Numbers 6:7 (LSB)

Passage

He shall not defile himself for his father or for his mother, for his brother or for his sister, when they die, because the Nazirite vow to his God is on his head.

Nearby Context

Numbers 6:5 ‘All the days of his vow as a Nazirite no razor shall pass over his head. He shall be holy until the days are fulfilled for which he dedicated himself as a Nazirite to Yahweh; he shall let the locks of hair on his head grow long.

Numbers 6:6 ‘All the days of his dedication as a Nazirite to Yahweh he shall not go near to a dead person.

Numbers 6:7 He shall not defile himself for his father or for his mother, for his brother or for his sister, when they die, because the Nazirite vow to his God is on his head.

Numbers 6:8 All the days of his Nazirite vow he is holy to Yahweh.

Numbers 6:9 ‘But if a man dies very suddenly beside him and he defiles the head of hair during his Nazirite vow, then he shall shave his head on the day when he becomes clean; he shall shave it on the seventh day.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "shall", "defile", "himself", "father", "mother", "brother", "sister", and "nazirite". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "shall" and "defile", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 6's "All the days of his dedication as..." into verse 8's "All the days of his Nazirite vow...", so "shall" and "defile" belong inside that flow. In Numbers context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "shall" and "defile" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.