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As a sign of devotion to Yahweh, a person may make a vow of himself or of a child. Since human sacrifice was banned in Israel, the vow was to be fulfilled by the payment of a sum. The price varied according to age and gender: from one month to five years, a male—five shekels, a female—three shekels; from five to twenty years, a male—twenty shekels, a female—ten shekels; from twenty to sixty years, a male—fifty shekels, a female—thirty shekels; over sixty years, a male—fifteen shekels, a female—ten shekels. It is possible that these values were set on the basis of what a person would fetch in the slave market. The price then seems to be determined according to a person’s strength, not on the inherent worth of a person. To get some feel for the cost, it has been postulated that a person could earn a shekel a month.