Leviticus 27
English Standard Version
Laws About Vows
27 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “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, 3 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. 4 If the person is a female, the valuation shall be thirty shekels. 5 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. 6 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. 7 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. 8 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.
9 “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
- Leviticus 27:3 A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams
- Leviticus 27:9 Hebrew it
- Leviticus 27:16 A homer was about 6 bushels or 220 liters
- Leviticus 27:25 A gerah was about 1/50 ounce or 0.6 gram
- Leviticus 27:29 That is, set apart (devoted) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction)
Leviticus 27
Names of God Bible
Special Vows
27 Yahweh spoke to Moses, 2 “Tell the Israelites: If any of you makes a special vow to give a person to Yahweh, you may give money instead of the person. 3 The amount you must give for a man from 20 to 60 years old is 20 ounces of silver. Use the standard weight of the holy place. 4 If it is a woman, give 12 ounces. 5 For a boy from 5 to 20 years old, give 8 ounces and for a girl give 4 ounces. 6 For a boy from one month to five years old, give 2 ounces of silver and for a girl give about one ounce. 7 For a man 60 years or over, give 6 ounces and for a woman give 4 ounces. 8 But the person who is too poor to pay the required amount must stand in front of the priest. The priest will determine the amount based on what the person can afford.
9 “If the vow is to give the kind of animal that people offer to Yahweh, it will be considered holy. 10 Don’t exchange or substitute animals, a good one for a bad one or a bad one for a good one. If you do exchange one animal for another, then both animals will be holy. 11 If it is an unclean animal that cannot be brought to Yahweh as an offering, bring it in front of the priest. 12 The priest will determine what its value is. The value will be whatever the priest decides. 13 If you want to buy it back, you must pay its full value plus one-fifth more.
14 “If you give your house to Yahweh as something holy, the priest will determine what its value is. The value will be whatever the priest decides. 15 If you want to buy it back, you must pay its full value plus one-fifth more.
16 “If a person gives part of a field to Yahweh as something holy, its value will be based on the seed planted on it. Ground planted with 2 quarts of barley will be worth 20 ounces of silver. 17 If you give your field in the jubilee year, it will have its full value. 18 But if you give the field after the jubilee year, the priest will estimate its value based on the number of years left until the next jubilee year. 19 If you want to buy it back, you must pay its full value plus one-fifth more. 20 But if you don’t buy it back and it is sold to someone else, you cannot buy it back. 21 When the field is released in the jubilee year, it will be holy like a field claimed by Yahweh. It will become the property of the priest. 22 You may give a field you bought (not one that was a part of your family property) to Yahweh as something holy. 23 The priest must figure out the field’s value until the jubilee year. You will pay its value on that day as something holy, belonging to Yahweh. 24 In the jubilee year the field will go back to the person from whom it was bought, to whom it belongs as family property.
25 “All values will be set using the standard weight of the holy place.[a]
26 “A firstborn animal already belongs to Yahweh because it was born first. Therefore, it cannot be set apart as holy. Whether it is a bull or a sheep, it belongs to Yahweh. 27 But if it is an unclean animal, it must be bought back. The payment will be its full value plus one-fifth more. If it is not bought back, it must be sold at the value given it.
28 “However, everything dedicated to Yahweh for destruction—a person, an animal, or a field that belongs to you—must not be sold or bought back. Everything dedicated in that way is very holy. It belongs to Yahweh. 29 People dedicated this way cannot be bought back. They must be put to death.
30 “One-tenth of what comes from the land, whether grain or fruit, is holy and belongs to Yahweh. 31 If you buy back any part of it, you must add one-fifth more to it. 32 Every tenth head of cattle or sheep that you counted is holy and belongs to Yahweh. 33 You must not look to see if it is good or bad or exchange it. But if you do exchange it, both the first animal and its substitute will be holy. They cannot be bought back.”
34 These are the commands Yahweh gave Moses on Mount Sinai for the Israelites.
Footnotes
- Leviticus 27:25 Hebrew adds “There are 20 gerahs to the standard shekel.”
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.