Funding the Sanctuary

27 The Lord spoke to Moses: “Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When someone makes a special vow(A) to the Lord that involves the assessment of people, if the assessment concerns a male from twenty to sixty years old, your assessment is fifty silver shekels(B) measured by the standard sanctuary shekel.(C) If the person is a female, your assessment is thirty shekels.(D) If the person is from five to twenty years old, your assessment for a male is twenty shekels(E) and for a female ten shekels. If the person is from one month to five years old, your assessment for a male is five silver shekels,(F) and for a female your assessment is three shekels of silver. If the person is sixty years or more, your assessment is fifteen shekels for a male and ten shekels for a female. But if one is too poor to pay the assessment, he is to present the person before the priest and the priest will set a value for him. The priest will set a value for him according to what the one making the vow can afford.

“If the vow involves one of the animals that may be brought as an offering to the Lord, any of these he gives to the Lord will be holy. 10 He may not replace it or make a substitution for it, either good for bad, or bad for good.(G) But if he does substitute one animal for another, both that animal and its substitute will be holy.

11 “If the vow involves any of the unclean animals that may not be brought as an offering to the Lord, the animal must be presented before the priest. 12 The priest will set its value, whether high or low; the price will be set as the priest makes the assessment for you. 13 If the one who brought it decides to redeem it, he must add a fifth to the[a] assessed value.(H)

14 “When a man consecrates his house as holy to the Lord, the priest will assess its value, whether high or low. The price will stand just as the priest assesses it. 15 But if the one who consecrated his house redeems it, he must add a fifth to the assessed value, and it will be his.(I)

16 “If a man consecrates to the Lord any part of a field that he possesses, your assessment of value will be proportional to the seed needed to sow it, at the rate of fifty silver shekels for every six bushels[b] of barley seed.[c] 17 If he consecrates his field during the Year of Jubilee,(J) the price will stand according to your assessment. 18 But if he consecrates his field after the Jubilee, the priest will calculate the price for him in proportion to the years left until the next Year of Jubilee, so that your assessment will be reduced. 19 If the one who consecrated the field decides to redeem it, he must add a fifth to the assessed value, and the field will transfer back to him. 20 But if he does not redeem the field or if he has sold it to another man, it is no longer redeemable. 21 When the field is released in the Jubilee, it will be holy to the Lord like a field permanently set apart; it becomes the priest’s property.

22 “If a person consecrates to the Lord a field he has purchased that is not part of his inherited landholding, 23 then the priest will calculate for him the amount of the assessment up to the Year of Jubilee, and the person will pay the assessed value on that day as a holy offering to the Lord. 24 In the Year of Jubilee the field will return to the one he bought it from,(K) the original owner. 25 All your assessed values will be measured by the standard sanctuary shekel,[d] twenty gerahs to the shekel.(L)

26 “But no one can consecrate a firstborn of the livestock, whether an animal from the herd or flock, to the Lord, because a firstborn already belongs to the Lord.(M) 27 If it is one of the unclean livestock, it can be ransomed according to your assessment by adding a fifth of its value to it. If it is not redeemed, it can be sold according to your assessment.(N)

28 “Nothing that a man permanently sets apart to the Lord from all he owns, whether a person, an animal, or his inherited landholding, can be sold or redeemed; everything set apart is especially holy to the Lord. 29 No person who has been set apart for destruction is to be ransomed; he must be put to death.(O)

30 “Every tenth of the land’s produce, grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord;(P) it is holy to the Lord. 31 If a man decides to redeem any part of this tenth, he must add a fifth to its value. 32 Every tenth animal from the herd or flock, which passes under the shepherd’s rod,(Q) will be holy to the Lord. 33 He is not to inspect whether it is good or bad, and he is not to make a substitution for it. But if he does make a substitution, both the animal and its substitute will be holy;(R) they cannot be redeemed.”(S)

34 These are the commands the Lord gave Moses for the Israelites on Mount Sinai.(T)

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Footnotes

  1. 27:13 Lit your, also in vv. 15,19,23
  2. 27:16 Lit for a homer
  3. 27:16 Or grain
  4. 27:25 A shekel is about two-fifths of an ounce of silver

Special Offerings

27 The Lord told Moses, “Tell the Israelis that when a person[a] makes a special vow based on the appropriate value of people who belong to the Lord, if your valuation of the vow[b] is for a male from 20 to 60 years old, the valuation is to be 50 shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary. If she is a female from 20 to 60 years old, then your valuation is to be 30 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary. If a person[c] is from five to 20 years, then your valuation for a male is to be 20 shekels and for a female ten shekels. If a person is from one month to five years old, then your valuation for a male is to be five shekels of silver, and for a female your valuation is to be three shekels of silver. If a person is 60 or more years old, then your valuation for a male is to be fifteen shekels and for a female ten shekels. But if he is too poor to be valuated, then cause him to stand before the priest and let the priest set a value on him according to the ability[d] of the one making the vow.

“If it’s an animal from which they make an offering to the Lord, everything that he gives to the Lord from it will be holy. 10 He is not to substitute it or exchange it—the good with the bad or the bad with the good. If he ever makes an exchange of an animal for an animal, then it and what’s being exchanged is holy. 11 If any animal is unclean, which cannot be brought to the Lord as an offering, make the animal stand in the presence of the priest, 12 then the priest will evaluate it as to whether it is good or bad. According to your—that is, the priest’s—valuation, so it is to be. 13 If a kinsman redeemer decides to redeem it, then he is to add a fifth to your valuation.”

Gifts of Residences

14 “If a person consecrates his house to be holy to the Lord, then the priest is to set a value for it as to its worth, whether good or bad. As the priest sets value on it, so it will stand. 15 And if he that consecrated it wishes to redeem his house, he is to add one fifth to your valuation, after which it is to belong to him.

16 “If a person consecrates to the Lord a portion of the field from his inheritance, then your valuation is to be based on its capacity for yielding a harvest.[e] Each omer[f] of barley is to be valued at 50 shekels of silver. 17 If he consecrates his field in the year of jubilee, it is to be based on your valuation. 18 If he consecrates his field after the jubilee, then the priest is to account to him the silver according to the years that remain until the year of jubilee, with a deduction corresponding to your valuation.

19 “If the one who consecrated the field intends to redeem it, then he is to add one fifth of your valuation to it in silver, then it is to be established as his. 20 But if he won’t redeem the field, but instead sells it to another person,[g] then it is not to be redeemed anymore. 21 When the field is released in the jubilee, it will be holy to the Lord. As a field that’s devoted, it is to belong to the priest as his inheritance. 22 If he consecrates a field that he had bought and that isn’t part of his inheritance, 23 then the priest is to account to him the evaluated worth until the year of jubilee. Then he is to give the amount of valuation on that day as a holy gift to the Lord. 24 During the year of jubilee, the field is to be returned by the one who originally sold it—that is, to the owner of the land. 25 Every valuation is to be according to the shekel of the sanctuary, evaluated at 20 gerahs to the shekel.

26 “No person is to consecrate the firstborn, because the firstborn of the animals already belongs to the Lord. Whether ox or goat, it belongs to the Lord. 27 If it’s an unclean animal, then he is to ransom it according to your valuation, adding a fifth to it. If it’s not redeemed, then it is to be sold according to your valuation. 28 However, any devoted thing that a person consecrates to the Lord from what he owns—whether man, animals, or inherited fields—is not to be sold or redeemed. Any devoted thing is most sacred. It belongs to the Lord. 29 But anyone who is completely devoted from among human beings is not to be ransomed. He is certainly to be put to death.

30 “Any tithes of the land—from grain grown on the land or from fruit grown on the trees—belong to the Lord. They are sacred to the Lord. 31 But if a person wishes to redeem his tithe, he is to add a fifth to it. 32 All the tithes from cattle and flocks that pass under the measuring rod are sacred to the Lord. 33 He is not to examine it to see if it’s good or bad or even exchange it. If he does exchange it, what has been exchanged as well as its substitute[h] is sacred. It is not to be redeemed.”

34 These are the commands that the Lord commanded Moses to deliver[i] to the Israelis on Mount Sinai.

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Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 27:2 Lit. man, and so throughout the chapter
  2. Leviticus 27:3 The Heb. lacks of the vow
  3. Leviticus 27:5 Lit. son of
  4. Leviticus 27:8 Lit. according to what the hand can reach
  5. Leviticus 27:16 Lit. valuation according to seed for sowing
  6. Leviticus 27:16 I.e. about two quarts
  7. Leviticus 27:20 Lit. man
  8. Leviticus 27:33 The Heb. lacks substitute
  9. Leviticus 27:34 The Heb. lacks deliver