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Special Vows

27 Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Tell the Israelites: If any of you makes a special vow to give a person to Yahweh, you may give money instead of the person. The amount you must give for a man from 20 to 60 years old is 20 ounces of silver. Use the standard weight of the holy place. If it is a woman, give 12 ounces. For a boy from 5 to 20 years old, give 8 ounces and for a girl give 4 ounces. For a boy from one month to five years old, give 2 ounces of silver and for a girl give about one ounce. For a man 60 years or over, give 6 ounces and for a woman give 4 ounces. But the person who is too poor to pay the required amount must stand in front of the priest. The priest will determine the amount based on what the person can afford.

“If the vow is to give the kind of animal that people offer to Yahweh, it will be considered holy. 10 Don’t exchange or substitute animals, a good one for a bad one or a bad one for a good one. If you do exchange one animal for another, then both animals will be holy. 11 If it is an unclean animal that cannot be brought to Yahweh as an offering, bring it in front of the priest. 12 The priest will determine what its value is. The value will be whatever the priest decides. 13 If you want to buy it back, you must pay its full value plus one-fifth more.

14 “If you give your house to Yahweh as something holy, the priest will determine what its value is. The value will be whatever the priest decides. 15 If you want to buy it back, you must pay its full value plus one-fifth more.

16 “If a person gives part of a field to Yahweh as something holy, its value will be based on the seed planted on it. Ground planted with 2 quarts of barley will be worth 20 ounces of silver. 17 If you give your field in the jubilee year, it will have its full value. 18 But if you give the field after the jubilee year, the priest will estimate its value based on the number of years left until the next jubilee year. 19 If you want to buy it back, you must pay its full value plus one-fifth more. 20 But if you don’t buy it back and it is sold to someone else, you cannot buy it back. 21 When the field is released in the jubilee year, it will be holy like a field claimed by Yahweh. It will become the property of the priest. 22 You may give a field you bought (not one that was a part of your family property) to Yahweh as something holy. 23 The priest must figure out the field’s value until the jubilee year. You will pay its value on that day as something holy, belonging to Yahweh. 24 In the jubilee year the field will go back to the person from whom it was bought, to whom it belongs as family property.

25 “All values will be set using the standard weight of the holy place.[a]

26 “A firstborn animal already belongs to Yahweh because it was born first. Therefore, it cannot be set apart as holy. Whether it is a bull or a sheep, it belongs to Yahweh. 27 But if it is an unclean animal, it must be bought back. The payment will be its full value plus one-fifth more. If it is not bought back, it must be sold at the value given it.

28 “However, everything dedicated to Yahweh for destruction—a person, an animal, or a field that belongs to you—must not be sold or bought back. Everything dedicated in that way is very holy. It belongs to Yahweh. 29 People dedicated this way cannot be bought back. They must be put to death.

30 “One-tenth of what comes from the land, whether grain or fruit, is holy and belongs to Yahweh. 31 If you buy back any part of it, you must add one-fifth more to it. 32 Every tenth head of cattle or sheep that you counted is holy and belongs to Yahweh. 33 You must not look to see if it is good or bad or exchange it. But if you do exchange it, both the first animal and its substitute will be holy. They cannot be bought back.”

34 These are the commands Yahweh gave Moses on Mount Sinai for the Israelites.

Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 27:25 Hebrew adds “There are 20 gerahs to the standard shekel.”

Redeeming What Is the Lord’s

27 The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘If anyone makes a special vow(A) to dedicate a person to the Lord by giving the equivalent value, set the value of a male between the ages of twenty and sixty at fifty shekels[a] of silver, according to the sanctuary shekel[b];(B) for a female, set her value at thirty shekels[c]; for a person between the ages of five and twenty, set the value of a male at twenty shekels[d](C) and of a female at ten shekels[e]; for a person between one month and five years, set the value of a male at five shekels[f](D) of silver and that of a female at three shekels[g] of silver; for a person sixty years old or more, set the value of a male at fifteen shekels[h] and of a female at ten shekels. If anyone making the vow is too poor to pay(E) the specified amount, the person being dedicated is to be presented to the priest, who will set the value(F) according to what the one making the vow can afford.

“‘If what they vowed is an animal that is acceptable as an offering to the Lord,(G) such an animal given to the Lord becomes holy.(H) 10 They must not exchange it or substitute a good one for a bad one, or a bad one for a good one;(I) if they should substitute one animal for another, both it and the substitute become holy. 11 If what they vowed is a ceremonially unclean animal(J)—one that is not acceptable as an offering to the Lord—the animal must be presented to the priest, 12 who will judge its quality as good or bad. Whatever value the priest then sets, that is what it will be. 13 If the owner wishes to redeem(K) the animal, a fifth must be added to its value.(L)

14 “‘If anyone dedicates their house as something holy to the Lord, the priest will judge its quality as good or bad. Whatever value the priest then sets, so it will remain. 15 If the one who dedicates their house wishes to redeem it,(M) they must add a fifth to its value, and the house will again become theirs.

16 “‘If anyone dedicates to the Lord part of their family land, its value is to be set according to the amount of seed required for it—fifty shekels of silver to a homer[i] of barley seed. 17 If they dedicate a field during the Year of Jubilee, the value that has been set remains. 18 But if they dedicate a field after the Jubilee,(N) the priest will determine the value according to the number of years that remain(O) until the next Year of Jubilee, and its set value will be reduced. 19 If the one who dedicates the field wishes to redeem it,(P) they must add a fifth to its value, and the field will again become theirs. 20 If, however, they do not redeem the field, or if they have sold it to someone else, it can never be redeemed. 21 When the field is released in the Jubilee,(Q) it will become holy,(R) like a field devoted to the Lord;(S) it will become priestly property.

22 “‘If anyone dedicates to the Lord a field they have bought, which is not part of their family land, 23 the priest will determine its value up to the Year of Jubilee,(T) and the owner must pay its value on that day as something holy to the Lord. 24 In the Year of Jubilee the field will revert to the person from whom it was bought,(U) the one whose land it was. 25 Every value is to be set according to the sanctuary shekel,(V) twenty gerahs(W) to the shekel.

26 “‘No one, however, may dedicate the firstborn of an animal, since the firstborn already belongs to the Lord;(X) whether an ox[j] or a sheep, it is the Lord’s. 27 If it is one of the unclean animals,(Y) it may be bought back at its set value, adding a fifth of the value to it. If it is not redeemed, it is to be sold at its set value.

28 “‘But nothing that a person owns and devotes[k](Z) to the Lord—whether a human being or an animal or family land—may be sold or redeemed; everything so devoted is most holy(AA) to the Lord.

29 “‘No person devoted to destruction[l] may be ransomed; they are to be put to death.(AB)

30 “‘A tithe(AC) of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy(AD) to the Lord. 31 Whoever would redeem(AE) any of their tithe must add a fifth of the value(AF) to it. 32 Every tithe of the herd and flock—every tenth animal that passes under the shepherd’s rod(AG)—will be holy to the Lord. 33 No one may pick out the good from the bad or make any substitution.(AH) If anyone does make a substitution, both the animal and its substitute become holy and cannot be redeemed.(AI)’”

34 These are the commands the Lord gave Moses at Mount Sinai(AJ) for the Israelites.(AK)

Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 27:3 That is, about 1 1/4 pounds or about 575 grams; also in verse 16
  2. Leviticus 27:3 That is, about 2/5 ounce or about 12 grams; also in verse 25
  3. Leviticus 27:4 That is, about 12 ounces or about 345 grams
  4. Leviticus 27:5 That is, about 8 ounces or about 230 grams
  5. Leviticus 27:5 That is, about 4 ounces or about 115 grams; also in verse 7
  6. Leviticus 27:6 That is, about 2 ounces or about 58 grams
  7. Leviticus 27:6 That is, about 1 1/4 ounces or about 35 grams
  8. Leviticus 27:7 That is, about 6 ounces or about 175 grams
  9. Leviticus 27:16 That is, probably about 300 pounds or about 135 kilograms
  10. Leviticus 27:26 The Hebrew word can refer to either male or female.
  11. Leviticus 27:28 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord.
  12. Leviticus 27:29 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them.

27 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When a man shall make a singular vow, the persons shall be for the Lord by thy estimation.

And thy estimation shall be of the male from twenty years old even unto sixty years old, even thy estimation shall be fifty shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary.

And if it be a female, then thy estimation shall be thirty shekels.

And if it be from five years old even unto twenty years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male twenty shekels, and for the female ten shekels.

And if it be from a month old even unto five years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male five shekels of silver, and for the female thy estimation shall be three shekels of silver.

And if it be from sixty years old and above; if it be a male, then thy estimation shall be fifteen shekels, and for the female ten shekels.

But if he be poorer than thy estimation, then he shall present himself before the priest, and the priest shall value him; according to his ability that vowed shall the priest value him.

And if it be a beast, whereof men bring an offering unto the Lord, all that any man giveth of such unto the Lord shall be holy.

10 He shall not alter it, nor change it, a good for a bad, or a bad for a good: and if he shall at all change beast for beast, then it and the exchange thereof shall be holy.

11 And if it be any unclean beast, of which they do not offer a sacrifice unto the Lord, then he shall present the beast before the priest:

12 And the priest shall value it, whether it be good or bad: as thou valuest it, who art the priest, so shall it be.

13 But if he will at all redeem it, then he shall add a fifth part thereof unto thy estimation.

14 And when a man shall sanctify his house to be holy unto the Lord, then the priest shall estimate it, whether it be good or bad: as the priest shall estimate it, so shall it stand.

15 And if he that sanctified it will redeem his house, then he shall add the fifth part of the money of thy estimation unto it, and it shall be his.

16 And if a man shall sanctify unto the Lord some part of a field of his possession, then thy estimation shall be according to the seed thereof: an homer of barley seed shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver.

17 If he sanctify his field from the year of jubile, according to thy estimation it shall stand.

18 But if he sanctify his field after the jubile, then the priest shall reckon unto him the money according to the years that remain, even unto the year of the jubile, and it shall be abated from thy estimation.

19 And if he that sanctified the field will in any wise redeem it, then he shall add the fifth part of the money of thy estimation unto it, and it shall be assured to him.

20 And if he will not redeem the field, or if he have sold the field to another man, it shall not be redeemed any more.

21 But the field, when it goeth out in the jubile, shall be holy unto the Lord, as a field devoted; the possession thereof shall be the priest's.

22 And if a man sanctify unto the Lord a field which he hath bought, which is not of the fields of his possession;

23 Then the priest shall reckon unto him the worth of thy estimation, even unto the year of the jubile: and he shall give thine estimation in that day, as a holy thing unto the Lord.

24 In the year of the jubile the field shall return unto him of whom it was bought, even to him to whom the possession of the land did belong.

25 And all thy estimations shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary: twenty gerahs shall be the shekel.

26 Only the firstling of the beasts, which should be the Lord's firstling, no man shall sanctify it; whether it be ox, or sheep: it is the Lord's.

27 And if it be of an unclean beast, then he shall redeem it according to thine estimation, and shall add a fifth part of it thereto: or if it be not redeemed, then it shall be sold according to thy estimation.

28 Notwithstanding no devoted thing, that a man shall devote unto the Lord of all that he hath, both of man and beast, and of the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed: every devoted thing is most holy unto the Lord.

29 None devoted, which shall be devoted of men, shall be redeemed; but shall surely be put to death.

30 And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's: it is holy unto the Lord.

31 And if a man will at all redeem ought of his tithes, he shall add thereto the fifth part thereof.

32 And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord.

33 He shall not search whether it be good or bad, neither shall he change it: and if he change it at all, then both it and the change thereof shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.

34 These are the commandments, which the Lord commanded Moses for the children of Israel in mount Sinai.