Leviticus 27

Vows, Valuations, Dedications, Devoted Things, Firstborn, and Tithes Belonging to the LORD

The LORD gives Moses regulations for special vows involving persons and fixed sanctuary valuations according to age and sex, with provision for the poor. He then regulates vowed animals, houses, inherited fields, purchased fields, redemption by adding a fifth, firstborn animals, devoted things, and tithes from land and herds. The chapter concludes by identifying these commands as those the LORD gave Moses at Mount Sinai for the Israelites.

World English Bible, Public Domain

Persons dedicated by vow are valued according to age and sex, with provision for those too poor to pay.

Leviticus 27:1-8

Devotion to the LORD through vows must be expressed with seriousness, structure, and accountability.

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

2 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, ‘When a man consecrates a person to Yahweh in a vow, according to your valuation,

3 your valuation of a male from twenty years old to sixty years old shall be fifty shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary.

4 If she is a female, then your valuation shall be thirty shekels.

5 If the person is from five years old to twenty years old, then your valuation shall be for a male twenty shekels, and for a female ten shekels.

6 If the person is from a month old to five years old, then your valuation shall be for a male five shekels of silver, and for a female your valuation shall be three shekels of silver.

7 If the person is from sixty years old and upward; if he is a male, then your valuation shall be fifteen shekels, and for a female ten shekels.

8 But if he is poorer than your valuation, then he shall be set before the priest, and the priest shall assign a value to him. The priest shall assign a value according to his ability to pay.

Acceptable animals vowed to the LORD become holy and cannot be swapped; unclean animals may be valued and redeemed with an added fifth.

Leviticus 27:9-13

What is vowed to the LORD becomes holy and must be treated according to His established order.

9 “ ‘If it is an animal of which men offer an offering to Yahweh, all that any man gives of such to Yahweh becomes holy.

10 He shall not alter it, nor exchange it, a good for a bad, or a bad for a good. If he shall at all exchange animal for animal, then both it and that for which it is exchanged shall be holy.

11 If it is any unclean animal, of which they do not offer as an offering to Yahweh, then he shall set the animal before the priest;

12 and the priest shall evaluate it, whether it is good or bad. As the priest evaluates it, so it shall be.

13 But if he will indeed redeem it, then he shall add the fifth part of it to its valuation.

A house dedicated to the LORD is valued by the priest and may be redeemed by adding a fifth.

Leviticus 27:14-15

What is devoted to the LORD is holy and may only be reclaimed through an ordered and costly redemption.

14 “ ‘When a man dedicates his house to be holy to Yahweh, then the priest shall evaluate it, whether it is good or bad. As the priest evaluates it, so it shall stand.

15 If he who dedicates it will redeem his house, then he shall add the fifth part of the money of your valuation to it, and it shall be his.

Inherited and purchased fields dedicated to the LORD are valued according to seed, sanctuary shekel, and years remaining until Jubilee.

16 “ ‘If a man dedicates to Yahweh part of the field of his possession, then your valuation shall be according to the seed for it. The sowing of a homer of barley shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver.

17 If he dedicates his field from the Year of Jubilee, according to your valuation it shall stand.

18 But if he dedicates his field after the Jubilee, then the priest shall reckon to him the money according to the years that remain to the Year of Jubilee; and an abatement shall be made from your valuation.

19 If he who dedicated the field will indeed redeem it, then he shall add the fifth part of the money of your valuation to it, and it shall remain his.

20 If he will not redeem the field, or if he has sold the field to another man, it shall not be redeemed any more;

21 but the field, when it goes out in the Jubilee, shall be holy to Yahweh, as a devoted field. It shall be owned by the priests.

22 “ ‘If he dedicates a field to Yahweh which he has bought, which is not of the field of his possession,

23 then the priest shall reckon to him the worth of your valuation up to the Year of Jubilee; and he shall give your valuation on that day, as a holy thing to Yahweh.

24 In the Year of Jubilee the field shall return to him from whom it was bought, even to him to whom the possession of the land belongs.

25 All your valuations shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary: twenty gerahs to the shekel.

Firstborn animals may not be dedicated by vow because they already belong to the LORD.

26 “ ‘However the firstborn among animals, which belongs to Yahweh as a firstborn, no man may dedicate, whether an ox or a sheep. It is Yahweh’s.

27 If it is an unclean animal, then he shall buy it back according to your valuation, and shall add to it the fifth part of it; or if it isn’t redeemed, then it shall be sold according to your valuation.

Things irrevocably devoted to the LORD cannot be sold or redeemed.

Leviticus 27:28-29

What is irrevocably devoted to the LORD cannot be reclaimed and belongs wholly to Him.

28 “ ‘Notwithstanding, no devoted thing that a man devotes to Yahweh of all that he has, whether of man or animal, or of the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed. Everything that is permanently devoted is most holy to Yahweh.

29 “ ‘No one devoted to destruction, who shall be devoted from among men, shall be ransomed. He shall surely be put to death.

The tithe of land, fruit, herd, and flock belongs to the LORD and must not be manipulated.

Leviticus 27:30-33

The tithe belongs to the LORD and must be honored as holy without alteration.

30 “ ‘All the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is Yahweh’s. It is holy to Yahweh.

31 If a man redeems anything of his tithe, he shall add a fifth part to it.

32 All the tithe of the herds or the flocks, whatever passes under the rod, the tenth shall be holy to Yahweh.

33 He shall not examine whether it is good or bad, neither shall he exchange it. If he exchanges it at all, then both it and that for which it is exchanged shall be holy. It shall not be redeemed.’ ”

The chapter concludes Leviticus by identifying these as the LORD's commands given through Moses at Sinai.

Leviticus 27:34

The commands of Leviticus are the authoritative word of the LORD establishing His covenant with His people.

34 These are the commandments which Yahweh commanded Moses for the children of Israel on Mount Sinai.

Key Terms

פָּלָא pala H6381
נֶדֶר neder H5088
עֶרֶךְ erek H6187
נֶפֶשׁ nephesh H5315
זָכָר zakar H2145
נְקֵבָה neqevah H5347
שֶׁקֶל sheqel H8255
קֹדֶשׁ qodesh H6944
מוּךְ mukh H4134
כֹּהֵן kohen H3548
נָגַע naga H5060
יָד yad H3027

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