Leviticus 27:26

26 `Only, a firstling which is Jehovah's firstling among beasts -- no man doth sanctify it, whether ox or sheep; it [is] Jehovah's.

Leviticus 27:26 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 27:26

Only the firstlings of the beasts
These are excepted from being sanctified, or set apart for sacred uses, for a very good reason, suggested in the next clause:

which should be the Lord's firstling, no man shall sanctify it;
it being what he has a claim upon, and ordered to be sanctified to him by a law previous to this, ( Exodus 13:2 ) ; wherefore to sanctify such a creature, would be to sanctify what was his before; not merely in a general sense, in which all creatures are his, but in a special sense, having in a peculiar manner required it as his; and therefore to sanctify, or vow to him, what was his before, must be trifling with him, and mocking of him:

whether [it be] ox, or sheep;
the firstlings of either of them:

it [is] the Lord's;
which he has claimed as his own special and peculiar property, antecedent to any vow of its owner.

Leviticus 27:26 In-Context

24 in the year of the jubilee the field returneth to him from whom he bought it, to him whose [is] the possession of the land.

25 And all thy valuation is by the shekel of the sanctuary: twenty gerahs is the shekel.

26 `Only, a firstling which is Jehovah's firstling among beasts -- no man doth sanctify it, whether ox or sheep; it [is] Jehovah's.

27 And if among the unclean beasts, then he hath ransomed [it] at thy valuation, and he hath added its fifth to it; and if it is not redeemed, then it hath been sold at thy valuation.

28 `Only, no devoted thing which a man devoteth to Jehovah, of all that he hath, of man, and beast, and of the field of his possession, is sold or redeemed; every devoted thing is most holy to Jehovah.