Numbers 6:2
Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: When a man, or woman, shall make a vow to be sanctified, and will consecrate themselves to the Lord:
Open Numbers 6:2 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Loquere ad filios Israël, et dices ad eos : Vir, sive mulier, cum fecerint votum ut sanctificentur, et se voluerint Domino consecrare :
- Septuagint (Swete)
- Λάλησον τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἰσραὴλ καὶ ἐρεῖς πρὸς αὐτούς Ἀνὴρ ἢ γυνὴ ὃς ἐὰν μεγάλως εὔξηται εὐχὴν ἀφαγνίσασθαι ἁγνείαν Κυρίῳ
- Hebrew (WLC)
- דַּבֵּר֙ אֶל בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וְאָמַרְתָּ֖ אֲלֵהֶ֑ם אִ֣ישׁ אֽוֹ אִשָּׁ֗ה כִּ֤י יַפְלִא֙ לִנְדֹּר֙ נֶ֣דֶר נָזִ֔יר לְהַזִּ֖יר לַֽיהוָֽה
Haydock's commentary
Sanctified, and separated from the common sort of people, and obliged to observe abstinence like the Nazarites, as the Hebrew intimates in one word, nazir. All this was done to acquire greater sanctity and perfection. Septuagint, "whoever has made a great vow to be very pure to the Lord," and intends thus to signalize his zeal for God's glory. The original term, means also to distinguish oneself by a wonderful thing. There were Nazarites for life, like Samson and St. John the Baptist; and others for a limited time, like St. Paul. Their abstinence from wine, &c., lasted generally for a month, and was to be performed at Jerusalem. Those of the female sex could not bind themselves by vow till they were ten years and a day old, nor boys before they were full 13. (Calmet)
The custom of cutting the hair, in honour of some god, was very common among the pagans; and St. Cyril (de ador. 16,) seems to think that the Hebrews had seen it practised in Egypt, and that Moses judged it expedient to let them do so for the sake of the true God, in order to divert their minds from giving way to superstition. (Calmet)
The Hebrews made vows to abstain from wine for 30 days, and then to offer sacrifices, and to cut their hair, when they were attacked by any dangerous illness. (Josephus, Jewish Wars ii. 15.) St. Paul perhaps made a vow of this nature, in the perils of the sea, Acts xviii. 11. (Spencer, Rit. iii. 6.) Juvenal alludes to this custom, when he observes, that sailors with their heads shaved, delight in safety to recount the dangers to which they have been exposed:
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Gaudent ubi vertice raso,
Garrula securi narrare pericula Nautæ. (Sat. ii.)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Methodius The Banquet of the Ten Virgins; or Concerning Chastity, Chapter IV
That which is laid down in the Book of Numbers, “greatly to vow a vow,” serves to show, as, with a little more explanation, I proceed to prove, that chastity is the great vow above all vows. For then am I plainly consecrated altogether to the Lord, when I not only strive to keep the flesh untouched by intercourse, but also unspotted by other kinds of unseemliness. For “the unmarried woman,” it is said, “careth for the things of the Lord, how she may please the Lord.;” not merely that she may bear away the glory in part of not being maimed in her virtue, but in both parts, according to the apostle, that she may be sanctified in body and spirit, offering up her members to the Lord. For let us say what it is to offer up oneself perfectly to the Lord. …
St Methodius The Banquet of the Ten Virgins; or Concerning Chastity, Chapter V
I will now endeavour to explain to you, O virgins, the rest of that which is prescribed; for this is attached to your duties, consisting of laws concerning virginity, which are useful as teaching how we should abstain, and how advance to virginity. For it is written thus: “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the Lord; 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, all the days of his separation.” And this means, that he who has devoted and offered himself to the Lord shall not take of the fruits of the plant of evil, because of its natural tendency to produce intoxication and distr …
St John Damascene An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Concerning Virginity
Noah when he was commanded to enter the ark and was entrusted with the preservation of the seed of the world received this command, Go in , saith the Lord, thou and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives . He separated them from their wives in order that with purity they might escape the flood and that shipwreck of the whole world. After the cessation of the flood, however, He said, Go forth of the ark, thou and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives . Lo, again, marriage is granted for the sake of the multiplication of the race. …