Leviticus 27

The LORD spoke to Moses and said,

1And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

2Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When a man makes a special vow to the LORD that involves the value of persons, the persons will belong to the LORD at the value you set.

2Speak 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.

NoteA vow of this kind pledged a person (the one making the vow, or someone in his household) to the LORD's service at the sanctuary. In practice the pledge was settled in silver rather than by handing the person over, and this chapter sets the fixed price for each category. The figures are a tariff for discharging the vow, not a statement about what a human life is worth.

3If the person is a male from twenty years old to sixty years old, the value you set will be fifty shekels of silver, measured by the shekel of the sanctuary.

3And 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.

NoteA shekel was not a coin but a weight of silver, about 11.5 grams (two-fifths of an ounce); silver was weighed out on scales. Fifty shekels was a very large sum, Judges 17:10 has a man hired for ten shekels a year plus food and clothing. "The shekel of the sanctuary" means the official standard weight kept at the sanctuary, as opposed to the varying local weights merchants used.

4If it is a female, the value you set will be thirty shekels.

4And if it be a female, then thy estimation shall be thirty shekels.

5If the person is from five years old to twenty years old, the value you set will be twenty shekels for a male and ten shekels for a female.

5And 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.

6If the person is from one month old to five years old, the value you set will be five shekels of silver for a male, and for a female the value you set will be three shekels of silver.

6And 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.

7If the person is sixty years old or older, then for a male the value you set will be fifteen shekels, and for a female ten shekels.

7And 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.

8But if he is too poor to pay the value you set, he shall bring himself before the priest, and the priest shall set a value for him. The priest shall value him according to what the one who made the vow can afford.

8But 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.

NoteThe sliding scale here means no vow was void for poverty: the priest reassessed the amount against what the man could actually pay.

9If the vow is an animal of the kind that people bring as an offering to the LORD, then any such animal a man gives to the LORD will be holy.

9And 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.

Note"Holy" here is not a description of character but of ownership and status: the animal has passed out of ordinary use and belongs to the sanctuary. The same term runs through the whole chapter.

10He must not exchange it or trade it, a good one for a bad one, or a bad one for a good one. If he does trade one animal for another, then both it and the animal traded for it will be holy.

10He 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.

11If it is any unclean animal, of the kind that people do not offer as a sacrifice to the LORD, then he shall bring the animal before the priest.

11And 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:

Note"Unclean" means ritually unfit for the altar, not dirty or diseased. Pigs, camels, donkeys and horses fell into this class. Such an animal could not be sacrificed, so it was valued in silver instead and the money went to the sanctuary.

12The priest shall set its value, whether it is good or bad. As you the priest value it, so it will be.

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

Note"Whether it is good or bad" is an idiom for "high or low", the priest fixes the price wherever it honestly falls, without favor.

13But if he wants to buy it back, he must add a fifth of that price to the value you set.

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

Note"Buy it back" translates a term usually rendered "redeem": paying a price to recover something that has passed into the sanctuary's ownership. The extra fifth, a twenty per cent surcharge, is the standard penalty throughout this chapter for taking back what has been given.

14When a man sets apart his house as holy to the LORD, the priest shall set a value on it, whether it is good or bad. Whatever value the priest sets, that is the price that stands.

14And 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.

Note"Sets apart" means formally transferring ownership of the property to the sanctuary. The house itself was not moved or occupied by priests; its assessed value in silver was what the sanctuary received.

15If the man who set apart his house wants to buy it back, he must add a fifth of the money you set as its value, and the house will be his.

15And 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.

16If a man sets apart to the LORD some part of a field he owns, the value you set will be figured by the seed needed for it: a homer of barley seed is valued at fifty shekels of silver.

16And 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.

NoteFarmland was measured by how much seed it took to sow, not by area, a practical measure, since the yield mattered more than the acreage. A homer was roughly 220 liters, about six bushels, and would sow perhaps four or five acres.

17If he sets apart his field in the year of jubilee, the price stands at the value you set.

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

NoteThe jubilee was the fiftieth year, when farmland in Israel reverted to the family that had originally been allotted it and Israelites sold into debt-servitude went free (Leviticus 25). Because no one could sell land permanently, only the harvests up to the next jubilee, a field's price was always a function of how many years remained.

18But if he sets apart his field after the jubilee, the priest shall count up the money for him according to the years that are left until the year of jubilee, and it will be taken off the value you set.

18But 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.

19If the man who set apart the field wants to buy it back, he must add a fifth of the money you set as its value, and the field will be his for certain.

19And 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.

20If he does not buy the field back, or if he has sold the field to another man, it can never be bought back again.

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

21But when the field is released in the jubilee, it will be holy to the LORD, like a field that has been devoted. It becomes the property of the priest.

21But 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.

Note"Devoted" renders a distinct Hebrew term (herem) for something irrevocably handed over, a stronger category than merely set apart, and one that could not be bought back. See verse 28.

22If a man sets apart to the LORD a field he has bought, one that is not part of the land he owns by family right,

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

Note"Land he owns by family right" is ancestral land, the plot allotted to a man's clan when Israel settled the country; it stayed in the family permanently. A field bought from someone else was only leased until the next jubilee, when it returned to the original family, so the buyer could only give away what he actually held.

23then the priest shall count up for him the amount you set as its value, up to the year of jubilee. On that day he shall pay the amount you set, as a holy thing to the LORD.

23Then 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.

24In the year of jubilee the field shall go back to the man it was bought from, the one to whom that land belonged.

24In 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.

25Every value you set is to be measured by the shekel of the sanctuary: twenty gerahs make one shekel.

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

NoteA gerah was the smallest unit of weight, about half a gram, a twentieth of a shekel. The verse fixes the standard so the priest's valuations could not be shaded by using a lighter shekel.

26Only the firstborn of the animals, which already belongs to the LORD because it is firstborn, no one may set apart. Whether it is an ox or a sheep, it is the LORD's.

26Only 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.

NoteUnder existing law the first male born to each cow, ewe or goat already belonged to the LORD (Exodus 13:2, 12). A man could not therefore offer it as though it were his own gift and gain credit for it.

27If it is one of the unclean animals, then he may buy it back at the value you set, adding a fifth of that value to it. If it is not bought back, then it shall be sold at the value you set.

27And 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.

28However, no devoted thing that a man devotes to the LORD out of everything he has, whether a person or an animal or a field he owns by family right, may be sold or bought back. Every devoted thing is most holy to the LORD.

28Notwithstanding 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.

NoteThis paragraph shifts from ordinary consecration to the herem, translated "devoted": a permanent, irreversible transfer with no buy-back price. In other passages the same word covers things placed under a ban in war and destroyed. Whether an individual could place another human being under this ban, and under what circumstances, is disputed and the text does not spell it out.

29No one who is devoted, of those devoted from among people, may be bought back. He must be put to death.

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

NoteThis verse is the hardest in the chapter and its scope is contested. It may refer to persons already under a sentence of destruction (captured enemies placed under a ban, or someone condemned under law) stating only that money cannot buy such a sentence off. It is not read here as license to devote a person to death at will, but the Hebrew does not settle the question on its own.

30All the tithe of the land, whether from the seed of the land or from the fruit of the trees, belongs to the LORD. It is holy to the LORD.

30And 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.

NoteA tithe was a tenth of the year's produce, owed as a standing due rather than given voluntarily; it supported the priests and Levites, who held no farmland of their own.

31If a man wants to buy back any part of his tithe, he must add a fifth of its value to it.

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

NoteGrain and fruit could be converted to silver, useful for a farmer living far from the sanctuary, but at a fifth above the market value, so paying in kind was always cheaper.

32As for the tithe of the herd or the flock, of every animal that passes under the rod, the tenth one will be holy to the LORD.

32And 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.

NoteShepherds counted a flock by making the animals file out one at a time under a held-out staff, tallying as they passed. Every tenth animal to pass was the LORD's, which is why verse 33 forbids inspecting them: the count, not the owner's judgment, chose the animal.

33He must not look them over to see whether an animal is good or bad, and he must not trade one for another. If he does trade one for another, then both it and the animal traded for it will be holy. It cannot be bought back.

33He 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.

34These are the commandments that the LORD commanded Moses for the Israelites at Mount Sinai.

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

NoteThis closing line ends the book of Leviticus, tying the whole collection of laws back to the covenant made at Mount Sinai in Exodus.