1And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When a man shall make a singular vow, the persons shall be for the LORD by thy estimation. 3And thy estimation shall be of the male from twenty years old even unto sixty years old, even thy estimation shall be fifty shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary. 4And if it be a female, then thy estimation shall be thirty shekels. 5And if it be from five years old even unto twenty years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male twenty shekels, and for the female ten shekels. 6And if it be from a month old even unto five years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male five shekels of silver, and for the female thy estimation shall be three shekels of silver. 7And if it be from sixty years old and above; if it be a male, then thy estimation shall be fifteen shekels, and for the female ten shekels. 8But if he be poorer than thy estimation, then he shall present himself before the priest, and the priest shall value him; according to his ability that vowed shall the priest value him. 9And if it be a beast, whereof men bring an offering unto the LORD, all that any man giveth of such unto the LORD shall be holy. 10He shall not alter it, nor change it, a good for a bad, or a bad for a good: and if he shall at all change beast for beast, then it and the exchange thereof shall be holy. 11And if it be any unclean beast, of which they do not offer a sacrifice unto the LORD, then he shall present the beast before the priest: 12And the priest shall value it, whether it be good or bad: as thou valuest it, who art the priest, so shall it be.27.12 as…: Heb. according to thy estimation, O priest, etc 13But if he will at all redeem it, then he shall add a fifth part thereof unto thy estimation.
14¶ And when a man shall sanctify his house to be holy unto the LORD, then the priest shall estimate it, whether it be good or bad: as the priest shall estimate it, so shall it stand. 15And if he that sanctified it will redeem his house, then he shall add the fifth part of the money of thy estimation unto it, and it shall be his. 16And if a man shall sanctify unto the LORD some part of a field of his possession, then thy estimation shall be according to the seed thereof: an homer of barley seed shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver.27.16 an…: or, the land of an homer, etc 17If he sanctify his field from the year of jubile, according to thy estimation it shall stand. 18But if he sanctify his field after the jubile, then the priest shall reckon unto him the money according to the years that remain, even unto the year of the jubile, and it shall be abated from thy estimation. 19And if he that sanctified the field will in any wise redeem it, then he shall add the fifth part of the money of thy estimation unto it, and it shall be assured to him. 20And if he will not redeem the field, or if he have sold the field to another man, it shall not be redeemed any more. 21But the field, when it goeth out in the jubile, shall be holy unto the LORD, as a field devoted; the possession thereof shall be the priest’s. 22And if a man sanctify unto the LORD a field which he hath bought, which is not of the fields of his possession; 23Then the priest shall reckon unto him the worth of thy estimation, even unto the year of the jubile: and he shall give thine estimation in that day, as a holy thing unto the LORD. 24In the year of the jubile the field shall return unto him of whom it was bought, even to him to whom the possession of the land did belong. 25And all thy estimations shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary: twenty gerahs shall be the shekel.
26¶ Only the firstling of the beasts, which should be the LORD’s firstling, no man shall sanctify it; whether it be ox, or sheep: it is the LORD’s.27.26 firstling of: Heb. firstborn, etc 27And if it be of an unclean beast, then he shall redeem it according to thine estimation, and shall add a fifth part of it thereto: or if it be not redeemed, then it shall be sold according to thy estimation. 28Notwithstanding no devoted thing, that a man shall devote unto the LORD of all that he hath, both of man and beast, and of the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed: every devoted thing is most holy unto the LORD. 29None devoted, which shall be devoted of men, shall be redeemed; but shall surely be put to death. 30And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD’s: it is holy unto the LORD. 31And if a man will at all redeem ought of his tithes, he shall add thereto the fifth part thereof. 32And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the LORD. 33He shall not search whether it be good or bad, neither shall he change it: and if he change it at all, then both it and the change thereof shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed. 34These are the commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses for the children of Israel in mount Sinai.
Redeeming what is the Lord’s
1The Lord said to Moses, 2‘Speak to the Israelites and say to them: “If anyone makes a special vow 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 shekels27:3 That is, about 575 grams; also in verse 16 of silver, according to the sanctuary shekel27:3 That is, about 12 grams; also in verse 25; 4for a female, set her value at thirty shekels27:4 That is, about 345 grams; 5for a person between the ages of five and twenty, set the value of a male at twenty shekels27:5 That is, about 230 grams and of a female at ten shekels27:5 That is, about 115 grams; also in verse 7; 6for a person between one month and five years, set the value of a male at five shekels27:6 That is, about 58 grams of silver and that of a female at three shekels27:6 That is, about 35 grams of silver; 7for a person sixty years old or more, set the value of a male at fifteen shekels27:7 That is, about 175 grams and of a female at ten shekels. 8If anyone making the vow is too poor to pay the specified amount, the person being dedicated is to be presented to the priest, who will set the value 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, such an animal given to the Lord becomes holy. 10They must not exchange it or substitute a good one for a bad one, or a bad one for a good one; if they should substitute one animal for another, both it and the substitute become holy. 11If what they vowed is a ceremonially unclean animal – 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 the animal, a fifth must be added to its value.
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, 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 homer27:16 That is, probably about 135 kilograms 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, the priest will determine the value according to the number of years that remain until the next Year of Jubilee, and its set value will be reduced. 19If the one who dedicates the field wishes to redeem it, 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, it will become holy, like a field devoted to the Lord; 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, 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, the one whose land it was. 25Every value is to be set according to the sanctuary shekel, twenty gerahs to the shekel.
26‘ “No-one, however, may dedicate the firstborn of an animal, since the firstborn already belongs to the Lord; whether an ox27:26 The Hebrew word can include both male and female. or a sheep, it is the Lord’s. 27If it is one of the unclean animals, 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 devotes27:28 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord. to the Lord – whether a human being or an animal or family land – may be sold or redeemed; everything so devoted is most holy to the Lord.
29‘ “No-one devoted to destruction27:29 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them. may be ransomed; they are to be put to death.
30‘ “A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord. 31Whoever would redeem any of their tithe must add a fifth of the value to it. 32Every tithe of the herd and flock – every tenth animal that passes under the shepherd’s rod – will be holy to the Lord. 33No-one may pick out the good from the bad or make any substitution. If anyone does make a substitution, both the animal and its substitute become holy and cannot be redeemed.” ’
34These are the commands the Lord gave Moses at Mount Sinai for the Israelites.
