Vows: Valuing a Person, Animal, or House
1Yahweh spoke to Moses: 2“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When someone makes a special vow that concerns the value of a person dedicated to Yahweh, 3the value of a male from twenty to sixty years old is to be fifty shekels of silver, measured by the sanctuary shekel. 4If it is a female, the value is to be thirty shekels. 5If the person is between five and twenty years old, the value of a male is to be twenty shekels, and of a female ten shekels. 6If the person is between one month and five years old, the value of a male is to be five shekels of silver, and of a female three shekels of silver. 7If the person is sixty years old or more, the value of a male is to be fifteen shekels, and of a female ten shekels. 8But if the one who vowed is too poor to pay the assessed value, he is to present the person before the priest, and the priest is to set a value for him according to what the one making the vow can afford. 9If it is an animal that may be brought as an offering to Yahweh, whatever is given to Yahweh from it is to be holy. 10He must not replace it or exchange it, a good one for a bad one or a bad one for a good one. If he does exchange one animal for another, both the original and its substitute are to be holy. 11But if it is any unclean animal that may not be brought as an offering to Yahweh, he is to present the animal before the priest, 12and the priest is to set its value, whether good or bad. Whatever value the priest sets, that is what it is to be. 13If the owner wishes to redeem it, he is to add a fifth to its assessed value. 14If a man dedicates his house as holy to Yahweh, the priest is to set its value, whether good or bad. Whatever value the priest sets, that is what it is to stand at. 15If the one who dedicated the house wishes to redeem it, he is to add a fifth of the assessed value in silver, and it will be his.
Vows: Valuing a Field
16If a man dedicates to Yahweh part of the field he holds, its value is to be set according to the seed required for it — a homer of barley seed valued at fifty shekels of silver. 17If he dedicates his field from the year of Jubilee, it is to stand at the full assessed value. 18But if he dedicates his field after the Jubilee, the priest is to calculate the price for him according to the years left until the next year of Jubilee, and its value is to be reduced accordingly. 19If the one who dedicated the field wishes to redeem it, he is to add a fifth to its assessed value, and it will remain his. 20But if he does not redeem the field, or if he has sold the field to someone else, it can no longer be redeemed. 21When the field is released in the Jubilee, it is to be holy to Yahweh, like a field permanently devoted; it will become the priest’s possession. 22If a man dedicates to Yahweh a field he has bought, which is not part of the field he holds, 23the priest is to calculate for him the value up to the year of Jubilee, and the man is to pay the assessed value that day as something holy to Yahweh. 24In the year of Jubilee the field is to return to the one from whom it was bought, to the one who holds the land. 25Every assessed value is to be measured by the sanctuary shekel, twenty gerahs to the shekel.
Firstborn, Devoted Things, and Tithes
26But no one may dedicate the firstborn of an animal, since as a firstborn it already belongs to Yahweh — whether ox or sheep, it is Yahweh’s. 27But if it is an unclean animal, he may redeem it at its assessed value, adding a fifth to it; if it is not redeemed, it is to be sold at its assessed value. 28But nothing that a man permanently devotes to Yahweh out of all he owns — whether human, animal, or land he holds — may be sold or redeemed. Everything permanently devoted is most holy to Yahweh. 29No human who has been devoted to destruction may be ransomed; such a person must be put to death. 30Every tithe of the land, whether from the seed of the ground or the fruit of the trees, belongs to Yahweh; it is holy to Yahweh. 31If a man wishes to redeem any part of his tithe, he is to add a fifth to it. 32Every tithe of the herd or flock — every tenth animal that passes under the shepherd’s staff — is to be holy to Yahweh. 33The owner must not inspect it to see whether it is good or bad, and he must not exchange it. If he does exchange it, both the original and its substitute are to be holy; they cannot be redeemed.” 34These are the commandments that Yahweh gave Moses for the Israelites on Mount Sinai.
