Discovery BoxLeviticus 27:9-34 
Context27:9 “‘If what is vowed is a kind of animal from which an offering may be presented 1 to the Lord, anything which he gives to the Lord from this kind of animal 2 will be holy. 27:10 He must not replace or exchange it, good for bad or bad for good, and if he does indeed exchange one animal for another animal, then both the original animal 3 and its substitute will be holy. 27:11 If what is vowed is an unclean animal from which an offering must not be presented to the Lord, then he must stand the animal before the priest, 27:12 and the priest will establish its conversion value, 4 whether good or bad. According to the assessed conversion value of the priest, thus it will be. 27:13 If, however, the person who made the vow redeems the animal, 5 he must add one fifth to 6 its conversion value.
27:14 “‘If a man consecrates his house as holy to the Lord, the priest will establish its conversion value, whether good or bad. Just as the priest establishes its conversion value, thus it will stand. 7 27:15 If the one who consecrates it redeems his house, he must add to it one fifth of its conversion value in silver, and it will belong to him. 8
27:16 “‘If a man consecrates to the Lord some of his own landed property, the conversion value must be calculated in accordance with the amount of seed needed to sow it, 9 a homer of barley seed being priced at fifty shekels of silver. 10 27:17 If he consecrates his field in the jubilee year, 11 the conversion value will stand, 27:18 but if 12 he consecrates his field after the jubilee, the priest will calculate the price 13 for him according to the years that are left until the next jubilee year, and it will be deducted from the conversion value. 27:19 If, however, the one who consecrated the field redeems it, 14 he must add to it one fifth of the conversion price 15 and it will belong to him. 16 27:20 If he does not redeem the field, but sells 17 the field to someone else, he may never redeem it. 27:21 When it reverts 18 in the jubilee, the field will be holy to the Lord like a permanently dedicated field; 19 it will become the priest’s property. 20
27:22 “‘If he consecrates to the Lord a field he has purchased, 21 which is not part of his own landed property, 27:23 the priest will calculate for him the amount of its conversion value until the jubilee year, and he must pay 22 the conversion value on that jubilee day as something that is holy to the Lord. 27:24 In the jubilee year the field will return to the one from whom he bought it, the one to whom it belongs as landed property. 27:25 Every conversion value must be calculated by the standard of the sanctuary shekel; 23 twenty gerahs to the shekel.
27:26 “‘Surely no man may consecrate a firstborn that already belongs to the Lord as a firstborn among the animals; whether it is an ox or a sheep, it belongs to the Lord. 24 27:27 If, however, 25 it is among the unclean animals, he may ransom it according to 26 its conversion value and must add one fifth to it, but if it is not redeemed it must be sold according to its conversion value.
27:28 “‘Surely anything which a man permanently dedicates to the Lord 27 from all that belongs to him, whether from people, animals, or his landed property, must be neither sold nor redeemed; anything permanently dedicated is most holy to the Lord. 27:29 Any human being who is permanently dedicated 28 must not be ransomed; such a person must be put to death.
27:30 “‘Any tithe 29 of the land, from the grain of the land or from the fruit of the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord. 27:31 If a man redeems 30 part of his tithe, however, he must add one fifth to it. 31 27:32 All the tithe of herd or flock, everything which passes under the rod, the tenth one will be holy to the Lord. 32 27:33 The owner 33 must not examine the animals to distinguish between good and bad, and he must not exchange it. If, however, he does exchange it, 34 both the original animal 35 and its substitute will be holy. 36 It must not be redeemed.’”
27:34 These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses to tell the Israelites 37 at Mount Sinai.
1 tn Heb “which they may present from it an offering.” The plural active verb is sometimes best rendered in the passive (GKC 460 §144.f, g). Some medieval Hebrew
2 tn Heb “from it.” The masculine suffix “it” here is used for the feminine in the MT, but one medieval Hebrew
3 tn Heb “it and its substitute.” The referent (the original animal offered) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 tn Heb “and the priest shall cause it to be valued.” See the note on v. 8 above.
5 tn Heb “And if redeeming [infinitive absolute] he redeems it [finite verb].” For the infinitive absolute used to highlight contrast rather than emphasis see GKC 343 §113.p. The referent of “he” (the person who made the vow) and “it” (the animal) have both been specified in the translation for clarity.
6 tn Heb “on,” meaning “on top of, in addition to” (likewise in v. 15).
7 tn The expression “it shall stand” may be a technical term for “it shall be legally valid”; cf. NLT “assessment will be final.”
8 tn Heb “and it shall be to him.”
9 tn Heb “a conversion value shall be to the mouth of its seed.”
10 tn Heb “seed of a homer of barley in fifty shekels of silver.”
11 tn Heb “from the year of the jubilee.” For the meaning of “jubilee,” see the note on Lev 25:10 above.
12 tn Heb “And if.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have adversative force here.
13 tn Heb “the silver.”
14 tn Heb “And if redeeming [infinitive absolute] he redeems [finite verb] the field, the one who consecrated it.” For the infinitive absolute used to highlight contrast rather than emphasis see GKC 343 §113.p.
15 tn Heb “the silver of the conversion value.”
16 tn Heb “and it shall rise to him.” See HALOT 1087 s.v. קום 7 for the rendering offered here, but see also the note on the end of v. 14 above (cf. J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 476, 478).
17 tn Heb “and if he sells.”
18 tn Heb “When it goes out” (cf. Lev 25:25-34).
19 tn Heb “like the field of the permanent dedication.” The Hebrew word חֵרֶם (kherem) is a much discussed term. In this and the following verses it refers in a general way to the fact that something is permanently devoted to the
20 tn Heb “to the priest it shall be his property.”
21 tn Heb “his field of purchase,” which is to be distinguished from his own ancestral “landed property” (cf. v. 16 above).
22 tn Heb “give” (so KJV, ASV, NASB, NLT).
23 tn See the note on Lev 5:15.
24 tn Heb “to the
25 tn Heb “And if.”
26 tn Heb “in” or “by.”
27 tn Heb “Surely, any permanently dedicated [thing] which a man shall permanently dedicate to the
28 tn Heb “permanently dedicated from among men.”
29 tn On the “tithe” system in Israel, see R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:1035-55 and esp. pp. 1041-42 on Lev 27:30-33.
30 tn Heb “And if redeeming [infinitive absolute] a man redeems [finite verb].” For the infinitive absolute used to highlight contrast rather than emphasis see GKC 343 §113.p.
31 tn Heb “its one fifth on it.”
32 sn The tithed animal was the tenth one that passed under the shepherd’s rod or staff as they were being counted (see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 485, and B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 200).
33 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the owner of the animal) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
34 tn Heb “And if exchanging [infinitive absolute] he exchanges it [finite verb].” For the infinitive absolute used to highlight contrast rather than emphasis see GKC 343 §113.p.
35 tn Heb “it and its substitute.” The referent (the original animal offered) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
36 tn Heb “it shall be and its substitute shall be holy.”
37 tn Most of the commentaries and English versions translate, “which the
