^27:1The Lord spoke to Moses: ^27:2“Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When a man makes a special votive offering¹ based on the conversion value of persons to the Lord,²^27:3the conversion value of the male³ from twenty years old up to sixty years old⁴ is fifty shekels by the standard of the sanctuary shekel.⁵^27:4If the person is a female, the conversion value is thirty shekels. ^27:5If the person is from five years old up to twenty years old, the conversion value of the male is twenty shekels, and for the female ten shekels. ^27:6If the person is one month old up to five years old, the conversion value of the male is five shekels of silver,⁶ and for the female the conversion value is three shekels of silver. ^27:7If the person is from sixty years old and older, if he is a male the conversion value is fifteen shekels, and for the female ten shekels. ^27:8If he is too poor to pay the conversion value, he must stand the person before the priest and the priest will establish his conversion value;⁷ according to what the man who made the vow can afford,⁸ the priest will establish his conversion value.

Redemption of Vowed Animals

^27:9“ ‘If what is vowed is a kind of animal from which an offering may be presented⁹ to the Lord, anything which he gives to the Lord from this kind of animal¹⁰ will be holy. ^27:10He must not replace or exchange it, good for bad or bad for good, and if he does indeed exchange one animal for another animal, then both the original animal¹¹ and its substitute will be holy. ^27:11If what is vowed is an unclean animal from which an offering must not be presented to the Lord, then he must stand the animal before the priest, ^27:12and the priest will establish its conversion value,¹² whether good or bad. According to the assessed conversion value of the priest, thus it will be. ^27:13If, however, the person who made the vow redeems the animal,¹³ he must add one fifth to¹⁴ its conversion value.

Redemption of Vowed Houses

^27:14“ ‘If a man consecrates his house as holy to the Lord, the priest will establish its conversion value, whether good or bad. Just as the priest establishes its conversion value, thus it will stand.¹⁵^27:15If the one who consecrates it redeems his house, he must add to it one fifth of its conversion value in silver, and it will belong to him.¹⁶

Redemption of Vowed Fields

^27:16“ ‘If a man consecrates to the Lord some of his own landed property, the conversion value must be calculated in accordance with the amount of seed needed to sow it,¹⁷ a homer of barley seed being priced at fifty shekels of silver.¹⁸^27:17If he consecrates his field in the jubilee year,¹⁹ the conversion value will stand, ^27:18but if²⁰ he consecrates his field after the jubilee, the priest will calculate the price²¹ for him according to the years that are left until the next jubilee year, and it will be deducted from the conversion value. ^27:19If, however, the one who consecrated the field redeems it,²² he must add to it one fifth of the conversion price²³ and it will belong to him.²⁴^27:20If he does not redeem the field, but sells²⁵ the field to someone else, he may never redeem it. ^27:21When it reverts²⁶ in the jubilee, the field will be holy to the Lord like a permanently dedicated field;²⁷ it will become the priest’s property.²⁸

^27:22“ ‘If he consecrates to the Lord a field he has purchased,²⁹ which is not part of his own landed property, ^27:23the priest will calculate for him the amount of its conversion value until the jubilee year, and he must pay³⁰ the conversion value on that jubilee day as something that is holy to the Lord. ^27:24In the jubilee year the field will return to the one from whom he bought it, the one to whom it belongs as landed property. ^27:25Every conversion value must be calculated by the standard of the sanctuary shekel;³¹ twenty gerahs to the shekel.

Redemption of the Firstborn

^27:26“ ‘Surely no man may consecrate a firstborn that already belongs to the Lord as a firstborn among the animals; whether it is an ox or a sheep, it belongs to the Lord.³²^27:27If, however,³³ it is among the unclean animals, he may ransom it according to³⁴ its conversion value and must add one fifth to it, but if it is not redeemed it must be sold according to its conversion value.

Things Permanently Dedicated to the Lord

^27:28“ ‘Surely anything which a man permanently dedicates to the Lord³⁵ from all that belongs to him, whether from people, animals, or his landed property, must be neither sold nor redeemed; anything permanently dedicated is most holy to the Lord. ^27:29Any human being who is permanently dedicated³⁶ must not be ransomed; such a person must be put to death.

Redemption of the Tithe

^27:30“ ‘Any tithe³⁷ of the land, from the grain of the land or from the fruit of the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord. ^27:31If a man redeems³⁸ part of his tithe, however, he must add one fifth to it.³⁹^27:32All the tithe of herd or flock, everything which passes under the rod, the tenth one will be holy to the Lord.⁴⁰^27:33The owner⁴¹ must not examine the animals to distinguish between good and bad, and he must not exchange it. If, however, he does exchange it,⁴² both the original animal⁴³ and its substitute will be holy.⁴⁴ It must not be redeemed.’ ”

Final Colophon

^27:34These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses to tell the Israelites⁴⁵ at Mount Sinai.

Read in Logos

Footnotes

1 Cf. the note on . Some take this as an expression for fulfilling a vow, “to fulfill a vow” (e.g., פלא piel and ; cf. “in fulfillment of a vow”) or, alternatively, “to make a vow” or “for making a vow” ( פלא piel [II פלא]). Perhaps it refers to the making a special vow, from the verb פָלָא (pala’, “to be wonderful; to be remarkable”), cf. Milgrom, Numbers [], . B. A. Levine, Leviticus (), and , suggests that this is a special term for “setting aside a votive offering” (related to פָלָה, palah, “to set aside”). In general, the point of the expression seems to be that this sacrifice is a special gift to God that arose out of special circumstances in the life of the worshiper.
2 Heb “in your valuation, persons to the Lord,” but “in your valuation” is a frozen form and, therefore, the person (“your”) does not figure into the translation (see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [], ). Instead of offering a person to the Lord one could redeem that person with the appropriate amount of money delineated in the following verses (see the note on above and the explanation in Hartley, ).
3 Heb “your conversion value shall be [for] the male.”
4 Heb “from a son of twenty years and until a son of sixty years.”
5 See the note on .
6 Heb “five shekels silver.”
7 Heb “and the priest shall cause him to be valued.”
8 Heb “on the mouth which the hand of the one who vowed reaches.”
9 Heb “which they may present from it an offering.” The plural active verb is sometimes best rendered in the passive ( §144.f, g). Some medieval Hebrew , , a of the , and the all have the singular verb instead (cf. similarly v. 11).
10 Heb “from it.” The masculine suffix “it” here is used for the feminine in the , but one medieval Hebrew , some of , the , and the have the feminine. The referent (this kind of animal) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
11 Heb “it and its substitute.” The referent (the original animal offered) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
12 Heb “and the priest shall cause it to be valued.” See the note on v. above.
13 Heb “And if redeeming [infinitive absolute] he redeems it [finite verb].” For the infinitive absolute used to highlight contrast rather than emphasis see §113.p. The referent of “he” (the person who made the vow) and “it” (the animal) have both been specified in the translation for clarity.
14 Heb “on,” meaning “on top of, in addition to” (likewise in v. 15).
15 The expression “it shall stand” may be a technical term for “it shall be legally valid”; cf. “assessment will be final.”
16 Heb “and it shall be to him.”
17 Heb “a conversion value shall be to the mouth of its seed.”
18 Heb “seed of a homer of barley in fifty shekels of silver.”
19 Heb “from the year of the jubilee.” For the meaning of “jubilee,” see the note on above.
20 Heb “And if.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have adversative force here.
21 Heb “the silver.”
22 Heb “And if redeeming [infinitive absolute] he redeems [finite verb] the field, the one who consecrated it.” For the infinitive absolute used to highlight contrast rather than emphasis see §113.p.
23 Heb “the silver of the conversion value.”
24 Heb “and it shall rise to him.” See קום 7 for the rendering offered here, but see also the note on the end of v. above (cf. J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [], , ).
25 Heb “and if he sells.”
26 Heb “When it goes out” (cf. Lev 25:25–34).
27 Heb “like the field of the permanent dedication.” The Hebrew word חֵרֶם (kherem) is a much discussed term. In this and the following verses it refers in a general way to the fact that something is permanently devoted to the Lord and therefore cannot be redeemed (cf. v. 20b). See J. A. Naudé, 2:; N. Lohfink, 5:180–99, esp. pp. 184, 188, and 198–99; and the numerous explanations in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (), .
28 Heb “to the priest it shall be his property.”
29 Heb “his field of purchase,” which is to be distinguished from his own ancestral “landed property” (cf. v. 16 above).
30 Heb “give” (so , , , ).
31 See the note on .
32 Heb “to the Lord it is.”
33 Heb “And if.”
34 Heb “in” or “by.”
35 Heb “Surely, any permanently dedicated [thing] which a man shall permanently dedicate to the Lord.” The Hebrew term חֵרֶם (kherem) refers to things that are devoted permanently to the Lord (see the note on v. above).
36 Heb “permanently dedicated from among men.”
37 On the “tithe” system in Israel, see R. E. Averbeck, 2: and esp. pp. on .
38 Heb “And if redeeming [infinitive absolute] a man redeems [finite verb].” For the infinitive absolute used to highlight contrast rather than emphasis see §113.p.
39 Heb “its one fifth on it.”
40 The tithed animal was the tenth one that passed under the shepherd’s rod or staff as they were being counted (see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [], , and B. A. Levine, Leviticus [], ).
41 Heb “he”; the referent (the owner of the animal) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
42 Heb “And if exchanging [infinitive absolute] he exchanges it [finite verb].” For the infinitive absolute used to highlight contrast rather than emphasis see §113.p.
43 Heb “it and its substitute.” The referent (the original animal offered) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
44 Heb “it shall be and its substitute shall be holy.”
45 Most of the commentaries and English versions translate, “which the Lord commanded Moses for the children of Israel.” The preposition אֶל (’el), however, does not usually mean “for.” In this book it is commonly used when the Lord commands Moses “to speak [un]to” a person or group of persons (see, e.g., Lev 1:2; 4:2, etc.). The translation “to tell” here reflects this pattern in the book of Leviticus.