Leviticus 27
27
Making Promises to the Lord
1The Lord told Moses 2to say to the community of Israel:
If you ever want to free someone who has been promised to me, 3-7you may do so by paying the following amounts, weighed according to the official standards:
50 pieces of silver for men
ages 20 to 60,
and 30 pieces for women;
20 pieces of silver
for young men ages 5 to 20,
and 10 pieces
for young women;
15 pieces of silver for men
ages 60 and above
and 10 pieces for women;
5 pieces of silver for boys
ages 1 month to 5 years,
and 3 pieces for girls.
8If you have promised to give someone to me and can't afford to pay the full amount for that person's release, you will be taken to a priest, and he will decide how much you can afford.
9If you promise to sacrifice an animal to me, it becomes holy, and there is no way you can set it free. 10If you try to substitute any other animal, no matter how good, for the one you promised, they will both become holy and must be sacrificed. 11Donkeys are unfit for sacrifice, so if you promise me a donkey,#27.11 Donkeys … donkey: The Hebrew text has “If you promise me an unclean animal,” which probably refers to a donkey (see Exodus 13.13; 34.20). you must bring it to the priest, 12and let him determine its value. 13But if you want to buy it back, you must pay an additional 20 percent.
14If you promise a house to me, a priest will set the price, whatever the condition of the house. 15But if you decide to buy it back, you must pay an additional 20 percent.
16If you promise part of your family's land to me, its value must be determined by the amount of seed needed to plant the land, and the rate will be ten pieces of silver for every 20 kilograms of seed. 17If this promise is made in the Year of Celebration,#27.17 Year of Celebration: See 25.8-34. the land will be valued at the full price. 18But any time after that, the price will be figured according to the number of years before the next Year of Celebration. 19If you decide to buy back the land, you must pay the price plus an additional 20 percent, 20but you cannot buy it back once someone else has bought it. 21When the Year of Celebration comes, the land becomes holy because it belongs to me, and it will be given to the priests.
22If you promise me a field that you have bought, 23its value will be decided by a priest, according to the number of years before the next Year of Celebration, and the money you pay will be mine. 24However, on the next Year of Celebration, the land will go back to the family of its original owner. 25Every price will be set by the official standards.
Various Offerings
The Lord said:
26All first-born animals of your flocks and herds are already mine, and so you cannot promise any of them to me. 27If you promise me a donkey,#27.27 donkey: See the note at 27.11. you may buy it back by adding an additional 20 percent to its value. If you don't buy it back, it can be sold to someone else for whatever a priest has said it is worth.
28 #
Nu 18.14. Anything that you completely dedicate to me must be completely destroyed.#27.28 completely dedicate … completely destroyed: In order to show that something belonged completely to the Lord and could not be used by anyone else, it was destroyed. This law most often applied to towns and people captured in war (see Joshua 6.16,17). It cannot be bought back or sold. Every person, animal, and piece of property that you dedicate completely is only for me. 29In fact, any humans who have been promised to me in this way must be put to death.
30 #
Nu 18.21; Dt 14.22-29. Ten percent of everything you harvest is holy and belongs to me, whether it grows in your fields or on your fruit trees. 31If you want to buy back this part of your harvest, you may do so by paying what it is worth plus an additional 20 percent.
32When you count your flocks and herds, one out of ten of every newborn animal#27.32 one out of ten of every newborn animal: Or “one out of every ten animals.” is holy and belongs to me, 33no matter how good or bad it is. If you substitute one animal for another, both of them become holy, and neither can be bought back.
34Moses was on Mount Sinai when the Lord gave him these laws for the people of Israel.
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Leviticus 27: CEV
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Leviticus 27
27
Laws concerning Gifts to the LORD
1The LORD gave Moses 2the following regulations for the people of Israel. When a person has been given to the LORD in fulfilment of a special vow, that person may be set free by the payment of the following sums of money, 3-7according to the official standard:
— adult male, twenty to sixty years old: fifty pieces of silver
— adult female: thirty pieces of silver
— young male, five to twenty years old: twenty pieces of silver
— young female: ten pieces of silver
— infant male under five: five pieces of silver
— infant female: three pieces of silver
— male above sixty years of age: fifteen pieces of silver
— female above sixty: ten pieces of silver.
8If anyone who made the vow is too poor to pay the standard price, he or she shall bring the person to the priest, and the priest will set a lower price, according to the ability of that person to pay.
9If the vow concerns an animal that is acceptable as an offering to the LORD, then every gift made to the LORD is sacred, 10and anyone who made the vow may not substitute another animal for it. If he does, both animals belong to the LORD. 11But if the vow concerns a ritually unclean animal, which is not acceptable as an offering to the LORD, the man shall take the animal to the priest. 12The priest shall fix a price for it, according to its good or bad qualities, and the price will be final. 13If the person wishes to buy it back, he must pay the price plus an additional twenty per cent.
14When someone dedicates his house to the LORD, the priest shall fix the price according to its good or bad points, and the price will be final. 15If the one who dedicated the house wishes to buy it back, he must pay the price plus an additional twenty per cent.
16If someone dedicates part of his land to the LORD, the price shall be fixed according to the amount of seed it takes to sow it, at the rate of ten pieces of silver for every twenty kilogrammes of barley. 17If he dedicates the land immediately after a Year of Restoration, the full price applies. 18If he dedicates it later, the priest shall estimate the cash value according to the number of years left until the next Year of Restoration, and fix a reduced price. 19If the one who dedicated the field wishes to buy it back, he or she must pay the price plus an additional twenty per cent. 20If they sell the field to someone else without first buying it back from the LORD, they lose the right to buy it back. 21At the next Year of Restoration the field will become the LORD's permanent property; it shall belong to the priests.
22If someone dedicates to the LORD a field that he has bought, 23the priest shall estimate its value according to the number of years until the next Year of Restoration, and the person must pay the price that very day; the money belongs to the LORD. 24At the Year of Restoration the field shall be returned to the original owner or to his descendants.
25All prices shall be fixed according to the official standard.
26The firstborn of an animal already belongs to the LORD, so no one may dedicate it to him as a freewill offering. A calf, a lamb, or a kid belongs to the LORD, 27but the firstborn of an unclean animal may be bought back at the standard price plus an additional twenty per cent. If it is not bought back, it may be sold to someone else at the standard price.
28 #
Num 18.14
No one may sell or buy back what he has unconditionally dedicated#27.28 unconditionally dedicated: Anything dedicated in this way belonged completely to the LORD and could not be used; it had to be destroyed. to the LORD, whether it is a human being, an animal, or land. It belongs permanently to the LORD. 29Not even a human being who has been unconditionally dedicated may be bought back; he must be put to death.
30 #
Num 18.21; Deut 14.22–29 One-tenth of all the produce of the land, whether grain or fruit, belongs to the LORD. 31If a man wishes to buy any of it back, he must pay the standard price plus an additional twenty per cent. 32One out of every ten domestic animals belongs to the LORD. When the animals are counted, every tenth one belongs to the LORD. 33The owner may not arrange the animals so that the poor animals are chosen, and he may not make any substitutions. If he does substitute one animal for another, then both animals will belong to the LORD and may not be bought back.
34These are the commands that the LORD gave Moses on Mount Sinai for the people of Israel.
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.