Laws About Vows

27 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, If anyone (A)makes a special vow to the Lord involving the valuation of persons, then the valuation of a male from twenty years old up to sixty years old shall be fifty shekels[a] of silver, according to the (B)shekel of the sanctuary. If the person is a female, the valuation shall be thirty shekels. If the person is from five years old up to twenty years old, the valuation shall be for a male twenty shekels, and for a female ten shekels. If the person is from a month old up to five years old, the valuation shall be for a male five shekels of silver, and for a female the valuation shall be three shekels of silver. And if the person is sixty years old or over, then the valuation for a male shall be fifteen shekels, and for a female ten shekels. And if someone is too poor to pay the valuation, then he shall be made to stand before the priest, and the priest shall value him; the priest shall value him according to what the vower can afford.

“If the vow[b] is an animal that may be offered as an offering to the Lord, all of it that he gives to the Lord is holy. 10 (C)He shall not exchange it or make a substitute for it, good for bad, or bad for good; and if he does in fact substitute one animal for another, then both it and the substitute shall be holy. 11 And if it is any unclean animal that may not be offered as an offering to the Lord, then he shall stand the animal before the priest, 12 and the priest shall value it as either good or bad; as the priest values it, so it shall be. 13 (D)But if he wishes to redeem it, he shall add a (E)fifth to the valuation.

14 “When a man dedicates his house as a holy gift to the Lord, the priest shall value it as either good or bad; as the priest values it, so it shall stand. 15 (F)And if the donor wishes to redeem his house, he shall add a (G)fifth to the valuation price, and it shall be his.

16 “If a man dedicates to the Lord part of the land that is his possession, then the valuation shall be in proportion to its seed. A homer[c] of barley seed shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver. 17 If he dedicates his field from the year of jubilee, the valuation shall stand, 18 but if he dedicates his field after the jubilee, then the priest shall (H)calculate the price according to the years that remain until the year of jubilee, and a deduction shall be made from the valuation. 19 (I)And if he who dedicates the field wishes to redeem it, then he shall add a (J)fifth to its valuation price, and it shall remain his. 20 But if he does not wish to redeem the field, or if he has sold the field to another man, it shall not be redeemed anymore. 21 But the field, (K)when it is released in the jubilee, shall be a holy gift to the Lord, like a field that has been (L)devoted. The priest shall be in (M)possession of it. 22 If he dedicates to the Lord a field that he has bought, (N)which is not a part of his possession, 23 (O)then the priest shall calculate the amount of the valuation for it up to the year of jubilee, and the man shall give the valuation on that day as a holy gift to the Lord. 24 (P)In the year of jubilee the field shall return to him from whom it was bought, to whom the land belongs as a possession. 25 Every valuation shall be according to (Q)the shekel of the sanctuary: (R)twenty gerahs[d] shall make a shekel.

26 “But a (S)firstborn of animals, which as a firstborn belongs to the Lord, no man may dedicate; whether ox or sheep, it is the Lord's. 27 And if it is an unclean animal, then he shall buy it back at the valuation, (T)and add a fifth to it; or, if it is not redeemed, it shall be sold at the valuation.

28 “But (U)no devoted thing that a man devotes to the Lord, of anything that he has, whether man or beast, or of his inherited field, shall be sold or redeemed; every devoted thing is most holy to the Lord. 29 (V)No one devoted, who is to be devoted for destruction[e] from mankind, shall be ransomed; he shall surely be put to death.

30 (W)“Every tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is the Lord's; it is holy to the Lord. 31 If a man wishes to redeem some of his tithe, he shall add a fifth to it. 32 And every tithe of herds and flocks, every tenth animal of all that (X)pass under the herdsman's staff, shall be holy to the Lord. 33 One shall not differentiate between good or bad, (Y)neither shall he make a substitute for it; and if he does substitute for it, then both it and the substitute shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.”

34 (Z)These are the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses for the people of Israel (AA)on Mount Sinai.

Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 27:3 A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams
  2. Leviticus 27:9 Hebrew it
  3. Leviticus 27:16 A homer was about 6 bushels or 220 liters
  4. Leviticus 27:25 A gerah was about 1/50 ounce or 0.6 gram
  5. Leviticus 27:29 That is, set apart (devoted) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction)

27 And Hashem spoke unto Moshe, saying,

Speak unto the Bnei Yisroel, and say unto them, When a man shall articulate a neder, the nefashot shall be for Hashem by thy evaluation.

And thy evaluation shall be of the zachar from esrim shanim even unto shishim shanah, even thy evaluation shall be fifty shekels kesef, after the shekel HaKodesh.

And if it be a nekevah, then thy evaluation shall be shloshim shekel.

And if it be from chamesh shanim even unto esrim shanah, then thy evaluation shall be of the zachar esrim shekel, and for the nekevah aseret shekalim.

And if it be from a month old even unto chamesh shanim, then thy evaluation shall be of the zachar chamishah shekalim kesef, and for the nekevah thy evaluation shall be shloshet shekalim kesef.

And if it be from shishim shanah and above, if it be a zachar, then thy evaluation shall be chamishah asar shekel, and for the nekevah asarah shekalim.

But if he be poorer than thy evaluation, then he shall present himself before the kohen, and the kohen shall value him; according to the ability of the one who vowed the neder shall the kohen value him.

And if it be a behemah, whereof men bring a korban unto Hashem, all that any man giveth of such unto Hashem shall be kodesh.

10 He shall not exchange it, nor substitute it, a tov for a rah, or rah for tov: and if he shall at all substitute behemah for behemah, then it and the substitute thereof shall be kodesh.

11 And if it be any behemah temeiah, of which they do not offer a korban unto Hashem, then he shall present the behemah before the kohen;

12 And the kohen shall value it, whether it be tov or rah; as thou valuest it, who art the kohen, so shall it be.

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

14 And when a man shall set apart as kodesh his bais to be kodesh unto Hashem, then the kohen shall evaluate it, whether it be tov or rah; as the kohen shall set the value of it, so shall it remain.

15 And if he that set it apart as kodesh will redeem his bais, then he shall add the fifth part of the kesef of thy evaluation unto it, and it shall be his.

16 And if a man shall set apart as kodesh unto Hashem some part of a sadeh of his possession, then thy evaluation shall be according to its seeding; an area seeded by a homer of barley shall be valued at chamishim shekel kesef.

17 If he set apart as kodesh his sadeh from the Shnat HaYovel, according to thy evaluation it shall remain.

18 But if he set apart as kodesh his sadeh after the Yovel, then the kohen shall reckon unto him the kesef according to the shanim that remain, even unto the Shnat HaYovel, and it shall be deducted from thy evaluation.

19 And if he that set apart as kodesh the sadeh will in any wise redeem it, then he shall add the fifth part of the kesef of thy evaluation unto it, and it shall be his.

20 And if he will not redeem the sadeh, or if he have sold the sadeh to ish achar (another man), it shall not be redeemed any more.

21 But the sadeh, when it is released in the Yovel, shall be kodesh unto Hashem, as a sadeh hacherem (devoted); the possession thereof shall be the kohen’s.

22 And if a man set apart as kodesh unto Hashem a sadeh which he hath bought, which is not of the fields of his possession [i.e., ancestral heritage],

23 Then the kohen shall reckon unto him the worth of thy evaluation, even unto the Shnat HaYovel: and he shall give thine evaluation in that day, as kodesh unto Hashem.

24 In the Shnat HaYovel the sadeh shall return and revert unto him of whom it was bought, even to him to whom the Achuzzat HaAretz (Ancestral Heritage of the Land) did belong.

25 And all thy evaluations shall be according to the shekel HaKodesh; twenty gerah shall be the shekel.

26 Only the bechor of the behemah, which should be Hashem’s Bechor, no man shall set it apart as kodesh; whether it be shor (ox), or seh (sheep): it is Hashem’s.

27 And if it be of a behemah hatemeiah, then he shall redeem it according to thine evaluation, and shall add a fifth part of it thereto; or if it be not redeemed, then it shall be sold according to thy evaluation.

28 Nevertheless, no cherem (devoted thing), that a man shall devote unto Hashem of all that he hath, both of adam and behemah, and of the sadeh of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed; every cherem is kodesh kodashim unto Hashem.

29 No cherem, which shall be devoted of men, shall be redeemed; but shall surely be put to death.

30 And all the ma’aser HaAretz (tithe of the Land), whether of the zera HaAretz, or of the pri HaEtz, is Hashem’s; it is kodesh unto Hashem.

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

32 And concerning the ma’aser of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be kodesh unto Hashem.

33 He shall not search whether it be tov or rah, neither shall he change it; and if he substitute it at all, then both it and the substitute thereof shall be kodesh; it shall not be redeemed.

34 These are the mitzvot, which Hashem commanded Moshe for the Bnei Yisroel in Mt. Sinai.