Leviticus 27:14 - Numbers 1:54
Contemporary English Version
14 If you promise a house to me, a priest will set the price, whatever the condition of the house. 15 But if you decide to buy it back, you must pay an additional 20 percent.
16 If you promise part of your family's land to me, its value must be determined by the amount of seed needed to plant the land, and the rate will be ten pieces of silver for every 20 kilograms of seed. 17 If this promise is made in the Year of Celebration,[a] the land will be valued at the full price. 18 But any time after that, the price will be figured according to the number of years before the next Year of Celebration. 19 If you decide to buy back the land, you must pay the price plus an additional 20 percent, 20 but you cannot buy it back once someone else has bought it. 21 When the Year of Celebration comes, the land becomes holy because it belongs to me, and it will be given to the priests.
22 If you promise me a field that you have bought, 23 its value will be decided by a priest, according to the number of years before the next Year of Celebration, and the money you pay will be mine. 24 However, on the next Year of Celebration, the land will go back to the family of its original owner. 25 Every price will be set by the official standards.
Various Offerings
The Lord said:
26 All first-born animals of your flocks and herds are already mine, and so you cannot promise any of them to me. 27 If you promise me a donkey,[b] you may buy it back by adding an additional 20 percent to its value. If you don't buy it back, it can be sold to someone else for whatever a priest has said it is worth.
28 (A) Anything that you completely dedicate to me must be completely destroyed.[c] It cannot be bought back or sold. Every person, animal, and piece of property that you dedicate completely is only for me. 29 In fact, any humans who have been promised to me in this way must be put to death.
30 (B) Ten percent of everything you harvest is holy and belongs to me, whether it grows in your fields or on your fruit trees. 31 If you want to buy back this part of your harvest, you may do so by paying what it is worth plus an additional 20 percent.
32 When you count your flocks and herds, one out of ten of every newborn animal[d] is holy and belongs to me, 33 no matter how good or bad it is. If you substitute one animal for another, both of them become holy, and neither can be bought back.
34 Moses was on Mount Sinai when the Lord gave him these laws for the people of Israel.
The People of Israel Are Counted
1 (C) The people of Israel had left Egypt and were living in the Sinai Desert. Then on the first day of the second month[e] of the second year, when Moses was in the sacred tent the Lord said:
2-3 I want you and Aaron to find out how many people are in each of Israel's clans and families. And make a list of all the men 20 years and older who are able to fight in battle. 4-15 The following twelve family leaders, one from each tribe, will help you:
Elizur son of Shedeur
from Reuben,
Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai
from Simeon,
Nahshon son of Amminadab
from Judah,
Nethanel son of Zuar
from Issachar,
Eliab son of Helon
from Zebulun,
Elishama son of Ammihud
from Ephraim,
Gamaliel son of Pedahzur
from Manasseh,
Abidan son of Gideoni
from Benjamin,
Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai
from Dan,
Pagiel son of Ochran
from Asher,
Eliasaph son of Deuel
from Gad,
and Ahira son of Enan
from Naphtali.
16-17 Moses and Aaron, together with these twelve tribal leaders, 18 called together the people that same day. They were counted according to their clans and families. Then Moses and the others listed the names of the men twenty years and older, 19 just as the Lord had commanded. 20-46 The number of men from each tribe who were at least 20 years old and strong enough to fight in Israel's army was as follows:
46,500 from Reuben,
the oldest son of Jacob,[f]
59,300 from Simeon,
45,650 from Gad,
74,600 from Judah,
54,400 from Issachar,
57,400 from Zebulun,
40,500 from Ephraim,
32,200 from Manasseh,
35,400 from Benjamin,
62,700 from Dan,
41,500 from Asher,
53,400 from Naphtali.
The total number of men registered by Moses, Aaron, and the twelve leaders was 603,550.
47 But those from the Levi tribe were not included 48 because the Lord had said to Moses:
49 When you count the Israelites, do not include those from the Levi tribe. 50-51 Instead, give them the job of caring for the sacred tent, its furnishings, and the objects used for worship. They will camp around the tent, and whenever you move, they will take it down, carry it to the new camp, and set it up again. Anyone else who tries to go near it must be put to death.
52 The rest of the Israelites will camp in their own groups and under their own banners. 53 But the Levites will camp around the sacred tent to make sure that no one goes near it and makes me furious with the Israelites.
54 The people of Israel did everything the Lord had commanded.
Footnotes
- 27.17 Year of Celebration: See 25.8-34.
- 27.27 donkey: See the note at 27.11.
- 27.28 completely dedicate … completely destroyed: In order to show that something belonged completely to the Lord and could not be used by anyone else, it was destroyed. This law most often applied to towns and people captured in war (see Joshua 6.16,17).
- 27.32 one out of ten of every newborn animal: Or “one out of every ten animals.”
- 1.1 second month: Ziv, the second month of the Hebrew calendar, from about mid-April to mid-May.
- 1.20-46 Jacob: The Hebrew text has “Israel,” Jacob's name after God renamed him.
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