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Numbers 6 · a question people ask

Does this chapter say that wine is wrong?

In the text

No. The Nazirite keeps from wine and everything from the grapevine for a set time: "All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is made of the grapevine" (6:4). When the days are fulfilled and the offerings are made, the chapter says, "After that the Nazirite may drink wine" (6:20). What the chapter describes is a vow someone chooses (6:2), for days that come to an end (6:13).

The verses

““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 the LORD,”
Numbers 6:2 · World English Bible
“All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is made of the grapevine, from the seeds even to the skins.”
Numbers 6:4 · World English Bible
““‘This is the law of the Nazirite: when the days of his separation are fulfilled, he shall be brought to the door of the Tent of Meeting,”
Numbers 6:13 · World English Bible
“and the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the LORD. They are holy for the priest, together with the breast that is waved and the thigh that is offered. After that the Nazirite may drink wine.”
Numbers 6:20 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Numbers 6

Numbers 6: Set apart, and blessed

The Nazirite vow was open to "either man or woman" (6:2), lasted a set number of days, and ended with the hair on the fire (6:18) and "After that the Nazirite may drink wine" (6:20). And the priests' blessing names the LORD in each of its three lines, and the LORD says what it does: "they shall put my name on the children of Israel; and I will bless them" (6:27).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions