THE THIRD BOOK OF

MOSES,
called
L E V I T I C U S

Leviticus 27

1He that maketh a singular vow must be the Lord's. 3The estimation of the person; 9of a beast given by vow; 14of a house; 16of a field, and the redemption thereof. 26No man may sanctify the Lord's firstlings. 28No devoted thing may be redeemed. 30The tithe is holy, and may not be changed.


1AND the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

2Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When a man 1shall make a singular vow, 2the persons shall be for the 3LORD by 4thy estimation.

1 Namely, of such things or persons as appertain unto him or are in his power and disposing, desirous to dedicate and consecrate the same to the LORD for an holy use; which in verse 14, etc., is called sanctifying.

2 That is, souls or men. See Gen. 12 on verse 5.

3 And, consequently, the priests who were to administer the service of the LORD, and to take charge of all that belonged thereto. Hebr. unto the LORD.

4 The LORD speaks unto the priests here, as appears by verse 12, who was to make this estimation. Understand thereby the sum of money which the sanctified things were valued at and redeemed for.

3And thy estimation 5shall be of the male from twenty years old even unto sixty years old, even thy estimation shall be fifty 6shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary.

5 Hebr. of a son of twenty years to a son of sixty years; and so in the sequel.

6 See of this coin Gen. 20 on verse 16 and Gen. 23 on verse 15.

4And if it be a female, then thy estimation shall be thirty shekels.

5And if it be from five years old even unto twenty years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male twenty shekels, and for the female ten shekels.

6And if it be from a month old even unto five years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male five shekels of silver, and for the female thy estimation shall be three shekels of silver.

7And if it be from sixty years old and above; if it be a male, then thy estimation shall be fifteen shekels, and for the female ten shekels.

8But if he be poorer 7than thy estimation, then he shall present himself before the priest, and the priest shall value him; according to his 8ability that vowed shall the priest value him.

7 Or, than thou hast estimated him, that is, if he be so poor that he is not able to pay thy estimation.

8 See of this manner of speech Lev. 5 on verse 7.

9And if it be a beast, whereof men bring an offering unto the LORD, all that 9any man giveth 10of such unto the LORD shall be 11holy.

9 Namely, he who had made the vow.

10 That is, of what one commonly does to offer according to the law.

11 Hebr. holiness; and so in the next verse and verse 14, etc. That is, appropriated for and consecrated to God.

10He shall not alter it, nor change it, a good for a bad, or a bad for a good: and if he shall 12at all change beast for beast, then 13it and the exchange 14thereof shall be holy.

12 Hebr. exchanging exchange.

13 Namely, that was changed.

14 Or, the change, that is, that which is put in its place. So verse 33.

11And if it be any unclean beast, of which they do not offer a sacrifice unto the LORD, then he shall present the beast before the priest:

12And the priest shall value it, 15whether it be good or bad: as thou valuest it, who art the priest, so shall it be.

15 Namely, to distinguish which may be good or bad, and accordingly to proportion his estimate. Hebr. between good and between bad. So verse 14.

13But if he will 16at all redeem it, then he shall add a fifth part thereof unto thy estimation.

16 Hebr. redeeming redeem.

14¶And when a man shall 17sanctify 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.

17 That is, freely offered and dedicated the same to God by a vow whereby it became the priests, in which case, if one would have the house redeemed, the estimation of the value thereof was to be made by the priest, and over and above the same a fifth part to be paid for it.

15And 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.

16And if a man shall sanctify unto the LORD some part of a field of his possession, then thy estimation shall be 18according to the seed thereof: an 19homera of barley seed shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver.

18 That is, according to the quantity of the seed wherewith that land was to be sowed, shalt thou value the money that is to be paid for the redemption thereof.

19 Of this measure see 1 Kings 4 on verse 22; Isa. 5:10; Ezek. 45:11; Hosea 3:2.

a dry: 10 ephahs; about 9.5 bushels or 340 liters*

17If he sanctify his field from the year of 20jubile, 21according to thy estimation it shall stand.

20 See Lev. 25 on verse 10.

21 That is, according to the price thou puttest upon it shall that land return again to him who had hallowed it unto the LORD, he paying the said price.

18But if he sanctify his field after the jubile, then the priest shall reckon unto him the money 22according to the years that remain, even unto the year of the jubile, and it shall be 23abated from thy estimation.

22 That is, according to as many or as few which are remaining until the year of the jubile.

23 Of this deduction, according to the number of the years from the year of the jubile, see Lev. 25:15, 16, 17.

19And if he that sanctified the field will 24in 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.

24 Hebr. redeeming redeem.

20And if he will not redeem the field, or if he have sold the field to another man, it shall not be redeemed any more.

21But the field, when it 25goeth out in the jubile, shall be holy unto the LORD, as a 26field devoted; the possession thereof shall be the priest's.

25 Namely, out of the power and possession of them who had bought the same. See Lev. 25 on verse 28.

26 The Hebrew word here implies indeed an extirpation and destruction whereof nothing was to be left, Deut. 2:34; 7:26, but also a dedicating and consecrating of something to God’s peculiar service, which consequently became the priests’ own property; as here and verse 28; Num. 18:14.

22And if a man sanctify unto the LORD a field 27which he hath bought, which is not of the fields of his 28possession;

27 Hebr. of his buying, or, acquiring.

28 That is, by inheritance.

23Then the priest shall reckon unto him the worth 29of thy estimation, even unto the year of the jubile: and 30he shall give thine estimation in that day, as 31a holy thing unto the LORD.

29 That is, the estimation which thou, Moses, dost appoint him by My command, which must be made by the priest himself, verse 25. Or, these words are addressed by the LORD unto the priest who was to make this estimation. See verse 12.

30 Namely, he who has hallowed the field.

31 That is, which is hallowed unto the LORD, or, the LORD unto holiness, that is, that it may be holy to the LORD.

24In the year of the jubile the field shall return unto him of whom it was bought, even to him to whom the possession of the land did belong.

25And all 32thy estimations shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary: twenty 33gerahs shall be the shekel.b

32 Here the LORD speaks again to the priest.

33 A gerah weighed sixty barley grains or aces, answering in our value the twentieth part of a rix-dollar. See likewise of this coin Exod. 30:13; Num. 3:47; 18:16.

b Exod. 30:13; Num. 3:47; Ezek. 45:12.

26¶Onlyc the 34firstling of the beasts, which should be the LORD's firstling, no man shall sanctify it; whether it be ox, or sheep: it is the LORD's.

c Exod. 13:2; 22:29; 34:19; Num. 3:13; 8:17.

34 That is, which otherwise does belong unto the LORD by right of primogeniture and therefore no vow can be made of it. See Exod. 13:2; 22:29; 34:19; Num. 3:13; 8:17.

27And if it be of 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.

28Notwithstandingd no 35devoted 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: 36every devoted thing is 37most holy unto the LORD.

d Joshua 6:18; 7:13, etc.

35 See on verse 21.

36 Hebr. accursed. See the second annotation at Lev. 27 on verse 21.

37 See Lev. 2 on verse 3.

29None devoted, which shall be devoted of men, shall be redeemed; but 38shall surely be put to death.

38 Understand this of people, enemies to God and to His people, especially these whom the LORD commanded to be destroyed and extirpated; these might not be redeemed, nor suffered to live. See Num. 21:2, 3; Joshua 6:17, 18; 1 Sam. 15:3. This may likewise be understood, not of men, but of beasts banished by men.

30And all the 39tithe 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.

39 There were four kinds of tenths: I. the ordinary yearly tenths of the Levites, spoken of in this place, likewise in Num. 18:21, etc.; Deut. 14:22, etc.; 26:12, etc.; 2 Chron. 31:5; Neh. 10:37; Heb. 7:8, 9; II. The tenths which the Levites were to give unto the high priest out of those tenths, Num. 18:26, etc.; III. the yearly tenths, whereof the Israelites, together with their families and the Levites were to rejoice before the LORD, Deut. 12:17, 18; 14:22, 23; IV. the tri-annual tenths in the behalf of the Levites, the poor, the widows, the fatherless and the strangers, Deut. 14:28; 26:12.

31And if a man will 40at all redeem ought of his tithes, he shall add thereto the fifth part thereof.

40 Hebr. redeeming will redeem.

32And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of 41whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the LORD.

41 This has regard to the manner of choosing out the tenths among the cattle, which was then is use; the beasts went out of the stables one by one, and the tithing-man touched the tenth beast in the numbering of them with his staff or rod, and this he took away to hallow it unto the LORD. See likewise Jer. 33:13.

33He shall not search 42whether it be good or bad, neither shall he change it: and if he change 43it at all, then both it and the change thereof shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.

42 As between the fat and the lean, there was no choice to be made by either giver or receiver of the tenths, but that, which in numbering of the cattle coming forth, happened to prove the tenth in number, as is said just before.

43 See on verse 10.

34These are the commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses for the children of Israel 44in mount Sinai.

44 See hereof Lev. 25:1; 26:46.