6:9 “‘If anyone dies very suddenly 5 beside him and he defiles 6 his consecrated head, 7 then he must shave his head on the day of his purification – on the seventh day he must shave it.
1 tn 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.
2 tn 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.
3 tn The word “separation” here is metonymy of adjunct – what is on his head is long hair that goes with the vow.
4 tn 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.
5 tn The construction uses the imperfect tense followed by the infinitive absolute, יָמוּת מֵת (yamut met). Because the verb is in a conditional clause, the emphasis that is to be given through the infinitive must stress the contingency. The point is “if someone dies – unexpectedly.” The next words underscore the suddenness of this.
6 tn The verb is the Piel perfect with a vav (ו) consecutive; it continues the idea within the conditional clause.
7 sn The expression is figurative for the vow that he took; the figure is the metonymy because the reference to the head is a reference to the long hair that symbolizes the oath.
9 tn The same idea is to be found now in the use of the word נָזַר (nazar), which refers to a recommitment after the vow was interrupted.
10 tn The necessity of bringing the reparation offering was due to the reinstatement into the vow that had been interrupted.
11 tn Heb “will fall”; KJV “shall be lost”; ASV, NASB, NRSV “shall be void.”
12 tc The similar expression in v. 9 includes the word “head” (i.e., “his consecrated head”). The LXX includes this word in v. 12 as well.