Numbers 6:3

מִיַּיִן וְשֵׁכָר יַזִּיר חֹמֶץ יַיִן וְחֹמֶץ שֵׁכָר לֹא יִשְׁתֶּה וְכָל־מִשְׁרַת עֲנָבִים לֹא יִשְׁתֶּה וַעֲנָבִים לַחִים וִיבֵשִׁים לֹא יֹאכֵֽל׃

✦ Hebrew interlinear

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✦ The same verse in five languages

Hebrew

מִיַּ֤יִן וְשֵׁכָר֙ יַזִּ֔יר חֹ֥מֶץ יַ֛יִן וְחֹ֥מֶץ שֵׁכָ֖ר לֹ֣א יִשְׁתֶּ֑ה וְכָל־מִשְׁרַ֤ת עֲנָבִים֙ לֹ֣א יִשְׁתֶּ֔ה וַעֲנָבִ֛ים לַחִ֥ים וִיבֵשִׁ֖ים לֹ֥א יֹאכֵֽל׃

Greek (Septuagint)

ἀπὸ οἴνου καὶ σίκερα, σίκερα, ἁγνιἀπὸ οἴνου, καὶ ὄξος ἐξ οἴνου καὶ ὄξος ἐκ σίκερα οὐ πίεται, καὶ ὅσα κατεργάζεται ἐκ σταφυλῆς οὐ πίεται, καὶ σταφυλὴν πρόσφατον καὶ σταφίδα οὐ φάγεται.

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

Latin (Vulgate)

a vino, et omni quod inebriare potest, abstinebunt. Acetum ex vino, et ex qualibet alia potione, et quidquid de uva exprimitur, non bibent: uvas recentes siccasque non comedent

Spanish

se apartará del vino y de las bebidas fermentadas. No beberá vinagre de vino, ni vinagre de bebida fermentada, ni beberá jugo de uva, ni comerá uvas frescas o secas.

Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)

Se abstendrá de vino y de sidra; vinagre de vino, ni vinagre de sidra no beberá, ni beberá algún licor de uvas, ni tampoco comerá uvas frescas ni secas.

English

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.

✦ What the text says

Summary

Numbers 6:3 lists the items a person under the Nazirite vow must avoid: wine, strong drink, vinegar derived from either, grape juice, and both fresh and dried grapes. The verse uses repeated negated verbs to specify each prohibited substance individually.

Key words

yazir ("he will keep separate", H5144B) — hiphil imperfect, a causative form meaning "to cause separation," here referring to the Nazirite abstaining from wine and strong drink.
shekhar ("strong drink", H7941) — masculine singular noun, referring to a fermented beverage distinct from yayin ("wine", H3196).
chometz ("vinegar of", H2558) — construct form appearing twice, linking to both yayin ("wine", H3196) and shekhar ("strong drink", H7941), producing "vinegar of wine" and "vinegar of strong drink."
mishrat ("juice of", H4952) — feminine singular construct, paired with 'anavim ("grapes", H6025) to form "juice of grapes."
yishteh ("he will drink", H8354) — qal imperfect, repeated twice in the verse, each time negated by lo' ("not", H3808).

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence structure builds through a series of parallel clauses, each governed by a negated imperfect verb. The first clause uses yazir ("he will keep separate", H5144B), a hiphil form of the same root that gives the noun "Nazirite," establishing separation from yayin ("wine", H3196) and shekhar ("strong drink", H7941) as the governing action. The following clauses shift to yishteh ("he will drink", H8354) in the qal stem, each preceded by lo' ("not", H3808), to prohibit drinking vinegar made from either wine or strong drink, and separately, "juice of grapes" (mishrat 'anavim). The final clause uses yo'khel ("he will eat", H398) to prohibit consumption of grapes in both states, marked by the adjectives lachim ("fresh", H3892) and yeveshim ("dried", H3002).

The construct chains (chometz yayin, "vinegar of wine"; chometz shekhar, "vinegar of strong drink"; mishrat 'anavim, "juice of grapes") show that the prohibition extends beyond the primary substances to their derivative forms. The repetition of lo' yishteh ("not he will drink") across two clauses, rather than a single combined clause, gives each restriction its own grammatical weight.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders chometz ("vinegar of", H2558) with Greek oxos ("vinegar"), paralleling the Hebrew construct structure. The Vulgate expands the scope of the first clause, rendering it "a vino, et omni quod inebriare potest" ("from wine, and everything that can intoxicate"), which generalizes beyond the specific term shekhar ("strong drink", H7941) found in the Hebrew. The Vulgate also renders the vinegar clause as applying to "ex vino, et ex qualibet alia potione" ("from wine, and from any other drink"), broadening "strong drink" to "any other drink" rather than maintaining the specific parallel construction seen in the Hebrew and LXX.

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