6:9 “‘If anyone dies very suddenly 1 beside him and he defiles 2 his consecrated head, 3 then he must shave his head on the day of his purification – on the seventh day he must shave it.
1 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.
2 tn The verb is the Piel perfect with a vav (ו) consecutive; it continues the idea within the conditional clause.
3 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.
4 tn The idiom here is “take up the head,” meaning take a census, or count the totals.