Leviticus 27:1-18

1 ADONAI said to Moshe,

2 "Tell the people of Isra'el, 'If someone makes a clearly defined vow to ADONAI to give him an amount equal to the value of a human being,

3 the value you are to assign to a man between the ages of twenty and sixty years is to be fifty shekels of silver [one-and-a-quarter pounds], with the sanctuary shekel being the standard,

4 if a woman, thirty shekels.

5 If it is a child five to twenty years old, assign a value of twenty shekels for a boy and ten for a girl;

6 if a baby one month to five years of age, five shekels for a boy and three for a girl;

7 if a person past sixty, fifteen shekels for a man and ten for a woman.

8 If the person is too poor to be evaluated, set him before the cohen, who will assign him a value in keeping with the means of the person who made the vow.

9 "'If the vow is for the value of an animal of the kind used when people bring an offering to ADONAI, all that a person gives of such animals to ADONAI will be holy.

10 He is not to exchange or replace it by substituting a good animal for a bad one or vice versa; if he does make such a substitution, both the original animal and the one replacing it will be holy.

11 If the animal is an unclean one, such as may not be used in an offering to ADONAI, he must set it before the cohen;

12 and the cohen is to set a value on it in relation to its good and bad points; the value set by you the cohen will stand.

13 But if the person making the vow wishes to redeem the animal, he must add one-fifth to your valuation.

14 "'When a person consecrates his house to be holy for ADONAI, the cohen is to set a value on it in relation to its good and bad points; the value set by the cohen will stand.

15 If the consecrator wishes to redeem his house, he must add one-fifth to the value you have set on it; and it will revert to him.

16 "'If a person consecrates to ADONAI part of a field belonging to his tribe's possession, you are to value it according to its production, with five bushels of barley being valued at fifty shekels of silver [one-and-a-quarter pounds].

17 If he consecrates his field during the year of yovel, this valuation will stand.

18 But if he consecrates his field after the yovel, then the cohen is to calculate the price according to the years remaining till the next yovel, with a corresponding reduction from your valuation.

Leviticus 27:1-18 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;