^6:6“ ‘All the days that he separates himself to the Lord he must not contact¹⁸ a dead body.¹⁹^6:7He must not defile himself even²⁰ for his father or his mother or his brother or his sister if they die,²¹ because the separation²² for²³ his God is on his head.

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Footnotes

18 The Hebrew verb is simply “enter, go,” no doubt with the sense of go near.
19 The Hebrew has נֶפֶשׁ מֵת (nefesh met), literally a “dead person.” But since the word נֶפֶשׁ can also be used for animals, the restriction would be for any kind of corpse. Death was very much a part of the fallen world, and so for one so committed to the Lord, avoiding all such contamination would be a witness to the greatest separation, even in a family.
20 The vav (ו) conjunction at the beginning of the clause specifies the cases of corpses that are to be avoided, no matter how painful it might be.
21 The construction uses the infinitive construct with the preposition and the suffixed subjective genitive—“in the dying of them”—to form the adverbial clause of time. The Nazirite would defile himself, i.e., ruin his vow, by contacting their corpses. Jesus’ hard saying in Matt 8:22, “let the dead bury their own dead,” makes sense in the light of this passage—Jesus was calling for commitment to himself.
22 The word “separation” here is metonymy of adjunct—what is on his head is long hair that goes with the vow.
23 The genitive could perhaps be interpreted as possession, i.e., “the vow of his God,” but it seems more likely that an objective genitive would be more to the point.

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

“All the days that he separates himself to the Lord he shall not go near a dead body. Not even for his father or for his mother, for brother or sister, if they die, shall he make himself unclean, because his separation to God is on his head.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

“ ‘Throughout the period of their dedication to the Lord, the Nazirite must not go near a dead body. Even if their own father or mother or brother or sister dies, they must not make themselves ceremonially unclean on account of them, because the symbol of their dedication to God is on their head.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

He must not go near a dead body during the time he consecrates himself to the Lord. He is not to defile himself for his father or mother, or his brother or sister, when they die, while the mark of consecration to his God is on his head.

NLTNew Living Translation

And they must not go near a dead body during the entire period of their vow to the Lord. Even if the dead person is their own father, mother, brother, or sister, they must not defile themselves, for the hair on their head is the symbol of their separation to God.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

“ ‘All the days of keeping himself separated for Yahweh he will not go to a person who is dead; for even his father, mother, brother, or sister he will not make himself unclean by their death, because the separation to his God is on his head.

KJV 1900King James Version

All the days that he separateth himself unto the Lord he shall come at no dead body. He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother, for his brother, or for his sister, when they die: because the consecration of his God is upon his head.

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