absteine fro wine & strong drinke, and shal drinke no sowre wine nor sowre drinke, nor shall drinke any licour of grapes, neither shal eate fresh grapes nor dryed.
Legacy Standard Bible
he shall abstain as a Nazirite from wine and strong drink; he shall drink no vinegar, whether made from wine or strong drink, nor shall he drink any grape juice nor eat fresh or dried grapes.
Contemporary English Version
you must no longer drink any wine or beer or use any kind of vinegar. Don't drink grape juice or eat grapes or raisins—
Complete Jewish Bible
he is to abstain from wine and other intoxicating liquor, he is not to drink vinegar from either source, he is not to drink grape juice, and he is not to eat grapes or raisins.
Darby Translation
he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink: he shall drink no vinegar of wine, nor vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat grapes, fresh or dried.
Easy-to-Read Version
They must stay away from wine or other strong drink. They must not drink vinegar that is made from wine or from other strong drink. They must not drink grape juice or eat grapes or raisins.
English Standard Version
he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar made from wine or strong drink and shall not drink any juice of grapes or eat grapes, fresh or dried.
George Lamsa Translation
He shall abstain from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any juice of grapes, or eat grapes or raisins;
Good News Translation
shall abstain from wine and beer. You shall not drink any kind of drink made from grapes or eat any grapes or raisins.
Christian Standard Bible®
he is to abstain from wine and beer. He must not drink vinegar made from wine or from beer. He must not drink any grape juice or eat fresh grapes or raisins.
Literal Translation
He shall separate from wine and fermented drink; he shall not drink vinegar of wine or vinegar of fermented drink; he shall not drink any juice of the grapes; and he shall not eat dry or moist grapes.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
he shal absteyne from wyne and stroge drynke. Vyneger of wyne & of stronge drynke shal he not drynke, ner that is pressed out of grapes: he shall nether eate fresh ner drye grapes, so longe as his abstinence endureth.
American Standard Version
he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink; he shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any juice of grapes, nor eat fresh grapes or dried.
Bible in Basic English
He is to keep himself from wine and strong drink, and take no mixed wine or strong drink or any drink made from grapes, or any grapes, green or dry.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
He shall seperate him selfe from wine and strong drynke, and shall drynke no vineger of wine or of strong drinke, nor shall drinke whatsoeuer is pressed out of grapes, and shall eate no freshe grapes, neither yet dried.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
he shall abstain from wine and strong drink: he shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat fresh grapes or dried.
King James Version (1611)
Hee shall separate himselfe from wine, and strong drinke, and shal drinke no vineger of wine, or vineger of strong drinke, neither shal he drinke any liquor of grapes, nor eate moist grapes, or dried.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
he shall purely abstain from wine and strong drink; and he shall drink no vinegar of wine or vinegar of strong drink; and whatever is made of the grape he shall not drink; neither shall he eat fresh grapes or raisins,
English Revised Version
he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink; he shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat fresh grapes or dried.
Berean Standard Bible
he is to abstain from wine and strong drink. He must not drink vinegar made from wine or strong drink, and he must not drink any grape juice or eat fresh grapes or raisins.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
thei schulen absteyne fro wyn and fro al thing that may make drunkun; thei schulen not drynke vynegre of wyn, and of ony other drynkyng, and what euer thing is pressid out of the grape; thei schulen not ete freisch grapis and drie,
Young's Literal Translation
from wine and strong drink he doth keep separate; vinegar of wine, and vinegar of strong drink he doth not drink, and any juice of grapes he doth not drink, and grapes moist or dry he doth not eat;
Update Bible Version
he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink; he shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any juice of grapes, nor eat fresh grapes or dried.
Webster's Bible Translation
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.
World English Bible
he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of fermented drink, neither shall he drink any juice of grapes, nor eat fresh grapes or dried.
New King James Version
he shall separate himself from wine and similar drink; he shall drink neither vinegar made from wine nor vinegar made from similar drink; neither shall he drink any grape juice, nor eat fresh grapes or raisins.
New Living Translation
they must give up wine and other alcoholic drinks. They must not use vinegar made from wine or from other alcoholic drinks, they must not drink fresh grape juice, and they must not eat grapes or raisins.
New Life Bible
Then he must keep away from wine and strong drink. He will drink no sour wine, made from wine or strong drink. He will not drink any grape drink. And he will not eat new or dried grapes.
New Revised Standard
they shall separate themselves from wine and strong drink; they shall drink no wine vinegar or other vinegar, and shall not drink any grape juice or eat grapes, fresh or dried.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
from wine and strong drink, shall he separate himself, neither vinegar of wine nor vinegar of strong drink, shall he drink, - and no liquor of grapes, shall he drink, no grapes fresh or dried, shall he eat.
Douay-Rheims Bible
They shall abstain from wine, and from every thing that may make a man drunk. They shall not drink vinegar of wine, or of any other drink, nor any thing that is pressed out of the grape: nor shall they eat grapes either fresh or dried.
Revised Standard Version
he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink; he shall drink no vinegar made from wine or strong drink, and shall not drink any juice of grapes or eat grapes, fresh or dried.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
he shall abstain from wine and strong drink; he shall drink no vinegar, whether made from wine or strong drink, nor shall he drink any grape juice nor eat fresh or dried grapes.

Contextual Overview

1Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2"Say to the sons of Israel, 'When a man or a woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, that is, one separated and dedicated to the LORD, 3he shall abstain from wine and strong drink; he shall drink no vinegar, whether made from wine or strong drink, nor shall he drink any grape juice nor eat fresh or dried grapes. 4'All the time of his separation he shall not eat anything produced from the grapevine, from the seeds even to the skins. 5'All the time of the vow of his separation no razor shall be used on his head. Until the time of his separation to the LORD is completed, he shall be holy, and shall let the hair of his head grow long. 6'All the time that he separates himself to the LORD he shall not go near a dead body. 7'He shall not make himself [ceremonially] unclean for his father, mother, brother, or sister, when they die, because [the responsibility for] his separation to God is on his head. 8'All the time of his separation he is holy to the LORD. 9'If a man dies very suddenly beside him, and he defiles his dedicated head, then he shall shave his head on the day that he becomes [ceremonially] clean; he shall shave it on the seventh day [the end of the purification period]. 10'On the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest, to the doorway of the Tent of Meeting (tabernacle).

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Besides the religious nature of this institution, it seems to have been partly of a civil and prudential use. The sobriety and temperance which the Nazarites were obliged to observe were very conducive to health. Accordingly, they were celebrated for their fair and ruddy complexion; being said to be both whiter than milk and more ruddy than rubies - Lamentations 4:7, the sure signs of a sound and healthy constitution. It may here be observed, that when God intended to raise up Samson, by his strength of body, to scourge the enemies of Israel, he ordered, that from his infancy he should drink no wine, but live by the rule of the Nazarites, because that would greatly contribute to make him strong and healthy; intending, after nature had done her utmost to form this extraordinary instrument of his providence, to supply her defect by his own supernatural power. See Jenning's Jewish Antiquities, B. I. c. 8. Leviticus 10:9, Judges 13:14, Proverbs 31:4, Proverbs 31:5, Jeremiah 35:6-8, Amos 2:12, Luke 1:15, Luke 7:33, Luke 7:34, Luke 21:34, Ephesians 5:18, 1 Thessalonians 5:22, 1 Timothy 5:23

Reciprocal: Leviticus 22:2 - General Judges 13:4 - drink not Judges 13:5 - no razor

Cross-References

Genesis 6:1
Now it happened, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them,
Genesis 6:13
God said to Noah, "I intend to make an end of all that lives, for through men the land is filled with violence; and behold, I am about to destroy them together with the land.
Genesis 6:14
"Make yourself an ark of gopher wood; make in it rooms (stalls, pens, coops, nests, cages, compartments) and coat it inside and out with pitch (bitumen).
Genesis 6:15
"This is the way you are to make it: the length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits (450' x 75' x 45').
Genesis 6:16
"You shall make a window [for light and ventilation] for the ark, and finish it to at least a cubit (eighteen inches) from the top—and set the [entry] door of the ark in its side; and you shall make it with lower, second and third decks.
Genesis 6:18
"But I will establish My covenant (solemn promise, formal agreement) with you; and you shall come into the ark—you and your [three] sons and your wife, and your sons' wives with you.
Genesis 6:20
"Of fowls and birds according to their kind, of animals according to their kind, of every crawling thing of the ground according to its kind—two of every kind shall come to you to keep them alive.
Numbers 11:17
"Then I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take away some of the Spirit who is upon you, and will put Him upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you will not have to bear it all alone.
Nehemiah 9:30
"Yet You were patient with them for many years, And admonished them and warned them by Your Spirit through Your prophets; Still they would not listen. Therefore You gave them into the hand (power) of the peoples of the lands.
Psalms 78:39
For He [graciously] remembered that they were mere [human] flesh, A wind that goes and does not return.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

He shall separate [himself] from wine,.... Old or new, as Ben Gersom; from drinking it, any of it: not only from an immoderate and excessive drinking of it, which every man should abstain from, but from drinking of it at all, that he might be more free and fit for the service of God; for prayer, meditation, reading the Scriptures, and attendance on the worship of God in all its branches, and be less liable to temptations to sin; for, as Aben Ezra observes, many transgressions are occasioned by wine, which, if drank immoderately, intoxicates the mind, and unfits for religious duties, excites lust, and leads on to many vices:

and strong drink; any other intoxicating and inebriating liquor besides wine, or any other sort of wines besides such that is made of the fruit of the vine, as wines of pomegranates, dates, c. or such as are made of barley, as our ale, or of apples and pears, called cider and perry, respectively:

and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink all the three Targums paraphrase it, vinegar of new wine, and vinegar of old wine, these operating in like manner as wine and strong drink themselves:

neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes; any liquor in which grapes are macerated, as the Targum of Jonathan; or water into which they are squeezed, or which is made of the lees of wine, or is a second sort of wine made of the grapes after they have been pressed, which we call "tiff":

nor eat moist grapes or dried; which have somewhat of the nature and taste of wine, and produce some of the like effects, and may lead to a desire after drinking it; wherefore this, as other things mentioned, are, as Aben Ezra says, a kind of an hedge, to keep at a distance from drinking wine.

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.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Numbers 6:3. No vinegar of wine, c. — חמץ chomets signifies fermented wine, and is probably used here to signify wine of a strong body, or any highly intoxicating liquor. Dr. Lightfoot supposes that the LEPER being the most defiled and loathsome of creatures, was an emblem of the wretched, miserable state of man by the fall and that the NAZARITE was the emblem of man in his state of innocence. Wine and grapes are here particularly forbidden to the Nazarite because, as the doctor thinks, being an emblem of man in his paradisaical state, he was forbidden that tree and its fruits by eating of which Adam fell; for the doctor, as well as the Jewish rabbins, believed the tree of knowledge to have been none other than the vine.

Vinegar of strong drinkLeviticus 10:9.


 
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