Numbers 6:3 (WEB)

Passage

he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of fermented drink, neither shall he drink any juice of grapes, nor eat fresh grapes or dried.

Nearby Context

Numbers 6:1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

Numbers 6:2 “Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them: ‘When either man or woman shall make a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to Yahweh,

Numbers 6:3 he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of fermented drink, neither shall he drink any juice of grapes, nor eat fresh grapes or dried.

Numbers 6:4 All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is made of the grapevine, from the seeds even to the skins.

Numbers 6:5 “‘All the days of his vow of separation no razor shall come on his head, until the days are fulfilled, in which he separates himself to Yahweh. He shall be holy. He shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow long.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "shall", "separate", "himself", "wine", "strong", and "drink". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "shall" and "separate", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 2's "Speak to the children of Israel and..." into verse 4's "All the days of his separation he...", so "shall" and "separate" 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 "separate" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.