Numbers 6:3
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.
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- Vulgate (Clementine)
- 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
- Septuagint (Swete)
- ἀπὸ οἴνου καὶ σίκερα, ἁγνισθήσεται ἀπὸ 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.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- מִיַּ֤יִן וְשֵׁכָר֙ יַזִּ֔יר חֹ֥מֶץ יַ֛יִן וְחֹ֥מֶץ שֵׁכָ֖ר לֹ֣א יִשְׁתֶּ֑ה וְכָל מִשְׁרַ֤ת עֲנָבִים֙ לֹ֣א יִשְׁתֶּ֔ה וַעֲנָבִ֛ים לַחִ֥ים וִיבֵשִׁ֖ים לֹ֥א יֹאכֵֽל
Haydock's commentary
Drunk. Hebrew shecar, may signify old or palm wine, Leviticus x. 9.
Drink. Hebrew, "of shecar," which was a clear wine, with perhaps a mixture of sugar.
Vinegar was a common beverage among the ancients. (Pliny, [Natural History?] xiv. 16; Ruth ii. 14.) The soldiers gave our Saviour some of theirs to drink. The Turks, who are not allowed to drink wine of the grape, make use of various other sorts of made wine.
Grape, or the liquor procured from grapes, with a mixture of water, after they have served already to make wine. This liquor is called secondary wine by the Greeks, (Menochius) being designed for labourers in winter. (Varro 54, and Colum. xii. 40.) Grapes of every description are forbidden to the Nazarites, as they either tend to inebriate, or at least are too luxurious. (Haydock)
God deigns to give those a rule, who voluntarily consecrate themselves to his service. "What do the Nazarites designate, but the life of those who abstain, and are continent?" (St. Gregory, Mor. xxxii. 23.) (Worthington)
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 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 …