Numbers 6:21

Summary

Numbers 6:21 closes the section on the Nazirite vow, stating that this is the torah ("law/instruction") governing the person who has made such a vow. It specifies that his offering to Yehovah must match what he vowed, in addition to whatever else his means allow, and that he must act according to what he pronounced.

Key words

• torat ("law of", H8451) — feminine singular construct noun, appearing twice (positions 2 and 30), framing the verse as a legal formula ("the law of the Nazirite... the law of his separation").
• nazir ("Nazirite", H5139) — gentilic noun marking the subject of the regulation; the same root appears as nizro ("his Nazirite-vow/consecration", H5145G) in positions 12 and 31, showing the wordplay between the person (nazir) and the state/vow (nezer).
• yiddor ("he will vow", H5087) — qal imperfect, repeated twice (positions 6 and 26), each time introduced by the relative particle asher ("who/that", H0834A), forming a legal conditional: "who vows... which he vows."
• tassig yad ("his hand will reach", H5381 + H3027T) — hiphil imperfect of nasag with the noun yad ("hand"), an idiom for financial capacity, modified by mi-levad ("besides", H0905J) to indicate something additional to a minimum requirement.
• ken ya'aseh ("so he will do", H3651C + H6213A) — adverb ken + qal imperfect of asah ("to do"), forming the apodosis of the legal conditional: whatever was vowed must be performed accordingly.

What the text says

The verse is built as a legal formula opening with the demonstrative zot ("this", H2063) followed by torat ha-nazir ("the law of the Nazirite"), a construct phrase that frames the entire verse as a regulation. The relative clause asher yiddor ("who will vow") introduces the subject's obligation, and qorbano ("his offering", built on H7133A) is directed la-Yehovah ("to Yehovah") al nizro ("concerning his Nazirite-vow", H5145G). The phrase mi-levad asher tassig yado uses the idiom "his hand reaches" to denote personal financial capacity, marked as additional (mi-levad, "besides") to the required offering.

The second half repeats the conditional structure: ke-fi nidro asher yiddor ("according to the mouth of his vow which he will vow") uses pi ("mouth of", H6310K) in construct to mean "in accordance with the terms of," reinforcing that the performance (ken ya'aseh, "so he will do") must correspond exactly to the verbal vow. The verse closes by repeating torat nizro ("the law of his Nazirite-vow"), forming an inclusio with the opening torat ha-nazir, framing the whole unit as bounded legal instruction.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders nazir (H5139, "Nazirite") with τοῦ εὐξαμένου ("of the one who vowed"), shifting focus from the person's status to the act of vowing itself. The Vulgate uses nazaræi directly. Where the Hebrew has mi-levad asher tassig yado ("besides what his hand reaches," i.e., his own means), the LXX reads χωρὶς ὧν ἂν εὕρῃ ἡ χεὶρ αὐτοῦ ("apart from whatever his hand finds"), a close rendering, while the Vulgate's exceptis his quae invenerit manus eius similarly preserves the idiom of the hand "finding" resources.