Leviticus 27:1-33

Rules concerning Valuations

1 Again, the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

2 "Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, '¹When a man makes a difficult vow, he shall be valued according to your valuation of persons belonging to the LORD.

3 'If your valuation is of the male from twenty years even to sixty years old, then your valuation shall be fifty shekels of silver, after ²the shekel of the sanctuary.

4 'Or if it is a female, then your valuation shall be thirty shekels.

5 'If it be from five years even to twenty years old then your valuation for the male shall be twenty shekels and for the female ten shekels.

6 'But if they are from a month even up to five years old, then your valuation shall be ³five shekels of silver for the male, and for the female your valuation shall be three shekels of silver.

7 'If they are from sixty years old and upward, if it is a male, then your valuation shall be fifteen * shekels, and for the female ten shekels.

8 'But if he is poorer than your valuation, then he shall be placed before the priest and the priest shall value him; ⁴according * to the means * 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 '⁵He shall not replace it or exchange it, a good for a bad, or a bad for a good; or if he does exchange animal for animal, then both it and its substitute shall become holy.

11 'If, however, it is any unclean animal of the kind which men do not present as an offering to the LORD, then he shall place the animal before the priest.

12 'The priest shall value it as either good or bad; as you, the priest, value it, so it shall be.

13 'But if he should ever wish to redeem it, then he shall add one-fifth of it to your valuation.

14 'Now if a man consecrates his house as holy to the LORD, then the priest shall value it as either good or bad; as the priest values it, so it shall stand.

15 'Yet if the one who consecrates it should wish to redeem his house, then he shall add one-fifth of your valuation price to it, so that it may be his.

16 'Again, if a man consecrates to the LORD part of the fields of his own property, then your valuation shall be proportionate to the seed needed for it: a homer of barley seed at fifty shekels of silver.

17 'If he consecrates his field as of the year of jubilee, according to your valuation it shall stand.

18 'If he consecrates his field after the jubilee, however, then the priest shall calculate the price for him proportionate to the years that are left until the year of jubilee; and it shall be deducted from your valuation.

19 'If the one who consecrates it should ever wish to redeem the field, then he shall add one-fifth of your valuation price to it, so that it may pass to him.

20 'Yet if he will not redeem the field, but has sold the field to another man, it may no longer be redeemed;

21 and when it reverts in the jubilee, the field shall be holy to the LORD, like a field set apart; ⁶it shall be for the priest as his property.

22 'Or if he consecrates to the LORD a field which he has bought, which is not a part of the field of his own property,

23 then the priest shall calculate for him the amount of your valuation up to the year of jubilee; and he shall on that day give your valuation as holy to the LORD.

24 'In the year of jubilee the field shall return to the one from whom he bought it, to whom the possession of the land belongs.

25 'Every valuation of yours, moreover, shall be after ⁷the shekel of the sanctuary. The shekel shall be twenty gerahs.

26 '⁸However, a firstborn among animals, which as a firstborn belongs to the LORD, no man may consecrate it; whether ox or sheep, it is the LORD'S.

27 'But if it is among the unclean animals, then he shall redeem it according to your valuation and add to it one-fifth of it; and if it is not redeemed, then it shall be sold according to your valuation.

28 'Nevertheless, ⁹anything which a man sets apart to the LORD out of all that he has, of man or animal or of the fields of his own property, shall not be sold or redeemed. Anything devoted to destruction is most holy to the LORD.

29 'No * one who may have been set apart among men shall be ransomed; he shall surely be put to death.

30 'Thus ¹⁰all the tithe of the land, of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD'S; it is holy to the LORD.

31 'If, therefore, a man wishes to redeem part of his tithe, he shall add to it one-fifth of it.

32 'For every tenth part of herd or flock, whatever * ¹¹passes under the rod, the tenth one shall be holy to the LORD.

33 '¹²He is not to be concerned whether it is good or bad, nor shall he exchange it; or if he does exchange it, then both it and its substitute shall become holy. It shall not be redeemed.' "

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Leviticus 27:1-33 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;

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 12

1. Numbers 6:2; Deuteronomy 23:21-23
2. Exodus 30:13; Leviticus 27:25; Numbers 3:47; Numbers 18:16
3. Numbers 18:16
4. Leviticus 5:11; Leviticus 14:21-24
5. Leviticus 27:33
6. Numbers 18:14; Ezekiel 44:29
7. Exodus 30:13; Leviticus 27:3; Numbers 3:47; Numbers 18:16
8. Exodus 13:2
9. Numbers 18:14; Joshua 6:17-19
10. Genesis 28:22; 2 Chronicles 31:5; Nehemiah 13:12
11. Jeremiah 33:13; Ezekiel 20:37
12. Leviticus 27:10

Footnotes 19

[a]. Lit "what the hand reaches"
[b]. Lit "they"
[c]. Lit "they"
[d]. Lit "between"
[e]. Lit "between good"
[f]. Lit "according to its seed"
[g]. Or "it"
[h]. Lit "according to the years"
[i]. Or "if he"
[j]. Lit "goes out"
[k]. Or "devoted, banned"
[l]. Lit "possession"
[m]. Lit "possession"
[n]. Or "it"
[o]. Or "ransom"
[p]. Lit "anything devoted;" or "banned"
[q]. Or "puts under the ban"
[r]. Lit "one devoted;" or "banned"
[s]. Or "put under the ban"