Leviticus 27
GOD’S WORD Translation
Special Vows
27 The Lord spoke to Moses, 2 “Tell the Israelites: If any of you makes a special vow ⌞to give a person⌟ to the Lord, 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 the Lord, 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 the Lord 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 the Lord 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 the Lord 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 the Lord. 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 the Lord 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 the Lord. 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 the Lord because it was born first. Therefore, it cannot be set apart as holy. Whether it is a bull or a sheep, it belongs to the Lord. 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 the Lord 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 the Lord. 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 the Lord. 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 the Lord. 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 the Lord gave Moses on Mount Sinai for the Israelites.
Footnotes
- 27:25 Hebrew adds “There are 20 gerahs to the standard shekel.”
Leviticus 27
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
27 And the Lord said to Moses,
2 Say to the Israelites, When a man shall make a special vow of persons to the Lord at your valuation,
3 Then 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 And if the person is a female, your valuation shall be thirty shekels.
5 And if the person is from five years old up to twenty years old, then your valuation shall be for the male twenty shekels and for the female ten shekels.
6 And if a child is from a month up to five years old, then your valuation shall be for the male five shekels of silver and for the female three shekels.
7 And if the person is from sixty years old and above, if it be a male, then your valuation shall be fifteen shekels and for the female ten shekels.
8 But if the man is too poor to pay your valuation, then he shall be set before the priest, and the priest shall value him; according to the ability of him who vowed shall the priest value him.
9 If it is a beast of which men offer an offering to the Lord, all that any man gives of such to the Lord shall be holy.
10 He shall not replace it or exchange it, a good for a bad, or a bad for a good; and if he makes any exchange of a beast for a beast, then both the original offering and that exchanged for it shall be holy.
11 If it is an unclean animal, such as is not offered as an offering to the Lord, he shall bring the animal before the priest,
12 And the priest shall value it, whether it be good or bad; as you, the priest, value it, so shall it be.
13 But if he wishes to redeem it, he shall add a fifth to your valuation.
14 If a man dedicates his house to be sacred to the Lord, the priest shall appraise it, whether it be good or bad; as the priest appraises it, so shall it stand.
15 If he who dedicates his house wants to redeem it, he shall add a fifth of your valuation to it, and it shall be his.
16 And if a man shall dedicate to the Lord some part of a field of his possession, then your valuation shall be according to the seed [required] for it; [a sowing of] a homer of barley shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver.
17 If he dedicates his field during the Year of Jubilee, it shall stand according to your full valuation.
18 But if he dedicates his field after the Jubilee, then the priest shall count the money value in proportion to the years that remain until the Year of Jubilee, and it shall be deducted from your valuation.
19 If he who dedicates the field wishes to redeem it, then he shall add a fifth of the money of your appraisal to it, and it shall remain his.
20 But if he does not want to redeem the field, or if he has sold it to another man, it shall not be redeemed any more.
21 But the field, when it is released in the Jubilee, shall be holy to the Lord, as a field devoted [to God or destruction]; the priest shall have possession of it.
22 And if a man dedicates to the Lord a field he has bought, which is not of the fields of his [ancestral] possession,
23 The priest shall compute the amount of your valuation for it up to the Year of Jubilee; the man shall give that amount on that day as a holy thing to the Lord.
24 In the Year of Jubilee the field shall return to him of whom it was bought, to him to whom the land belonged [as his ancestral inheritance].
25 And all your valuations shall be according to the sanctuary shekel; twenty gerahs shall make a shekel.
26 But the firstling of the animals, since a firstling belongs to the Lord, no man may dedicate, whether it be ox or sheep. It is the Lord’s [already].
27 If it be of an unclean animal, the owner may redeem it according to your valuation, and shall add a fifth to it; or if it is not redeemed, then it shall be sold according to your valuation.
28 But nothing that a man shall devote to the Lord of all that he has, whether of man or beast or of the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed; every devoted thing is most holy to the Lord.
29 No one doomed to death [under the claim of divine justice], who is to be completely destroyed from among men, shall be ransomed [from suffering the death penalty]; he 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 to the Lord.(A)
31 And if a man wants to redeem any of his tithe, he shall add a fifth to it.
32 And all the tithe of the herd or of the flock, whatever passes under the herdsman’s staff [by means of which each tenth animal as it passes through a small door is selected and marked], the tenth shall be holy to the Lord.(B)
33 The man shall not examine whether the animal is good or bad nor shall he exchange it. If he does exchange it, then both it and the animal substituted for it shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.
34 These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses on Mount Sinai for the Israelites.(C)
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