Leviticus 27: Vows, things given to Yahweh, and the tithe

In plain English: Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

In plain English: "Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When a man makes a special vow (or: fulfills a vow) to give a person to Yahweh, by the value you set,

The Hebrew word: "Consecrates... in a vow" is the verb pala with the word for a vow. The dictionary gives pala as "perhaps to separate, i.e. distinguish", and from that, to be great, difficult or wonderful.

How it is translated: In its 69 verses this Bible most often says "wonder" (21) or "marvel" (20). With a vow it is in 5 verses: this one, Leviticus 22:21, Numbers 15:3 and 15:8 ("to accomplish a vow"), and Numbers 6:2 ("make a special vow").

What changes: Read as "makes a special vow", it is an unusual vow, set apart from others. Read as "fulfills a vow", the man is paying what he has already vowed.

In plain English: the value you set for a male from twenty to sixty years old is to be fifty shekels of silver, by the shekel of the sanctuary.

Good to know: The amounts in verses 3 to 7 are set by age and by whether the person is male or female. The text does not give a reason for them. Verse 25 says the shekel of the sanctuary is twenty gerahs, as Exodus 30:13 does.

In plain English: If the person is a female, the value you set is to be thirty shekels.

In plain English: If the person is from five to twenty years old, the value you set is to be twenty shekels for a male and ten shekels for a female.

In plain English: If the person is from a month to five years old, the value you set is to be five shekels of silver for a male and three shekels of silver for a female.

Good to know: Numbers 18:16 sets the same price, five shekels by the shekel of the sanctuary, to buy back a firstborn son from a month old.

In plain English: If the person is sixty years old or older, the value you set is to be fifteen shekels for a male and ten shekels for a female.

In plain English: But if he is too poor to pay the value you set, he is to be set before the priest (or: the person is to be brought before the priest), and the priest is to set a value for him. The priest is to set it by what the one who made the vow can afford.

In plain English: "If it is an animal of the kind people bring as an offering to Yahweh, anything a man gives of it to Yahweh becomes holy.

In plain English: He is not to change it or swap it, a good one for a bad one or a bad one for a good one. If he does swap one animal for another, then both the animal and the one swapped for it will be holy.

In plain English: If it is an unclean animal, of the kind people do not bring as an offering to Yahweh, he is to bring the animal before the priest,

In plain English: and the priest is to value it, whether it is good or bad. The value the priest sets is to stand.

In plain English: But if he wants to buy it back, he is to add a fifth to the value you set.

In plain English: "When a man sets apart his house as holy to Yahweh, the priest is to value it, whether it is good or bad. The value the priest sets is to stand.

In plain English: If the man who set it apart wants to buy back his house, he is to add a fifth of the money to the value you set, and it will be his again.

In plain English: "If a man sets apart to Yahweh part of a field he owns, its value is to be set by the seed it needs (or: by its harvest of seed). Land sown with a homer of barley seed is to be valued at fifty shekels of silver.

In plain English: If he sets apart his field from the Year of Jubilee, it is to stand at the value you set.

In plain English: But if he sets apart his field after the Jubilee, the priest is to work out the price by the years left until the Year of Jubilee, and an amount is to be taken off the value you set.

In plain English: If the man who set apart the field wants to buy it back, he is to add a fifth of the money to the value you set, and it will be his again.

In plain English: If he does not buy back the field, or if he has sold the field to someone else, it can never be bought back.

In plain English: When the field is released in the Jubilee, it will be holy to Yahweh, like a field devoted to him. It will belong to the priests.

The Hebrew word: "Devoted" is cherem, which the dictionary gives as "usually a doomed object": something given over to Yahweh completely.

How it is translated: This Bible says "devoted" in 18 of the 31 verses that use the word. In some others it means a fishing net, as in Habakkuk 1:15.

Good to know: A devoted thing can never be sold or bought back (verse 28). Numbers 18:14 gives everything devoted in Israel to the priests.

In plain English: "If a man sets apart to Yahweh a field he has bought, which is not part of the land he owns by inheritance,

In plain English: the priest is to work out for him the value you set up to the Year of Jubilee. He is to pay that value on that day, as a holy gift to Yahweh.

In plain English: In the Year of Jubilee the field is to go back to the one it was bought from, the one whose land it is by inheritance.

In plain English: All the values you set are to be by the shekel of the sanctuary: twenty gerahs to the shekel.

In plain English: "But no one may set apart a firstborn animal, ox or sheep, because the firstborn already belongs to Yahweh. It is Yahweh's.

In plain English: If it is an unclean animal, he is to buy it back at the value you set and add a fifth to it. If it is not bought back, it is to be sold at the value you set.

In plain English: "But nothing a man devotes to Yahweh out of all he has, whether a person, an animal, or a field he owns, is to be sold or bought back. Everything devoted is most holy to Yahweh.

In plain English: "No person who is devoted to destruction from among people may be bought back (ransomed). He must surely be put to death.

Good to know: The verse does not say who these people are or how they come to be devoted. Readers differ. Some read it as people condemned under the law, as in Exodus 22:20, which uses the same verb for someone who sacrifices to another god. Others read it as people devoted to destruction in war, as Jericho is in Joshua 6:17.

In plain English: "All the tithe (the tenth) of the land, whether of the seed of the land or the fruit of the trees, is Yahweh's. It is holy to Yahweh.

The Hebrew word: "Tithe" is ma'aser, which the dictionary gives as "a tenth; especially a tithe".

How it is translated: This Bible says "tithe" in 24 of the 27 verses that use the word. In Genesis 14:20 it is the "tenth" Abram gives. Numbers 18:21 gives the tithe to the Levites.

Church tradition: Many churches teach giving a tenth of one's income today. Others teach that the tithe laws were for Israel, and teach free giving. Leviticus 27 speaks of a tenth of the crops, the fruit of the trees, and the herds and flocks.

In plain English: If a man wants to buy back any of his tithe, he is to add a fifth to it.

In plain English: All the tithe of the herds and the flocks, every tenth animal that passes under the rod, is to be holy to Yahweh.

In plain English: He is not to pick out the good from the bad, and he is not to swap it. If he does swap it, then both it and the one swapped for it will be holy. It cannot be bought back."

In plain English: These are the commandments that Yahweh gave Moses for the Israelites on Mount Sinai.

Good to know: This is the last verse of Leviticus. Leviticus 26:46 closes the laws in nearly the same words.