Leviticus 27
The Voice
27 The Eternal One gave Moses the rules regarding the fulfillment of vows.
Now there is nothing to suggest that God requires His people to make vows; but when they do, they must be taken seriously. So if a person pledges to give God something in exchange for His help or blessing on a matter, then that person is bound to keep his promise. It would be better not to make a vow in the first place than to make it and not fulfill it.
Eternal One: 2 Go, talk with the Israelites and tell them that whenever someone makes a special vow to Me regarding the value of a human being, 3 the proper value of a 20- to 60-year-old male is 20 ounces of silver, according to the sanctuary weights. 4 The proper value of a female of those ages is 12 ounces. 5 If the person is 5 to 20 years old, the proper value for the male is 8 ounces; for the female 4 ounces. 6 But if the person is anywhere from one month to 5 years old, the proper value is 2 ounces of silver for males and 1¼ ounces of silver for females. 7 If the person is 60 years old or older, it is to be 6 ounces for the male and 4 ounces for the female. 8 If someone cannot afford these prices, then bring him to stand before the priest, and the priest will assess the situation and value him according to what the person can afford.
9 Whenever someone vows to give an animal that is acceptable as an offering to Me, then that animal is sacred and is the property of the sanctuary. 10 Whoever makes the vow should not switch one animal for another, a good animal for a bad, or vice versa. If someone does switch one for another, then both animals are considered sacred. 11 But if the vow involves an animal that is impure and not acceptable as an offering to Me, he needs to bring the animal before the priest. 12 The priest will determine its value—either high or low—and whatever he determines will be its price. 13 If the owner desires to buy the animal back from the sanctuary, he must pay that price plus ⅕.
Animals that are unclean according to the law are not be donated in fulfillment of a vow because they are not acceptable as sacrifices. They are taken to the market and sold; the money gained from the sale supports the priests and their service.
Eternal One: 14 If a man dedicates his house as a sacred gift to Me, the priest will determine its value—either high or low—and whatever he determines will be its price. 15 If the person who dedicates his house desires to buy it back, he must pay that price plus ⅕, and the house will be his once again.
16 If a man dedicates any piece of his property to Me, the value fixed must be in proportion to the amount of seed it requires for planting. Six bushels of barley seed is worth 20 ounces of silver. 17 If he dedicates his field during the year of jubilee, the fixed value still stands. 18 If he dedicates his field after the jubilee year, the priest will determine its value according to how many years remain until the jubilee and reduce it accordingly. 19 If the person who dedicates the property desires to buy it back, he must pay that price plus ⅕; then the piece of land will be his once again. 20 If he decides not to buy the property back, or if he has sold it to another person, then he forfeits the right to redeem it. 21 If the original owner releases the field in the jubilee, it must be treated as a holy gift dedicated to Me; then it will become the property of the priests.
22 If someone dedicates land to Me that he has bought and is not part of his ancestral lands, 23 then the priest will determine its value according to how many years remain until the jubilee. The man must pay that amount as his sacred gift to Me. 24 In the jubilee year, the property will revert back to the one who sold it, its original owner; it will be his once again.
25 All of your assessments should be based on the sanctuary’s weights: the basic unit is ⅖ of an ounce.
26 Firstborn animals already belong to Me, so no one is allowed to dedicate any firstborn animal—be it an ox or a sheep. It is already Mine. 27 If it is an impure animal—unsuitable as a sacrifice—then the person making the vow may redeem it for its value plus ⅕. If the owner decides not to redeem it, then it must be sold for its proper value and the sanctuary will keep the proceeds.
28 Surely nothing devoted to Me as an irrevocable vow, regardless of what it is—a person, an animal, or a piece of property—can be sold or bought back; it must be destroyed. Anything devoted in this way is most holy to Me and cannot be put to another use. 29 No person who is devoted irrevocably to Me[a] can be redeemed. He must be put to death.
30 One-tenth of everything the land produces—seeds from the ground and fruits from the trees—belongs to Me and is sacred to Me. 31 If a man desires to buy back a portion of My ⅒, he must pay its value plus ⅕. 32 Regarding your livestock, ⅒ of the herd or flock must be set apart for Me as holy. As you count them, every tenth animal that passes beneath the shepherd’s rod belongs to Me. 33 It does not matter whether the animals are good or bad, and one must not think about switching or replacing one for another. If he does, then the original and the replacement are both sacred and cannot be redeemed.
34 These are the commandments the Eternal gave to Moses for the people of Israel at Mount Sinai.
Footnotes
Leviticus 27
King James Version
27 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
2 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.
3 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.
4 And if it be a female, then thy estimation shall be thirty shekels.
5 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.
6 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.
7 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.
8 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.
9 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.
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