Leviticus 27:27

27 If it is one of the unclean livestock, it must be ransomed according to your valuation by adding a fifth of its value to it. If it is not redeemed, it can be sold according to your valuation.^[a]

Leviticus 27:27 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 27:27

And if [it be] of an unclean beast
This is to be understood, not of the firstling of unclean creatures in common, which were to be redeemed with a lamb, and not with money, according to the estimation of the priest, and a fifth part added to that; but of such as were sanctified, or vowed, for the reparation of the sanctuary, as Jarchi notes:

then he shall redeem [it] according to thine estimation;
the price the priest should set upon it, how much it was worth in his judgment:

and shall add a fifth [part] of it thereto;
to the price, set upon a fifth part of that over and above the sum; this the sanctifier, or he that made the vow, was obliged to pay, if he thought fit to redeem it:

or if it be not redeemed;
by him, he does not choose to give the price, and the fifth part:

then it shall be sold according to thy estimation;
to another man, without the fifth part, that chooses to purchase it, and then the purchase money was laid out for sacred uses.

Leviticus 27:27 In-Context

25 All your valuations will be [measured] by the standard sanctuary shekel, 20 gerahs to the shekel.

26 "But no one can consecrate a firstborn of the livestock, whether an animal from the herd or flock, to the Lord, because a firstborn [already] belongs to the Lord.

27 If it is one of the unclean livestock, it must be ransomed according to your valuation by adding a fifth of its value to it. If it is not redeemed, it can be sold according to your valuation.

28 "Nothing that a man permanently sets apart to the Lord from all he owns, whether a person, an animal, or his inherited landholding, can be sold or redeemed; everything set apart is especially holy to the Lord.

29 No person who has been set apart [for destruction] is to be ransomed; he must be put to death.

Footnotes

• [a] Ex 13:13; 34:20