Leviticus 27:16-26

16 “If someone dedicates to the LORD a piece of his family property, its value will be assessed according to the amount of seed required to plant it—fifty shekels of silver for a field planted with five bushels of barley seed.

17 If the field is dedicated to the LORD in the Year of Jubilee, then the entire assessment will apply.

18 But if the field is dedicated after the Year of Jubilee, the priest will assess the land’s value in proportion to the number of years left until the next Year of Jubilee. Its assessed value is reduced each year.

19 If the person who dedicated the field wants to buy it back, he must pay the value set by the priest, plus 20 percent. Then the field will again be legally his.

20 But if he does not want to buy it back, and it is sold to someone else, the field can no longer be bought back.

21 When the field is released in the Year of Jubilee, it will be holy, a field specially set apart for the LORD . It will become the property of the priests.

22 “If someone dedicates to the LORD a field he has purchased but which is not part of his family property,

23 the priest will assess its value based on the number of years left until the next Year of Jubilee. On that day he must give the assessed value of the land as a sacred donation to the LORD .

24 In the Year of Jubilee the field must be returned to the person from whom he purchased it, the one who inherited it as family property.

25 (All the payments must be measured by the weight of the sanctuary shekel, which equals twenty gerahs.)

26 “You may not dedicate a firstborn animal to the LORD, for the firstborn of your cattle, sheep, and goats already belong to him.

Leviticus 27:16-26 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO LEVEITICUS 27

This chapter contains various laws concerning vows made unto the Lord, whether of persons whose estimation was to be made by the priest, according to their age, sex, and condition, Le 26:1-8; or of beasts, clean and unclean, good or bad, Le 26:9-13; or of houses, fields, and lands, the estimation of which was to be according to its seed, and the time of its being set apart, whether from or after the year of jubilee, and the number of years to it, Le 26:14-25; with this exception to the above laws, that no firstling of the Lord's might be sanctified, and if an unclean beast it might be redeemed, but nothing devoted to the Lord, whether of man, beast, or field, might be sold or redeemed, Le 26:26-29; and the chapter is concluded with some laws concerning the redemption or change of tithes, what might or what might not be redeemed or changed, Le 26:30-34;

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew 50 shekels [20 ounces or 570 grams] of silver for a homer [220 liters] of barley seed.
• [b]. The Hebrew term used here refers to the complete consecration of things or people to the, either by destroying them or by giving them as an offering; also in 27:28, 29 .
• [c]. Each shekel was about 0.4 ounces [11 grams] in weight.