Numbers 6:18

וְגִלַּח הַנָּזִיר פֶּתַח אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד אֶת־רֹאשׁ נִזְרוֹ וְלָקַח אֶת־שְׂעַר רֹאשׁ נִזְרוֹ וְנָתַן עַל־הָאֵשׁ אֲשֶׁר־תַּחַת זֶבַח הַשְּׁלָמִֽים׃

✦ Hebrew interlinear

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✦ The same verse in five languages

Hebrew

וְגִלַּ֣ח הַנָּזִ֗יר פֶּ֛תַח אֹ֥הֶל מוֹעֵ֖ד אֶת־רֹ֣אשׁ נִזְר֑וֹ וְלָקַ֗ח אֶת־שְׂעַר֙ רֹ֣אשׁ נִזְר֔וֹ וְנָתַן֙ עַל־הָאֵ֔שׁ אֲשֶׁר־תַּ֖חַת זֶ֥בַח הַשְּׁלָמִֽים׃

Greek (Septuagint)

καὶ ξυρήσεται ὁ ηὐγμένος παρὰ τὰς θύρας τῆς σκηνῆς τοῦ μαρτυρίου τὴν κεφαλὴν τῆς εὐχῆς αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐπιθήσει τὰς τρίχας ἐπὶ τὸ πῦρ ὅ ἐστιν ὑπὸ τὴν θυσίαν τοῦ σωτηρίου.

Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0

Latin (Vulgate)

Tunc radetur nazaræus ante ostium tabernaculi fœderis cæsarie consecrationis suæ: tolletque capillos ejus, et ponet super ignem, qui est suppositus sacrificio pacificorum:

Spanish

El nazareo se rapará la cabeza de su consagración a la entrada de la Tienda del Encuentro, tomará el cabello de su consagración y lo echará al fuego que está debajo del sacrificio de comunión.

Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)

Entonces el Nazareo raerá á la puerta del tabernáculo del testimonio la cabeza de su nazareato, y tomará los cabellos de la cabeza de su nazareato, y los pondrá sobre el fuego que está debajo del sacrificio de las paces.

English

Then at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, the Nazirite is to shave his consecrated head, take the hair, and put it on the fire under the peace offering.

✦ What the text says

Summary

This verse describes the concluding ritual act of the Nazirite vow: at the entrance of the tent of meeting, the Nazirite shaves the head that marked his vow, takes that hair, and places it on the fire burning beneath the peace offering sacrifice.

Key words

gi.Lach ("he will shave", H1548) — piel stem (intensive) sequential perfect; continues the narrative chain begun with the previous verses' instructions, indicating this action follows in sequence after prior steps.
na.Zir ("Nazirite", H5139) — definite (marked by ha, "the"), identifying the specific individual under this vow as the subject performing the shaving.
rosh niz.R-o ("head of his Nazirite-vow", H7218A + H5145G + H9023) — a construct chain literally "head of his consecration/vow," repeated twice (lines 9-11 and 16-18), tying the physical head/hair directly to the abstract vow-state rather than simply saying "his head."
na.Tan ("he will put [it]", H5414H) — qal sequential perfect; the third verb in the chain (shave...take...put), marking the final disposal action of the hair.
Ta.chat ("under", H8478G) — construct noun functioning prepositionally, locating the fire specifically as the one situated beneath the zevach ha-shelamim ("sacrifice of the peace offerings", H2077 + H8002).

What the text says

The verse is built on three sequential perfect verbs — gilach ("he will shave"), laqach ("he will take"), natan ("he will put") — each introduced by the narrative ve- (H9001), forming a tight chain of ritual actions performed by the same subject, ha-nazir ("the Nazirite"). This verbal sequence structures the verse as a single continuous procedure rather than three separate instructions.

A notable feature is the repeated construct phrase rosh nizro ("head of his vow/consecration"), appearing twice with slightly different vocalization (nizR in both instances, tied to the pronominal suffix -o, "his"). Rather than referring simply to "his head" or "his hair," the Hebrew construct chain links the physical head and its hair directly to the abstract noun nezer (the vow/consecration itself), so the hair being shaved and burned is grammatically presented as belonging to the vow-state, not merely to the person.

The final clause locates the fire with a relative clause: 'asher tachat zevach ha-shelamim ("which is under the sacrifice of the peace offerings"). Here tachat functions as a construct noun meaning "the underneath-part of," precisely specifying that this is not a separate fire but the one situated beneath that particular offering.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders ha-nazir as ὁ ηὐγμένος ("the one who has vowed/prayed"), a participial phrase rather than a fixed title, differing from the Hebrew's use of the specific term nazir. The Vulgate uses nazaræus, transliterating the Hebrew term directly. Where the Hebrew repeats the construct phrase "head of his vow" twice, the LXX varies its rendering: first as τὴν κεφαλὴν τῆς εὐχῆς αὐτοῦ ("the head of his vow"), but for the second occurrence it shifts to τὰς τρίχας ("the hairs"), diverging from the Hebrew's repeated construct structure.

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.