Leviticus 27
1 Yahweh also said to Moses/me,
The Lord told Moses,
2 “Tell the Israeli people [that this is what I am saying to them]: If anyone solemnly promises to dedicate another person to [work solely] for me, the person who is dedicated to me is allowed to be free from having to do that by someone paying [to the priest] a fixed amount of money. The money that is given must be calculated by comparing it with the official pieces of silver in the Sacred Tent.
“Tell the Israelites: When you make a special promise to dedicate someone to the Lord, these are the values you are to use.
3 [These are the amounts that must be paid]: 50 pieces of silver for men who are between 20 and 60 years old,
The value of a man aged twenty to sixty is fifty shekels of silver, (using the sanctuary shekel standard).
4 30 pieces of silver for adult women [who are between 20 and 60 years old],
The value of a woman is thirty shekels.
5 20 pieces of silver for young men who are between five and 20 years old, ten pieces of silver for young women who are between five and 20 years old,
The value of someone aged five to twenty is twenty shekels for a male and ten shekels for a female.
6 five pieces of silver for boys who are between one month and five years old, three pieces of silver for girls who are between one month and five years old,
The value of someone aged one month to five years is five shekels of silver for a male and three shekels of silver for a female.
7 15 pieces of silver for men who are more than 60 years old, ten pieces of silver for women who are more than 60 years old.
The value of someone aged sixty or older is fifteen shekels for a male and ten shekels of silver for a female.
8 ‘If anyone who has made such a solemn promise is very poor and unable to pay, to free that person from doing what he had promised, he must take that person to the priest. The priest will set the price [for freeing him] to be what the person who made that solemn promise is able to pay.
However, if when you fulfill your promise you are poorer than the fixed value, you are to present the person before the priest, who will then set the value depending on what you can afford.
9 ‘If someone solemnly promises to give an animal that is acceptable to be an offering to me, that animal becomes sacred [and belongs to me].
If when you fulfill your promise you bring an animal that is permitted as an offering to the Lord, the animal given to the Lord shall be considered holy.
10 The person who promised to give it must not give another animal instead of the one that he promised; he must not substitute a bad animal for a good one or even a better one than the one offered. If he would substitute one animal for the other, both animals would belong to me.
You are not allowed to replace it or swap it, either for one that is better or one that is worse. However, if you do replace it then both animals become holy.
11 If the animal that he wishes to dedicate to me is a kind that is unacceptable to be an offering to me, he must take that animal to the priest.
If when you fulfill your promise you bring any unclean animal that is not permitted as an offering to the Lord, then you must show the animal to the priest.
12 The priest will then decide what its value is, according to the animal’s good and bad points. Whatever value the priests sets will be the value of the animal, [and that is the price that the priest must pay for the animal].
The priest will decide its value, whether high or low. Whatever value the priest places on it is final.
13 If the man who gave the animal later decides that he wants to buy it back, he must pay [to the priest] that price plus an additional 20 percent.
If you then decide to buy the animal back, you have to add one fifth to its value in payment.
14 ‘[Similarly], if someone dedicates his house to be a sacred gift to belong to me, the priest will decide how much it is worth, which will depend on whether the house is in good condition. Whatever the priest says that it is worth, that will be its value [and that is the price that the priest must pay for it].
If you dedicate your house as holy to the Lord, then the priest will decide its value, whether high or low. Whatever value the priest places on it remains final.
15 If the man who dedicated his house to me later wants to buy it back, he must pay that price plus an additional 20 percent, and then the house will belong to him again.
But if you want to buy back your house, you have to add one fifth to its value in payment. Then it will belong to you again.
16 ‘If someone dedicates to me some of the property that belongs to him and his family, its value will be determined by the number of bushels of seed that will be needed to plant seeds on that land: Its value will be ten pieces of silver for each bushel of seed.
If you dedicate some of your land to the Lord, then its value shall be determined by the amount of seed required to sow it: fifty shekels of silver for every homer of barley seed used.
17 If he dedicates the land during the Year of Celebration, its full value will be that amount.
If you dedicate your field during the Jubilee Year, the value will be the full amount calculated.
18 But if he dedicates the field after the Year of Celebration, the priest will count the number of years until the next Year of Celebration, and if there are not many years that remain, the price will be much lower [than the full price].
But if you dedicate your field after the Jubilee, the priest will work out the value depending on the number of years left until the next Jubilee Year, so reducing the value.
19 If the person who dedicated the field later wants to buy it back, he must pay [to the priest] the price that the priest says it is worth, plus an added one-fifth, and then the field will belong to that man again.
But if you want to buy your field back, you have to add one fifth to its value in payment. Then it will belong to you again.
20 However, if he does not buy it back, or if it has been sold (OR, the priest has sold it) to someone else, that person will never be permitted to buy it back again.
But if you don't buy the field back, or if you've already sold it to someone else, it can't ever be bought back.
21 In the Year of Celebration, it will become sacred again, and it will be given to the priest.
When the Jubilee comes, the field will become holy, in the same way as a field devoted to the Lord. It will become the property of the priests.
22 ‘If someone dedicates to me some land that he has bought, land which is not part of the land that his family has always owned,
If you dedicate to the Lord a field you've bought that was not part of your original property,
23 the priest will count the number of years until the next Year of Celebration to determine how much it is worth, and the man must pay that amount to the priest on that day, [and then that land will belong to that man again].
the priest will work out the value until the next Jubilee Year. You will pay on that day the exact value, giving it as a holy offering to the Lord.
24 But in the Year of Celebration, the land will again be owned by the person from whom he bought it, the person whose family had always owned that land.
In the Jubilee Year, ownership the field shall revert back to the person you bought it from—to the original owner of the land.
25 All the silver that is paid must be compared with the official pieces of silver in the Sacred Tent.
(All values will use the sanctuary shekel standard of twenty gerahs to the shekel.)
26 ‘No one is permitted to dedicate to me the firstborn of any cow or sheep, because the firstborn already belongs to me [DOU].
No one is allowed to dedicate the firstborn of the livestock, because the firstborn belong to the Lord. Whether they are cattle, sheep, or goats, they are the Lord's.
27 If someone gives to me a kind of animal that is not acceptable to me, that person may later buy it back by paying what it is worth plus an additional 20 percent of its value. If he does not buy it back, it must be sold (OR, the priest must sell it) for its standard price.
But if it is an unclean animal, then you can buy it back according to its value, adding on one fifth extra. If it's not bought back, then it is to be sold according to its value.
28 ‘However, no slave or animal or family land that someone owns can be sold or bought back after it has been dedicated to me [and no price has been paid for it]. That kind of gift belongs to me permanently/forever.
Anything that you specially dedicate to the Lord from what you own, whether it's a person, an animal, or your land, can't be sold or bought back. Anything specially dedicated if most holy to the Lord.
29 ‘No person who has [done something that I consider to be very wicked] is permitted to be freed [from being punished]; that person must surely be executed.
No one who is specially dedicated to destruction can be bought back. They must be killed.
30 ‘One tenth of all the crops and grain or fruit that is produced on anyone’s land is sacred and belongs to me.
Tithe from your crops or fruit belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord.
31 If anyone wants to buy back any of that tenth, he must pay [to the priest] what it is worth plus an additional 20 percent.
If you want to buy back some of your tithe, you must add on one fifth to its value.
32 One of every ten domestic animals belongs to me. When a shepherd counts his animals [MTY] [to decide which ones he will give to me], he must mark every tenth one as belonging to me.
When you count your herds and flocks, every tenth animal that passes under the shepherd's rod is holy to the Lord.
33 When he does that, he must not pick out the good ones for himself or leave the bad ones, or substitute bad ones for good ones. If he substitutes one animal for another, both animals will belong to me, and he will not be permitted to buy them back (OR, the shepherd cannot buy them back).’”
You must not examine it to see if it's good or bad, and you must not replace it. However, if you do replace it then both animals become holy; they can't be bought back.”
34 Those are the commands that Yahweh gave to Moses/me on Sinai Mountain [to tell to the people].
These are the laws the Lord gave to Moses for the Israelites on Mount Sinai.
