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Leviticus 27
New English Translation

Redemption of Persons Given as Votive Offerings

27 The Lord spoke to Moses: 2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When a man makes a special votive offering[a] based on the conversion value of a person to the Lord,[b] 3 the conversion value of the male[c] from twenty years old up to sixty years old[d] is fifty shekels by the standard of the sanctuary shekel.[e] 4 If the person is a female, the conversion value is thirty shekels. 5 If the person is from five years old up to twenty years old, the conversion value of the male is twenty shekels, and for the female ten shekels. 6 If the person is one month old up to five years old, the conversion value of the male is five shekels of silver,[f] and for the female the conversion value is three shekels of silver. 7 If the person is from sixty years old and older, if he is a male the conversion value is fifteen shekels, and for the female ten shekels. 8 If the person making the votive offering[g] is too poor to pay the conversion value, he must stand the person before the priest and the priest will establish his conversion value;[h] according to what the man who made the votive offering can afford,[i] the priest will establish his conversion value.

Redemption of Animals Given as Votive Offerings

9 “‘If what is vowed is a kind of animal from which an offering may be presented[j] to the Lord, anything which he gives to the Lord from this kind of animal[k] will be holy. 10 He must not replace or exchange it, good for bad or bad for good, and if he does indeed exchange one animal for another animal, then both the original animal[l] and its substitute will be holy. 11 If what is vowed is an unclean animal from which an offering must not be presented to the Lord, then he must stand the animal before the priest, 12 and the priest will establish its conversion value,[m] whether good or bad. According to the conversion value assessed by the priest, thus it will be. 13 If, however, the person who made the vow redeems the animal,[n] he must add one-fifth to[o] its conversion value.

Redemption of Houses Given as Votive Offerings

14 “‘If a man consecrates his house as holy to the Lord, the priest will establish its conversion value, whether good or bad. Just as the priest establishes its conversion value, thus it will stand.[p] 15 If the one who consecrates it redeems his house, he must add to it one-fifth of its conversion value in silver, and it will belong to him.[q]

Redemption of Fields Given as Votive Offerings

16 “‘If a man consecrates to the Lord some of his own landed property, the conversion value must be calculated in accordance with the amount of seed needed to sow it,[r] a homer of barley seed being priced at fifty shekels of silver.[s] 17 If he consecrates his field in the Jubilee year,[t] the conversion value will stand, 18 but if[u] he consecrates his field after the Jubilee, the priest will calculate the price[v] for him according to the years that are left until the next Jubilee year, and it will be deducted from the conversion value. 19 If, however, the one who consecrated the field redeems it,[w] he must add to it one-fifth of the conversion price[x] and it will belong to him.[y] 20 If he does not redeem the field, but sells[z] the field to someone else, he may never redeem it. 21 When it reverts[aa] in the Jubilee, the field will be holy to the Lord like a permanently dedicated field;[ab] it will become the priest’s property.[ac]

22 “‘If he consecrates to the Lord a field he has purchased,[ad] which is not part of his own landed property, 23 the priest will calculate for him the amount of its conversion value until the Jubilee year, and he must pay[ae] the conversion value on that Jubilee day as something that is holy to the Lord. 24 In the Jubilee year the field will return to the one from whom he bought it, the one to whom it belongs as landed property. 25 Every conversion value must be calculated by the standard of the sanctuary shekel;[af] twenty gerahs to the shekel.

Redemption of the Firstborn

26 “‘Surely no man may consecrate a firstborn that already belongs to the Lord as a firstborn among the animals; whether it is an ox or a sheep, it belongs to the Lord.[ag] 27 If, however,[ah] it is among the unclean animals, he may ransom it according to[ai] its conversion value and must add one-fifth to it, but if it is not redeemed it must be sold according to its conversion value.

Things Permanently Dedicated to the Lord

28 “‘Surely anything that a man permanently dedicates to the Lord[aj] from all that belongs to him, whether from people, animals, or his landed property, must be neither sold nor redeemed; anything permanently dedicated is most holy to the Lord. 29 Any human being who is permanently dedicated[ak] to the Lord[al] must not be ransomed; such a person must be put to death.

Redemption of the Tithe

30 “‘Any tithe[am] of the land, from the grain of the land or from the fruit of the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord. 31 If a man redeems[an] part of his tithe, however, he must add one-fifth to it.[ao] 32 All the tithe of herds or flocks, everything which passes under the rod, the tenth one will be holy to the Lord.[ap] 33 The owner[aq] must not examine the animals to distinguish between good and bad, and he must not exchange it. If, however, he does exchange it,[ar] both the original animal[as] and its substitute will be holy[at] and must not be redeemed.’”

Final Colophon

34 These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses to tell the Israelites[au] at Mount Sinai.

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Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 27:2 tn Cf. the note on Lev 22:21. Some take this as an expression for fulfilling a vow, “to fulfill a vow” (e.g., HALOT 927-28 s.v. פלא piel and NASB; cf. NRSV “in fulfillment of a vow”) or, alternatively, “to make a vow” or “for making a vow” (HALOT 928 s.v. פלא piel [II פלא]). Perhaps it refers to the making a special vow, from the verb פָלָא (palaʾ, “to be wonderful; to be remarkable”), cf. Milgrom, Numbers [JPSTC], 44. B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 151 and 193, suggests that this is a special term for “setting aside a votive offering” (related to פָלָה, palah, “to set aside”). In general, the point of the expression seems to be that this sacrifice is a special gift to God that arose out of special circumstances in the life of the worshiper.
  2. Leviticus 27:2 tn Heb “in your valuation, persons to the Lord,” but “in your valuation” is a frozen form and, therefore, the person (“your”) does not figure into the translation (see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 73). Instead of offering a person to the Lord one could redeem that person with the appropriate amount of money delineated in the following verses (see the note on Lev 5:15 above and the explanation in Hartley, 480-81).
  3. Leviticus 27:3 tn Heb “your conversion value shall be [for] the male.”
  4. Leviticus 27:3 tn Heb “from a son of twenty years and until a son of sixty years.”
  5. Leviticus 27:3 tn See the note on Lev 5:15.
  6. Leviticus 27:6 tn Heb “five shekels silver.”
  7. Leviticus 27:8 tn Heb “if he.”
  8. Leviticus 27:8 tn Heb “and the priest shall cause him to be valued.”
  9. Leviticus 27:8 tn Heb “on the mouth which the hand of the one who vowed reaches.”
  10. Leviticus 27:9 tn Heb “which they may present from it an offering.” The plural active verb is sometimes best rendered in the passive (GKC 460 §144.f, g). Some medieval Hebrew mss, Smr, a ms of the Targum, and the Vulgate all have the singular verb instead (cf. similarly v. 11).
  11. Leviticus 27:9 tn Heb “from it.” The masculine suffix “it” here is used for the feminine in the MT, but one medieval Hebrew ms, some mss of Smr, the LXX, and the Syriac have the feminine. The referent (this kind of animal) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  12. Leviticus 27:10 tn Heb “it and its substitute.” The referent (the original animal offered) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  13. Leviticus 27:12 tn Heb “and the priest shall cause it to be valued.” See the note on v. 8 above.
  14. Leviticus 27:13 tn Heb “And if redeeming [infinitive absolute] he redeems it [finite verb].” For the infinitive absolute used to highlight contrast rather than emphasis see GKC 343 §113.p. The referent of “he” (the person who made the vow) and “it” (the animal) have both been specified in the translation for clarity.
  15. Leviticus 27:13 tn Heb “on,” meaning “on top of, in addition to” (likewise in v. 15).
  16. Leviticus 27:14 tn The expression “it shall stand” may be a technical term for “it shall be legally valid”; cf. NLT “assessment will be final.”
  17. Leviticus 27:15 tn Heb “and it shall be to him.”
  18. Leviticus 27:16 tn Heb “a conversion value shall be to the mouth of its seed.”
  19. Leviticus 27:16 tn Heb “seed of a homer of barley in fifty shekels of silver.”
  20. Leviticus 27:17 tn Heb “from the year of the jubilee.” For the meaning of “jubilee,” see the note on Lev 25:10 above.
  21. Leviticus 27:18 tn Heb “And if.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have adversative force here.
  22. Leviticus 27:18 tn Heb “the silver.”
  23. Leviticus 27:19 tn Heb “And if redeeming [infinitive absolute] he redeems [finite verb] the field, the one who consecrated it.” For the infinitive absolute used to highlight contrast rather than emphasis see GKC 343 §113.p.
  24. Leviticus 27:19 tn Heb “the silver of the conversion value.”
  25. Leviticus 27:19 tn Heb “and it shall rise to him.” See HALOT 1087 s.v. קום 7 for the rendering offered here, but see also the note on the end of v. 14 above (cf. J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 476, 478).
  26. Leviticus 27:20 tn Heb “and if he sells.”
  27. Leviticus 27:21 tn Heb “When it goes out” (cf. Lev 25:25-34).
  28. Leviticus 27:21 tn Heb “like the field of the permanent dedication.” The Hebrew word חֵרֶם (kherem) is a much discussed term. In this and the following verses it refers in a general way to the fact that something is permanently devoted to the Lord and therefore cannot be redeemed (cf. v. 20b). See J. A. Naudé, NIDOTTE 2:276-77; N. Lohfink, TDOT 5:180-99, esp. pp. 184, 188, and 198-99; and the numerous explanations in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (WBC), 483-85.
  29. Leviticus 27:21 tn Heb “to the priest it shall be his property.”
  30. Leviticus 27:22 tn Heb “his field of purchase,” which is to be distinguished from his own ancestral “landed property” (cf. v. 16 above).
  31. Leviticus 27:23 tn Heb “give” (so KJV, ASV, NASB, NLT).
  32. Leviticus 27:25 tn See the note on Lev 5:15.
  33. Leviticus 27:26 tn Heb “to the Lord it is.”
  34. Leviticus 27:27 tn Heb “And if.”
  35. Leviticus 27:27 tn Heb “in” or “by.”
  36. Leviticus 27:28 tn Heb “Surely, any permanently dedicated [thing] which a man shall permanently dedicate to the Lord.” The Hebrew term חֵרֶם (kherem) refers to things that are devoted permanently to the Lord (see the note on v. 21 above).
  37. Leviticus 27:29 tn Heb “permanently dedicated from among men.”
  38. Leviticus 27:29 tn The words “to the Lord” are not in the Hebrew text but have been supplied for clarity.
  39. Leviticus 27:30 tn On the “tithe” system in Israel, see R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:1035-55 and esp. pp. 1041-42 on Lev 27:30-33.
  40. Leviticus 27:31 tn Heb “And if redeeming [infinitive absolute] a man redeems [finite verb].” For the infinitive absolute used to highlight contrast rather than emphasis see GKC 343 §113.p.
  41. Leviticus 27:31 tn Heb “its one-fifth on it.”
  42. Leviticus 27:32 sn The tithed animal was the tenth one that passed under the shepherd’s rod or staff as they were being counted (see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 485, and B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 200).
  43. Leviticus 27:33 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the owner of the animal) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  44. Leviticus 27:33 tn Heb “And if exchanging [infinitive absolute] he exchanges it [finite verb].” For the infinitive absolute used to highlight contrast rather than emphasis see GKC 343 §113.p.
  45. Leviticus 27:33 tn Heb “it and its substitute.” The referent (the original animal offered) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  46. Leviticus 27:33 tn Heb “it shall be and its substitute shall be holy.”
  47. Leviticus 27:34 tn Most of the commentaries and English versions translate, “which the Lord commanded Moses for the children of Israel.” The preposition אֶל (ʾel), however, does not usually mean “for.” In this book it is commonly used when the Lord commands Moses “to speak [un]to” a person or group of persons (see, e.g., Lev 1:2; 4:2, etc.). The translation “to tell” here reflects this pattern in the book of Leviticus.
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Leviticus 27
Amplified Bible

Rules concerning Valuations

27 Again, the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘When a man makes a [a]special vow [consecrating himself or a member of his family], he shall be valued according to your [established system of] valuation of people belonging to the Lord [that is, the priest accepts from the man making the vow a specified amount of money for the temple treasury in place of the actual person]. 3 If your valuation is of a male between twenty and sixty years of age, then your valuation shall be fifty shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary. 4 Or if the person is a female, then your valuation shall be thirty shekels. 5 If the person is between five years and twenty years of age, then your valuation for the male shall be twenty shekels and for the female ten shekels. 6 But if the child is between one month and five years of age, then your valuation shall be five shekels of silver for the male and three shekels for the female. 7 If the person is sixty years old and above, your valuation shall be fifteen shekels for the male, and ten shekels for the female. 8 But if the person is too poor to pay your valuation, then he shall be placed before the priest, and the priest shall value him; according to the ability of the one who vowed, the priest shall value him.

9 ‘Now if it is an animal of the kind which men can present as an offering to the Lord, any such that one gives 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; but if he does exchange an animal for an animal, then both the original offering and its substitute shall be holy. 11 If it is any unclean animal of the kind which men do not present as an offering to the Lord, then he shall bring the animal before the priest, 12 and the priest shall value it as either good or bad; it shall be as you, the priest, value it. 13 But if he ever wishes to redeem it, then he shall add one-fifth of it to your valuation.

14 ‘If a man consecrates his house as sacred to the Lord, the priest shall appraise it as either good or bad; as the priest appraises it, so shall it stand. 15 If the one who consecrates his house should wish to redeem it, then he shall add one-fifth of your valuation price to it, so that it may be his.

16 ‘And if a man consecrates to the Lord part of a field of his own property, then your valuation shall be proportionate to the seed needed for it; a homer of barley seed shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver. 17 If he consecrates his field during the Year of Jubilee, it shall stand according to your valuation. 18 But if he consecrates his field after the Jubilee, then the priest shall calculate the price for him in proportion to the years that remain until the Year of Jubilee; and it shall be deducted from your valuation. 19 If the one who consecrates the field should ever wish to redeem it, then he shall add one-fifth of the appraisal price to it, so that it may return to him. 20 If he does not redeem the field, but has sold it to another man, it may no longer be redeemed. 21 When the field reverts in the Jubilee, the field shall be holy to the Lord, like a field set apart (devoted); the priest shall possess it as his property. 22 Or if a man consecrates to the Lord a field which he has bought, which is not part of the field of his [ancestral] property, 23 then the priest shall calculate for him the amount of your valuation up to the Year of Jubilee; and 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 the one from whom it was purchased, to whom the land belonged [as his ancestral inheritance]. 25 Every valuation of yours shall be in accordance with the sanctuary shekel; twenty gerahs shall make a shekel.

26 ‘However, the firstborn among animals, which as a firstborn belongs to the Lord, no man may consecrate, whether an ox or a sheep. It is [already] the Lord’s. 27 If it is among the unclean animals, the owner may redeem it in accordance with your valuation, and add one-fifth to it; or if it is not redeemed, then it shall be sold in accordance with your valuation.

28 ‘But nothing that a man [b]sets apart [that is, devotes as an offering] to the Lord out of all that he has, of man or of animal or of the fields of his own property, shall be sold or redeemed. Anything devoted to destruction (banned, cursed) is most holy to the Lord. 29 No one who may have been set apart among men shall be ransomed [from death], he shall most certainly be put to death.

30 ‘And all the tithe (tenth part) of the land, whether the seed of the land or the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s; it is holy to the Lord.(A) 31 If a man wishes to redeem any part of his tithe, he shall add one-fifth to it. 32 For every tithe of the herd or flock, whatever [c]passes under the [shepherd’s] staff, the tenth one shall be holy to the Lord.(B) 33 The man is not to be concerned whether the animal is good or bad, nor shall he exchange it. But if he does exchange it, then both it and its substitute shall become holy; it shall not be redeemed.’”

34 These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses on Mount Sinai for the children of Israel.(C)

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Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 27:2 Or explicit. A man could consecrate (dedicate) himself to the Lord or he could consecrate another family member, his house, his property, his animals, his field, or other possession. The priest set an established value on the person, animal, or property and the man paid the set amount instead of transferring ownership. Consecrating someone or something to the Lord was not the same as “devoting” or “setting apart” something to the Lord (see vv 21, 28).
  2. Leviticus 27:28 In OT times “devoting” or “setting apart” was a different and much more serious act than “consecrating” something or someone to God. The thing “devoted” belonged exclusively to God. It was an irrevocable command or vow. Anyone who kept for himself something that had been “devoted” or placed under a ban, placed himself under a sentence of death (Josh 7).
  3. Leviticus 27:32 Each tenth animal was marked as it passed through a small door.
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