Leviticus 27

Redeeming What Is the Lord’s

27The Lord said to Moses, ²“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘If anyone makes a special vow^u to dedicate a person to the Lord by giving the equivalent value, ³set the value of a male between the ages of twenty and sixty at fifty shekels^a of silver, according to the sanctuary shekel^b;^{v 4}for a female, set her value at thirty shekels^c; ⁵for a person between the ages of five and twenty, set the value of a male at twenty shekels^dw and of a female at ten shekels^e; ⁶for a person between one month and five years, set the value of a male at five shekels^fx of silver and that of a female at three shekels^g of silver; ⁷for a person sixty years old or more, set the value of a male at fifteen shekels^h and of a female at ten shekels. ⁸If anyone making the vow is too poor to pay^y the specified amount, the person being dedicated is to be presented to the priest, who will set the value^z according to what the one making the vow can afford.

⁹“ ‘If what they vowed is an animal that is acceptable as an offering to the Lord,^a such an animal given to the Lord becomes holy.^{b 10}They must not exchange it or substitute a good one for a bad one, or a bad one for a good one;^c if they should substitute one animal for another, both it and the substitute become holy. ¹¹If what they vowed is a ceremonially unclean animal^d—one that is not acceptable as an offering to the Lord—the animal must be presented to the priest, ¹²who will judge its quality as good or bad. Whatever value the priest then sets, that is what it will be. ¹³If the owner wishes to redeem^e the animal, a fifth must be added to its value.^f

¹⁴“ ‘If anyone dedicates their house as something holy to the Lord, the priest will judge its quality as good or bad. Whatever value the priest then sets, so it will remain. ¹⁵If the one who dedicates their house wishes to redeem it,^g they must add a fifth to its value, and the house will again become theirs.

¹⁶“ ‘If anyone dedicates to the Lord part of their family land, its value is to be set according to the amount of seed required for it—fifty shekels of silver to a homerⁱ of barley seed. ¹⁷If they dedicate a field during the Year of Jubilee, the value that has been set remains. ¹⁸But if they dedicate a field after the Jubilee,^h the priest will determine the value according to the number of years that remainⁱ until the next Year of Jubilee, and its set value will be reduced. ¹⁹If the one who dedicates the field wishes to redeem it,^j they must add a fifth to its value, and the field will again become theirs. ²⁰If, however, they do not redeem the field, or if they have sold it to someone else, it can never be redeemed. ²¹When the field is released in the Jubilee,^k it will become holy,^l like a field devoted to the Lord;^m it will become priestly property.

²²“ ‘If anyone dedicates to the Lord a field they have bought, which is not part of their family land, ²³the priest will determine its value up to the Year of Jubilee,ⁿ and the owner must pay its value on that day as something holy to the Lord. ²⁴In the Year of Jubilee the field will revert to the person from whom it was bought,^o the one whose land it was. ²⁵Every value is to be set according to the sanctuary shekel,^p twenty gerahs^q to the shekel.

²⁶“ ‘No one, however, may dedicate the firstborn of an animal, since the firstborn already belongs to the Lord;^r whether an ox^j or a sheep, it is the Lord’s. ²⁷If it is one of the unclean animals,^s it may be bought back at its set value, adding a fifth of the value to it. If it is not redeemed, it is to be sold at its set value.

²⁸“ ‘But nothing that a person owns and devotes^kt to the Lord—whether a human being or an animal or family land—may be sold or redeemed; everything so devoted is most holy^u to the Lord.

²⁹“ ‘No person devoted to destruction^l may be ransomed; they are to be put to death.^v

³⁰“ ‘A tithe^w of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy^x to the Lord. ³¹Whoever would redeem^y any of their tithe must add a fifth of the value^z to it. ³²Every tithe of the herd and flock—every tenth animal that passes under the shepherd’s rod^a—will be holy to the Lord. ³³No one may pick out the good from the bad or make any substitution.^b If anyone does make a substitution, both the animal and its substitute become holy and cannot be redeemed.^c’ ”

³⁴These are the commands the Lord gave Moses at Mount Sinai^d for the Israelites.^e