If a man said to two Nazirites: "I saw one of you become unclean, but I do not know which one," [and they remain silent. For if they deny it, he is not believed. For a single witness, where his testimony is denied, is not believed. And our Mishnah speaks of an instance in which this witness was not together with them, but says: "From a distance, I saw uncleanliness fall between you." For if he were together with them at the time, this would constitute "a possibility of uncleanliness in the public domain," which is ruled to be clean. For every "possibility of uncleanliness is derived from sotah, viz. (Numbers 5:13): "…and she shall have secreted herself, and she be unclean," where there are only she and the (suspected) adulterer, and where, on the possibility (of having committed adultery) she becomes unclean. But so long as there are more than two, even inside the house, in a doubtful instance, the ruling is "clean," this constituting "a possibility of uncleanliness in the public domain." For this reason, it must be posited that the witness was not together with them at the time of the "possibility of uncleanliness."], they shave and bring an offering of uncleanliness and an offering of cleanliness. And they say (respectively): "If I am the unclean one, then the offering of uncleanliness is mine, and the offering of cleanliness is yours; and if I am the clean one, then the offering of cleanliness is mine and the offering of uncleanliness is yours." And they count thirty days, [as when both vowed unspecified Naziritism at the same time. And the same applies if they both vowed together to observe Naziritism for a specified time. After they bring the offerings of cleanliness and uncleanliness, they again count that specified time, and they set aside an offering of cleanliness.] And they bring an offering of cleanliness and say (respectively): "If I am the unclean one, then the offering of uncleanliness is mine, and the offering of cleanliness yours; and this is my offering of cleanliness. And if I am the clean one, then the offering of cleanliness is mine, and the offering of uncleanliness is yours; and this is your offering of cleanliness." If one of them died — R. Yehoshua said: Another man is sought to vow Naziritism with him and he says: "If I were unclean, you are a Nazirite immediately; and if I were clean, you are a Nazirite after thirty days." And they count thirty days, and they bring an offering of uncleanliness and an offering of cleanliness, and he says: "If I am the unclean one, then the offering of uncleanliness is mine, and the offering of cleanliness is yours; and if I am the clean one, then the offering of cleanliness is mine, and the offering of uncleanliness [the bird sin-offering, which is brought for uncleanliness] is in (a status of) doubt [and is not eaten]." And they count thirty days, and they bring an offering of cleanliness, and he says: "If I am the unclean one, then the offering of uncleanliness (which we already sacrificed) was mine, and the offering of cleanliness was yours, and this is the offering of my cleanliness (for my second Naziritism.) And if I were the clean one, then the offering of cleanliness was mine, and the offering of uncleanliness is in doubt, and this is the offering of your cleanliness." Ben Zoma said to him: And who will pay heed to him to become a Nazirite with him! Rather, he brings a bird sin-offering [for the possibility of Nazirite uncleanliness] and a beast burnt-offering, [but he does not bring a guilt-offering, as per the rabbis (above): "If he brought his sin-offering, but not his guilt-offering," he counts."], and he says: "If I were unclean, the sin-offering is mandatory and the burnt-offering is a gift; and if I were clean, then the burnt-offering is mandatory and the sin-offering is in (a status of) doubt." And he counts thirty days, and he brings an offering of cleanliness, and he says: "If I were unclean, then the first burnt-offering was a gift, and this is mandatory. And if I were clean, the first burnt-offering was mandatory, and this (burnt-offering) is a gift, and this (the remainder is the rest of my offering." R. Yehoshua said: But then he is found to bring his offerings by halves! [if he were a clean Nazirite; for the first burnt-offering was mandatory, and now he offers a sin-offering and a burnt-offering.] But the sages conceded to Ben Zoma, [and they were not concerned about his bringing his offerings by halves. And the halachah is in accordance with Ben Zoma.]

If a Nazirite were possibly unclean and possibly confirmed, [possibly having incurred dead-body uncleanliness, and possibly being a confirmed leper], he may eat consecrated food after sixty days [but not before, for he is possibly a leper, who is forbidden to eat consecrated food until he brings his atonement. (But the possibility of his being an unclean Nazirite does not forbid him to eat consecrated food. For only one whose uncleanliness comes from his own body renders him "lacking in atonement," which forbids the eating of consecrated offerings.) How so? If he vowed Naziritism for thirty days, and on the first day he incurred possible dead-body uncleanliness and possible leprosy, he sprinkles, and repeats, and immerses, and is cleansed of dead-body uncleanliness, as if he would come to shave as an unclean Nazirite or as a leper who had been healed. But he cannot shave until thirty days from the time he vowed Naziritism. For he might be a clean Nazirite, who is forbidden to shave until the fulfillment of the days of his Naziritism until he brings his offerings. And after thirty days he shaves: possibly the shaving of a leper, possibly the shaving of an unclean Nazirite, possibly the shaving of a clean Nazirite. And he brings two birds, as per the halachah of the shaving for the confirmation of a leper: a bird sin-offering, on the possibility of his being an unclean Nazirite, and a beast burnt-offering, on the possibility of his being a clean Nazirite. And even though he does not bring the other offerings of the shaving of cleanliness, we have already stated that if he shaved over one of the three, he has satisfied the requirement. And he makes the condition that if he is not a clean Nazirite, it is to be a gift burnt-offering. And the law of a confirmed leper is that he requires two shavings: one after the end of his confirmation, when he is healed of his leprosy; a second, after the days of his counting, after having counted seven days from the first shaving, viz. (Leviticus 14:9): "And it shall be on the seventh day that he shall shave all of his hair." But his possibly being a Nazirite makes him unable to shave. Therefore, he must wait thirty days of possible clean Naziritism and shave for the possible days of counting of a leper and of possible clean Naziritism. And he brings a beast burnt-offering of possible Naziritism in order to shave over the offerings, and he makes the condition (above) over them. And on the morrow of the day of his shaving, he brings the offering of the leper to allow him to eat consecrated food, and a bird sin-offering. For a beast offering is not brought for a possibility, and he does not bring a guilt-offering, (the lack of) a guilt-offering not preventing one from eating consecrated food. It is found, then, that at the end of sixty days he eats consecrated food. For it is then that he brings his atonement for the possibility of confirmed leprosy], and he may drink wine and make himself unclean for the dead after a hundred and twenty days. For the shaving of a leper overrides the shaving of a Nazirite (only) when it (his being a leper) is certain; but if it is in doubt, it does not override. [He is still forbidden to drink wine and to make himself unclean for the dead, for he might have been a confirmed leper. And the shaving for leprosy does not satisfy the requirement of shaving for clean Naziritism or for unclean Naziritism, so that two additional Naziritisms are required — one for clean Naziritism and one for unclean Naziritism. And if he were a confirmed leper then all that he counted for the days of his Naziritism is not credited to him, the days of his confirmation and the days of his counting not being credited to him. He must, therefore, count another thirty days, and after those thirty days, he shaves — possibly as an unclean Nazirite, possibly as a clean Nazirite. And he brings a bird sin-offering on the possibility of unclean Naziritism, and a beast burnt-offering on the possibility of clean Naziritism in order to shave over the offering. And he makes the condition (above) over it. But he still is forbidden to drink wine and to make himself unclean for the dead. For he might have been a confirmed leper, in which instance the first two shavings would not have been credited to Naziritism, neither unclean nor clean. And he might have been an unclean Nazirite, so that the third shaving would have been for uncleanliness. Therefore, he must count another thirty days for clean Naziritism and bring the offering of a clean Nazirite and make the condition — after which he is permitted to drink wine and to make himself unclean for the dead. Likewise, if he vowed Naziritism for a year, and he incurred possible dead-body uncleanliness at the beginning of the year, and possibly leprosy, he counts a year and shaves for: possibility of uncleanliness, possibility of cleanliness, possibility of leprosy. And he counts a second year and shaves and brings his atonement, and eats consecrated food. And he counts another two years before he can drink wine and make himself unclean for the dead.]