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Leviticus 27

Leviticus closes by regulating vows and dedicated property, distinguishing what may be redeemed from what belongs irrevocably to YHWH.

YHWH speaks to Moses about vows and dedicated possessions, with instructions for the children of Israel. People, animals, houses, and fields receive set valuations or priestly assessments, and some may be bought back with an added fifth of their value. The rules account for poverty and the years remaining until Jubilee. Other things, including firstborn animals and tithes, already belong to YHWH. The chapter closes by identifying these commands with God’s speech to Moses at Mount Sinai.

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2“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, ‘When a man consecrates a person to the LORD in a vow, according to your valuation,
3your valuation of a male from twenty years old to sixty years old shall be fifty shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary.
4If she is a female, then your valuation shall be thirty shekels.
6If the person is from a month old to five years old, then your valuation shall be for a male five shekels of silver, and for a female your valuation shall be three shekels of silver.
8But if he is poorer than your valuation, then he shall be set before the priest, and the priest shall assign a value to him. The priest shall assign a value according to his ability to pay.
10He shall not alter it, nor exchange it, a good for a bad, or a bad for a good. If he shall at all exchange animal for animal, then both it and that for which it is exchanged shall be holy.
11If it is any unclean animal, of which they do not offer as an offering to the LORD, then he shall set the animal before the priest;
13But if he will indeed redeem it, then he shall add the fifth part of it to its valuation.
14“‘When a man dedicates his house to be holy to the LORD, then the priest shall evaluate it, whether it is good or bad. As the priest evaluates it, so it shall stand.
15If he who dedicates it will redeem his house, then he shall add the fifth part of the money of your valuation to it, and it shall be his.
16“‘If a man dedicates to the LORD part of the field of his possession, then your valuation shall be according to the seed for it. The sowing of a homer of barley shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver.
18But if he dedicates his field after the Jubilee, then the priest shall reckon to him the money according to the years that remain to the Year of Jubilee; and an abatement shall be made from your valuation.
21but the field, when it goes out in the Jubilee, shall be holy to the LORD, as a devoted field. It shall be owned by the priests.
24In the Year of Jubilee the field shall return to him from whom it was bought, even to him to whom the possession of the land belongs.
25All your valuations shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary: twenty gerahs to the shekel.
26“‘However the firstborn among animals, which belongs to the LORD as a firstborn, no man may dedicate, whether an ox or a sheep. It is the LORD’s.
28“‘Notwithstanding, no devoted thing that a man devotes to the LORD of all that he has, whether of man or animal, or of the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed. Everything that is permanently devoted is most holy to the LORD.
29“‘No one devoted to destruction, who shall be devoted from among men, shall be ransomed. He shall surely be put to death.
30“‘All the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is the LORD’s. It is holy to the LORD.
32All the tithe of the herds or the flocks, whatever passes under the rod, the tenth shall be holy to the LORD.
34These are the commandments which the LORD commanded Moses for the children of Israel on Mount Sinai.
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Key verses
Leviticus 27:30The tithe belongs to YHWH before anyone offers it, distinguishing an existing obligation from a voluntary dedication.
Leviticus 27:28This verse establishes a category of devoted things that cannot be sold or redeemed, setting a firm limit on reclaiming gifts.
Leviticus 27:2The opening command introduces vows involving persons and the valuations that govern them throughout the chapter’s first section.
Where this chapter reaches

Numbers and Deuteronomy share laws concerning vows, firstborn animals, and tithes, placing these dedicated gifts within Israel’s worship and obligations to YHWH. Malachi and Nehemiah also address tithes and their delivery, sharing this chapter’s concern for portions set apart for God.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What stands out to you about the priest’s duty to account for someone’s ability to pay?

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How does the distinction between voluntary gifts and things already belonging to God shape your view of giving?

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Questions people ask about Leviticus 27

Why does Leviticus 27 assign different values to people?

The amounts are sanctuary valuations attached to vows involving persons, with different sums for age and sex. The passage does not explain the reason for each difference or present these sums as measures of human dignity. Verse 8 requires the priest to adjust the assessment for someone who cannot afford it.

What does redeem mean in Leviticus 27?

To redeem here means to buy back something dedicated to YHWH under the stated rules. Several cases require the assessed value plus one fifth, an additional twenty percent. Redemption has limits: devoted things cannot be reclaimed, and animals suitable for sacrifice cannot be exchanged without both animals becoming holy.

Does Leviticus 27:29 command human sacrifice?

Verse 29 concerns someone devoted to destruction and forbids ransom from that sentence. It does not describe a voluntary vow authorizing human sacrifice. The chapter distinguishes this category from the vows and valuations at its opening, though it does not specify here the offenses or proceedings behind the death sentence.

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Leviticus · 27 chapters
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).