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Leviticus 27

1Yahweh spoke to Moses: 2“Speak to the sons of Israel and tell them: When a person makes a special vow to Yahweh involving the valuation of persons, 3your valuation for a male from twenty years old up to sixty years old must be fifty silver shekels, by the sanctuary shekel. 4If it is a female, your valuation must be thirty shekels. 5If the person is from five years old up to twenty years old, your valuation for the male must be twenty shekels, and for the female ten shekels. 6If the person is from one month old up to five years old, your valuation for the male must be five silver shekels, and for the female your valuation must be three silver shekels. 7If the person is sixty years old or more, your valuation for a male must be fifteen shekels, and for a female ten shekels. 8But if the one who made the vow is too poor for your valuation, that person must be brought before the priest. The priest must assess them; he must assess them according to what the one who made the vow can afford.

9“If it concerns an animal of a kind that may be presented as an offering to Yahweh, any such animal given to Yahweh will be holy. 10The giver must not replace it or exchange it, a good one for a bad one or a bad one for a good one. If an animal is nevertheless exchanged for another, both it and its substitute will be holy. 11If it concerns any unclean animal of a kind that may not be presented as an offering to Yahweh, the animal must be brought before the priest. 12The priest must assess it, whether good or bad. Your valuation, priest, will stand. 13If the giver wishes to redeem it, they must add a fifth to your valuation.

14“If a person consecrates their house as holy to Yahweh, the priest must assess it, whether good or bad. The priest's assessment will stand. 15If the one who consecrated it redeems their house, they must add a fifth of your valuation in silver to it, and it will be theirs.

16“If a man consecrates part of his inherited field to Yahweh, your valuation must be in proportion to the seed it takes: fifty silver shekels for a homer of barley seed. 17If he consecrates his field from the year of Jubilee, your valuation will stand. 18But if he consecrates his field after the Jubilee, the priest must calculate the silver for him according to the years remaining until the year of Jubilee, and it must be deducted from your valuation. 19If the one who consecrated the field redeems it, he must add a fifth of your valuation in silver to it, and it will be confirmed as his. 20But if he does not redeem the field, or if he sells the field to another man, it may no longer be redeemed. 21When the field is released at the Jubilee, it will be holy to Yahweh, like a field irrevocably devoted. It will become the priest's holding.

22“If he consecrates to Yahweh a field he purchased, which is not part of his inherited holding, 23the priest must calculate for him the amount of your valuation up to the year of Jubilee. The one who consecrated it must give that valuation on that day as holy to Yahweh. 24In the year of Jubilee the field must return to the man from whom he purchased it, whose inherited holding the land is. 25Every valuation of yours must use the sanctuary shekel. The shekel must be twenty gerahs.

26“But no one may consecrate a firstborn animal that already belongs to Yahweh as firstborn. Whether an ox or an animal from the flock, it belongs to Yahweh. 27If it is from an unclean animal, he must ransom it according to your valuation and add a fifth to it. If it is not redeemed, it must be sold according to your valuation.

28“But nothing a man irrevocably devotes to Yahweh from anything he owns—a human being, an animal, or his inherited field—may be sold or redeemed. Every irrevocably devoted thing is most holy to Yahweh. 29No human being who has been irrevocably devoted may be ransomed; that person must be put to death.

30“Every tithe of the land, whether from the land's seed or the trees' fruit, belongs to Yahweh. It is holy to Yahweh. 31If a man redeems any of his tithe, he must add a fifth to it. 32Every tithe of herd and flock, every tenth animal that passes under the staff, must be holy to Yahweh. 33The owner must not examine whether it is good or bad or exchange it. If he nevertheless exchanges it, both it and its substitute will be holy. It may not be redeemed.”

34These are the commandments that Yahweh commanded Moses to give to the sons of Israel on Mount Sinai.

Translation notes 8

27:2–8 — Vows and valuations. The regulations assign monetary amounts to persons named in a vow. The amounts differ by age and sex; the draft retains each distinction. They are assessments for this legal purpose, rather than a stated measure of a person's inherent worth. Verse 8 allows assessment according to the means of the one making the vow. “Your valuation” is the Hebrew formula; the priest's role is explicit in the following cases.

27:3–7 — Ages. The age bands share boundary numbers in the Hebrew wording. The draft preserves them instead of supplying a modern birthday rule that the verses do not state. Both males and females are named, including children from one month old.

27:9–15 — Animals; a fifth. Suitable sacrificial animals, unclean animals, and houses have different rules. An unauthorized exchange makes both animals holy; the giver does not recover the first by substituting a second. When redemption is permitted, the extra fifth is added to the assessed amount. “Good” and “bad” concern the item being assessed, not moral character.

27:16–24 — Fields; Jubilee. An inherited field is distinguished from purchased land. “According to the seed” values a field by the barley seed needed to sow it, not by a stated modern acreage. The assessment changes with years remaining until Jubilee. In verse 23 the draft identifies the one who consecrated the field as the payer, by context. Verse 20's seller is not separately named; the draft retains “he,” with the original consecrator as the continuing subject, though a sale by the sanctuary has also been proposed.

27:25 — Sanctuary shekel. The shekel is an ancient weight, here defined as twenty gerahs. The draft keeps those units rather than converting the sums into a modern currency.

27:26–27 — Firstborn. The firstborn is already Yahweh's and is distinguished from a new voluntary dedication. “Animal from the flock” can include sheep and goats. The relation of the unclean animal in verse 27 to the firstborn case and to the earlier valuation rules has been debated; the draft keeps the stated ransom, fifth, and sale.

27:28–29 — Irrevocable devotion. The Hebrew term describes property or persons put beyond ordinary sale or redemption. The human case in verse 29 explicitly ends in death. It is distinct from the ordinary vows and monetary assessments at the beginning of the chapter. The passage does not name the procedure for assigning this status or describe a sacrificial ritual, and the draft supplies neither.

27:30–33 — Tithes. A tithe is a tenth. Produce may be redeemed with an added fifth; the livestock rule counts every tenth animal passing under the staff and forbids selecting or replacing it according to quality. The animal and its substitute both become holy if an exchange is made.