The Third Book of Moses, called Leviticus
Leviticus 27
Chapter XXVII · Vol. I, pp. 409–412
1 He that maketh a singular vow must be the Lord's. 3 The estimation of the person. 9 Of a beast given by vow. 14 Of a house. 16 Of a field, and the redemption thereof. 28 No devoted thing may be redeemed. 30 The tithe is holy, and may not be changed.
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When a b man shall make a singular vow, the persons shall be for the LORD by thy estimation.1
b Ge. 28.20. Nu. 21.2; xxx. De. 23.21-23, i.e. devotes himself or one of his children to the sacred service of God.
1 This verse and those that follow throw some light on Jephthah's remarkable vow. See Ju. 11.30.—P.
3 And thy estimation shall be of the male from twenty years old even unto sixty years old, even thy estimation shall be c fifty shekels of silver[≈ 570 g · 1.3 lb · silver worth ≈ US$980], after the shekel of the sanctuary.
c £5, 14s. Ex. 30.13.
4 And if it be a female, then thy estimation shall be d thirty shekels[≈ 340 g · 12 oz].
d £3, 8s. 5d. Ex. 21.32. Mat. 27.9; 26.15. Zec. 11.12.
5 And if it be from five years old even unto twenty years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male twenty shekels[≈ 230 g · 8 oz],2 and for the female ten shekels[≈ 110 g · 4 oz].
2 £2, 5s. 7d.
6 And if it be from a month old even unto five years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male e five shekels of silver[≈ 57 g · 2 oz · silver worth ≈ US$98], and for the female thy estimation shall be three shekels of silver[≈ 34 g · 1.2 oz · silver worth ≈ US$59].3
7 And if it be from sixty years old and above; if it be a male, then thy estimation shall be fifteen shekels[≈ 170 g · 6 oz],4 and for the female ten shekels[≈ 110 g · 4 oz].5
4 £1, 14s. 2¼d.
5 £1, 2s. 9½d.
8 But if he be f poorer than thy estimation, then he shall present himself before the priest, and the priest shall value him; according to his ability that vowed shall the priest value him.
f ch. 5.7; 14.21, 22. Mar. 14.7. 2 Co. 8.12.
9 And if it be a beast, whereof men bring an offering unto the LORD, all that any man giveth of such unto the LORD shall be holy.6
A.M. 2514. B.C. 1490.
6 Shall be sacrificed.
10 Heg shall not alter it, nor change it, a good for a bad, or a bad for a good: and if he shall at all change beast for beast, then it and the exchange thereof shall be holy.
g ver. 33.
11 And if it be any h unclean beast,7 of which they do not offer a sacrifice unto the LORD, then he shall present the beast before the priest:
12 And the priest shall value it, whether it be good or bad: as thou valuest it, who art the priest,8 so shall it be.
8 Heb. according to thy estimation, O priest, &c.
13 But if he will at all redeem it, then he shall addi a fifth part thereof unto thy estimation.
i ch. 5.16; 6.4, 5; 22.14; ver. 15, 19.
14 And when a man shall k sanctify his house to be holy unto the LORD, then the priest shall estimate it, whether it be good or bad: as the priest shall estimate it, so shall it stand.
k ver. 21. Nu. 18.14. A house in a city was probably devoted for ever, if it was not redeemed within a year, ch. 25.29, 30.
15 And if he that sanctified it will redeem his house, then he shall add the fifth part of the money of thy estimation unto it, and it shall be his.
16 And if a man shall sanctify unto the LORD some part9 of a field of his possession, then thy estimation shall be according to the seed thereof: an homer[≈ 220 litres · 6 bushels]1 of barley-seed shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver[≈ 570 g · 1.3 lb · silver worth ≈ US$980].2
9 Though the words some part are supplemental, they are generally admitted to be necessary, as it was not lawful for a man to alienate in this manner his whole patrimony. Good-will to the house of God he was allowed to express, but he was not to impoverish his family.—I.
1 Or, the land of an homer, &c.
2 £5, 14s.
17 If he sanctify his field from the year of jubilee, according to thy estimation it shall stand.
18 But if he l sanctify his field after the jubilee, then the priest shall reckon unto him the money according to the years that remain, even unto the year of the jubilee, and it shall be abated from thy estimation.
l ch. 25.15, 16, 27, 51, 52. Fields could only be devoted till the year of jubilee as they could only be sold till then, ch. 25.10-16.
19 And if he that sanctified the field will in any wise redeem it, then he shall add the fifth part of the money of thy estimation unto it, and it shall be assured to him.
20 And if he will not redeem the field, or if he have sold the field to another man, it shall not be redeemed any more.3
3 This conditional penalty was for the purpose of preventing fraud in the performance of religious duties, and the fulfilment of vows. Properly speaking it was the produce and not the soil which was dedicated by vow to God. The land remained with the proprietor, who cultivated it, and paid to the sanctuary the valuation price. The owner might neglect to cultivate, and the land would thus be worthless; or he might sell to another till the year of jubilee—the buyer paying a stipulated sum to the sanctuary, and appropriating the surplus. In either case the land itself would be forfeited, and would pass over into the possession of the priests at the jubilee. The object of the measure was to compel the owner to redeem the property at once, so that the sanctuary might receive the full amount of the vow.—P.
21 But the field, when it goeth out in the jubilee, shall be holy unto the LORD, as a field devoted; the possession thereof shall be the priest's.
22 And if a man sanctify unto the LORD a field which he hath bought, which is not of the fields of his possession,
23 Then the priest shall reckon unto him the worth of thy estimation, even unto the year of the jubilee: and he shall give thine estimation in that day, as a holy thing unto the LORD.
24 In the year of the jubilee the field shall return unto him of whom it was bought, even to him to whom the possession of the land did belong.
25 And all thy estimations shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary:4 twenty m gerahs[≈ 11 g · 0.4 oz] shall be the shekel.
A.M. 2514. B.C. 1490.
4 A standard shekel, the standard being kept in the sanctuary to try and regulate all the weights of the land. The value of the shekel was fixed before, Ex. 30.13; and whereas there had been some alterations, it is again fixed in the laws of Ezekiel's visionary temple, Eze. 45.12, to denote that the gospel should reduce things to their ancient value.—I.
m Ex. 30.3. Nu. 3.47. Eze. 45.12.
26 Only the n firstling5 of the beasts, which should be the LORD's firstling, no man shall sanctify it;6 whether it be ox or sheep: it is the LORD's.
n Ex. 13.2; 22.29, 30; 34.19. De. 15.19. Nu. 18.17.
5 Heb. first-born, &c.
6 Sanctify here, as in many instances, does not signify that the thing is made holy by any change in its nature, but merely that it is set apart from a common, and dedicated to a sacred use. Such things could not be thus sanctified, being already dedicated to God, Ex. 13.2. C.—That is to say, 'consecrate by a singular vow,' because the firstling was the Lord's already; it would have been a solemn mockery to have pretended so to sanctify it, it being already appointed to be sacrificed, if clean; if unclean, the owner might redeem it with its value in money, adding to it a fifth part.—I.
27 And if it be of o an unclean beast, then he shall redeem it according to thine estimation, and shall add a fifth part of it thereto: or if it be not redeemed, then it shall be sold according to thy estimation.
o ver. 11.
28 Notwithstanding p no devoted thing, that a man shall devote unto the LORD of all that he hath, both of man and beast, and of the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed: every devoted thing is most holy unto the LORD.
p Jos. 6.19. ch. 2.3. The things and persons mentioned in this and the next verse were devoted under a curse as the penalty of claiming them back.
29 Noneq devoted, which shall be devoted of men, shall be redeemed; but shall surely be put to death.
q Persons. Jos. 6.17. De. 7.1, 2; 20.16, 17; 25.19. 1 Sa. 15.3. Nu. 21.2, 3. Ex. 22.20. Thus the Canaanites and the Amalekites were devoted to destruction.
30 And r all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD's: it is holy unto the LORD.
r Ge. 28.22. Nu. 18.21, 24. Mal. 3.8, 30. De. 12.5, 6. 2 Ch. 21.5, 6. Neither tithes, nor firstlings, nor first-fruits could be devoted, as they were not man's, but the Lord's property.
31 And if a man will at all redeem ought of his tithes, he shall add thereto the fifth part thereof.
32 And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever s passeth under the rod,7 the tenth shall be holy unto the LORD.
s Je. 33.13.
7 The Jews interpret this phrase of a rod, which they say was tinged with ochre, which the door-keeper of the fold held up, and with which he marked every tenth beast indiscriminately as it passed out. It may well be understood of the ordinary shepherd's crook, still in use in pastoral countries; this sense is countenanced by Mi. 7.14.—C.
33 Het shall not search whether it be good or bad, neither shall he change it: and if he change it at all, then both it and the change thereof shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.8
t ver. 10.
A.M. 2514. B.C. 1490.
8 That is, delivered from another, by paying an equivalent.—Davidson.
34 Theseu are the commandments which the LORD commanded Moses for the children of Israel x in mount Sinai.
A.M. 2514. B.C. 1490.
u ch. i.-xxvii. De. 4.45. Jn. 1.17.
x ch. 1.1; 25.1. Nu. 1.1. Ga. 4.24, 25. He. 12.18-25.
Notes
[Ver. 2. A vow singling out or separating himself, or a member of his family, or a part of his property, to the service of God. C.]
Ver. 8. [Every man should devote to God his time, influence, labours, or property, according to his ability; but no farther is or can be required. If such were the practical Christian rule, there could be no want of witnesses to the heathen, nor of support to them and their families.—Note, We are all devoted in baptism to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; many at the Lord's table; while many are doubly saved—first, by the 'Lamb without spot,' 1 Pe. 1.19: secondly, by the 'goodness and mercy that, through his grace, have followed them all the days of their lives,' Ps. 23.6. Now, as the Jew devoted was brought to the priest to be estimated, let us as 'partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the High-priest of our profession, Christ Jesus,' He. 3.1; let us come to be estimated, though in utmost poverty, Re. 3.17, 18; he will not demand beyond our ability, while he supplies the very gifts we are appointed to employ. C.]
Ver. 10. [To promise, to resolve, and to act, not by fixed principles, but by sudden impulses, is dangerous, as it often brings strong temptation to instability and change—two things against which God's children are solemnly guarded, both by example, Ge. 49.4, and precept, 1 Co. 15.48; 2 Pe. 3.17; and against which this ordinance fixes an impassable barrier. C.]
Ver. 29. [It is difficult to imagine how any one, from these words, could have ignorantly or wickedly inferred that the Scripture authorized human sacrifice, or invested any parent with the power of devoting his children to death: surely the merciful law that would not empower a master to injure a servant's tooth ('And if he smite out his man-servant's tooth, or his maid-servant's tooth; he shall let him go free for his tooth's sake,' Ex. 21.27), would not enable a parent to take away his child's life. Let it be observed then, in explanation, that in ver. 28 the law speaks of man or beast devoted to the Lord, but in ver. 29 it speaks of those who are devoted of men, or from among men, whether devoted by God himself, as were the wicked nations for the crimes of child-murder, idolatry, and total dissolution of morals, Ex. 22.20; De. 7.1, 2; 20.10, 17; 25.19; 1 Sa. 15.3; or devoted by the Israelites for similar crimes and implacable enmity, Nu. 21.23. For these, as for other murderers, the law of God provides no pardon—a terrible emblem of that time and state when 'there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation,' He. 10.27. Thoughtless sinner, think! self-dependent sinner, trusting to to-morrow's repentance, read the awful records, Mat. 25.10; Lu. 13.25, and beware lest, at the time of thy purposed return, 'the master may have risen,' and 'the door be shut!'—Note, Some interpret 'be put to death,' not of the actual infliction of that sentence, but of the continuance of service till death; but the words do not seem capable of such translation. C.]
Reflections.—While in these devoted things I, with wonder, behold Jesus voluntarily devoted, irredeemably devoted to his Father's service in our stead, and saving us by his precious blood, let me be always cheerful and liberal in his work; but let me never be hasty in my vows, lest I involve myself in difficulties, and repent of my rashness. Never let me covet, for my selfish purposes, that which belongs to the Lord; but cheerfully pay my vows, without reserve or change. And though I need not sell my house for his service, yet must I sanctify it to him by his constant worship and fear in the midst of it. And since I myself have been solemnly devoted to his service, let me never be weary of it, or desire a change of my proprietor; but whether I live or die, let me be wholly and only the Lord's.
Measures in square brackets are modern equivalents added for this edition. They are not in the King James text or in Brown’s notes. They use common scholarly estimates: a cubit is about 45.7 cm (18 in), a shekel about 11.4 g (0.4 oz), an ephah about 22 litres. Money values give the worth of the silver or gold at spot prices on 28 October 2026, not what the sum would buy in the ancient world.