Shared Word Translation
Leviticus 27
Valuations for Vowed Persons
The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When someone makes a special vow to the LORD involving the valuation of a person, the valuation for a male from twenty years old up to sixty years old shall be fifty shekels of silver, according to the sanctuary shekel. If the person is female, the valuation shall be thirty shekels. If the person is from five years old up to twenty years old, the valuation for a male shall be twenty shekels and for a female ten shekels. If the person is from one month old up to five years old, the valuation for a male shall be five shekels of silver and for a female three shekels of silver. If the person is sixty years old or older, the valuation for a male shall be fifteen shekels and for a female ten shekels. But if someone is too poor to pay the valuation, that person shall be presented before the priest, and the priest shall assign a valuation according to what the one who made the vow can afford.
Animals Dedicated to the LORD
If the vow concerns an animal that may be presented as an offering to the LORD, anything given from such animals to the LORD shall be holy. It shall not be altered or exchanged, good for bad or bad for good. If one animal is exchanged for another, both the original animal and its substitute shall be holy. If it is any unclean animal that may not be presented as an offering to the LORD, the animal shall be set before the priest. The priest shall assign its value, whether good or bad. Whatever valuation the priest assigns, so it shall be. If the owner wishes to redeem it, one-fifth shall be added to its valuation.
Houses Dedicated to the LORD
If someone dedicates a house as holy to the LORD, the priest shall assign its value, whether good or bad. Whatever valuation the priest assigns, so it shall stand. If the one who dedicated the house wishes to redeem it, that person shall add one-fifth to the valuation price, and the house shall again belong to that person.
Fields Dedicated to the LORD
If someone dedicates to the LORD part of a field from ancestral possession, the valuation shall be according to the amount of seed required for it: a homer of barley seed shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver. If the field is dedicated beginning in the Year of Jubilee, the full valuation shall stand. But if the field is dedicated after the Jubilee, the priest shall calculate the price according to the years remaining until the Year of Jubilee, and the valuation shall be reduced accordingly. If the one who dedicated the field wishes to redeem it, that person shall add one-fifth to the valuation price, and it shall remain theirs. But if that person does not redeem the field, or if the field has been sold to another person, it may no longer be redeemed. When the field is released in the Jubilee, it shall be holy to the LORD like a field devoted to the LORD; it shall become the priest’s possession.
If someone dedicates to the LORD a field that was purchased and is not part of ancestral possession, the priest shall calculate for that person the amount of the valuation up to the Year of Jubilee, and the person shall give the valuation on that day as something holy to the LORD. In the Year of Jubilee the field shall return to the person from whom it was bought, the one whose ancestral possession of the land it was. Every valuation shall be according to the sanctuary shekel: twenty gerahs shall make one shekel.
Firstborn and Devoted Things
But no one may dedicate the firstborn of an animal, because as firstborn it already belongs to the LORD. Whether ox or sheep, it belongs to the LORD. If it is an unclean animal, the owner may redeem it according to the valuation and shall add one-fifth to it. If it is not redeemed, it shall be sold according to the valuation.
But nothing that someone devotes irrevocably to the LORD from anything they possess—whether a human being, an animal, or an ancestral field—may be sold or redeemed. Everything devoted irrevocably is most holy to the LORD. No human being devoted to destruction may be ransomed; that person shall surely be put to death.
Tithes
Every tithe of the land, whether from the seed of the land or from the fruit of the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD. If someone wishes to redeem any of the tithe, one-fifth shall be added to it. Every tithe of herd or flock—every tenth animal that passes under the staff—shall be holy to the LORD. The owner shall not examine whether it is good or bad and shall not exchange it. If it is exchanged, both it and its substitute shall be holy; it may not be redeemed.”
These are the commandments that the LORD commanded Moses for the Israelites on Mount Sinai.