What limits does Leviticus 27 place on changing or redeeming what is given to the Lord?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

The chapter gives prices and added fifth parts for specified vows and redemptions, but some things cannot be exchanged or redeemed. It states separate rules for people, animals, houses, fields, firstborn animals, devoted things and tithes.

Chapter breakdown

Leviticus 27 concerns vows and tithes. The Lord tells Moses to instruct Israel that a man who has made a vow and promised his soul to God must give the price according to the valuation. For a man from twenty to sixty years old, the price is fifty silver sicles by the sanctuary’s weight; for a woman it is thirty. From the fifth year to the twentieth, the price is twenty sicles for a male and ten for a female. From one month to the fifth year, it is five for a male and three for a female. At sixty years old or upward, it is fifteen for a man and ten for a woman.

If the person is poor and cannot pay the valuation, he must stand before the priest. The priest must value him at what he sees he can pay, and that is what he must give. A vowed beast that may be sacrificed to the Lord is holy and cannot be changed, whether a better one for a worse or a worse for a better. If it is exchanged, both the original and its replacement are consecrated to the Lord.

A vowed unclean beast that cannot be sacrificed must be brought before the priest, who judges whether it is good or bad and sets the price. If the person offering it gives that price, he must add one fifth above the valuation. If a man vows his house and sanctifies it to the Lord, the priest must consider whether it is good or bad and appoint the price at which it is sold. If the man who vowed it redeems it, he must add one fifth above the valuation and will have the house.

If a man vows the field of his possession and consecrates it to the Lord, its price is rated by the measure of seed. Ground sown with thirty bushels of barley is rated at fifty silver sicles. If he vows the field from the beginning jubilee year, it is rated at what it is worth. If he vows it later, the priest must reckon the money according to the years remaining until jubilee and reduce the price. If the man who vowed the field redeems it, he must add one fifth of the valued amount and will possess it.

If he does not redeem the field and it is sold to another man, the man who vowed it may no longer redeem it. At jubilee it is sanctified to the Lord and, as a consecrated possession, belongs to the priest’s right. For a bought field that was not part of a man’s ancestors’ possession, the priest must reckon the price by the years until jubilee. The man who vowed it must give that amount to the Lord. At jubilee the field returns to the former owner who sold it and had it as his possession. Every valuation must use the sanctuary sicle; one sicle has twenty obols.

No one may sanctify and vow the firstborn that already belong to the Lord, whether bullock or sheep, because they are his. The next verse says that if it is an unclean beast, the person offering it must redeem it at the valuation and add one fifth of the price. If he does not redeem it, it must be sold to another for the valued amount.

Anything devoted to the Lord, whether a man, beast or field, must not be sold or redeemed. What is once consecrated is holy of holies to the Lord. The next verse says that any consecration offered by man must not be redeemed, but must die.

All tithes of the land—a tenth, whether of corn or the fruits of trees—belong to the Lord and are sanctified to him. Anyone redeeming his tithes must add one fifth. Of oxen, sheep and goats passing under the shepherd’s rod, every tenth is sanctified to the Lord. It must not be chosen as good or bad or changed for another. If someone exchanges it, both the original and its replacement are sanctified to the Lord and must not be redeemed.

These are the precepts the Lord commanded Moses for the children of Israel on Mount Sinai.

The story inside

The field rules show why the kind of property and the timing both matter. A vowed field from the person’s possession is valued by seed measure, with a reduction when fewer years remain until jubilee. The owner may redeem it by adding one fifth, but if it is not redeemed and is sold to another, he loses that redemption option and it belongs to the priest’s right at jubilee. A bought field that was not part of the person’s ancestors’ possession follows a separate path: its years are valued and paid to the Lord, and at jubilee it returns to the former owner. The chapter keeps these cases distinct rather than applying one result to every field.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The person who cannot pay has a stated procedure. He stands before the priest, who values him according to what he can pay, so the listed amounts are accompanied by a rule for poverty.
2
The fifth-part addition applies in the cases the text names. The animal, house, field and tithe clauses must be read with their separate conditions; the ability to redeem one kind of gift does not erase a ban on another.
3
Exchange can consecrate both animals. The sacrificial-beast rule and the animal-tithe rule both retain the original and replacement as holy, while the latter also states they cannot be redeemed.

Test your recall

How does vowing a field later than the beginning of jubilee affect the priest’s valuation, and why?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 13763–13785
Leviticus Chapter 27 Of vows and tithes. 27:1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 27:2. Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: The man that shall have made a vow, and promised his soul to God, shall give the price according to estimation. 27:3. If it be a man from twenty years old unto sixty years old, he shall give fifty sicles of silver, after the weight of the sanctuary: 27:4. If a woman, thirty. 27:5. But from the fifth year until the twentieth, a man shall give twenty sicles: a woman ten. 27:6. From one month until the fifth year, for a male shall be given five sicles: for a female three. 27:7. A man that is sixty years old or upward, shall give fifteen sicles: a woman ten.
Lines 13787–13797
27:8. If he be poor, and not able to pay the estimation, he shall stand before the priest: and as much as he shall value him at, and see him able to pay, so much shall he give. 27:9. But a beast that may be sacrificed to the Lord, if any one shall vow, shall be holy, 27:10. And cannot be changed: that is to say, neither a better for a worse, nor a worse for a better. And if he shall change it: both that which was changed, and that for which it was changed, shall be consecrated to the Lord.
Lines 13799–13812
27:11. An unclean beast, which cannot be sacrificed to the Lord, if any man shall vow, shall be brought before the priest: 27:12. Who judging whether it be good or bad, shall set the price. 27:13. Which, if he that offereth it will give, he shall add above the estimation the fifth part. 27:14. If a man shall vow his house, and sanctify it to the Lord, the priest shall consider it, whether it be good or bad: and it shall be sold according to the price, which he shall appoint. 27:15. But if he that vowed, will redeem it, he shall give the fifth part of the estimation over and above: and shall have the house.
Lines 13814–13827
27:16. And if he vow the field of his possession, and consecrate it to the Lord, the price shall be rated according to the measure of the seed. If the ground be sown with thirty bushels of barley, let it be sold for fifty sicles of silver. 27:17. If he vow his field immediately from the year of jubilee that is beginning: as much as it may be worth, at so much it shall be rated. 27:18. But if some time after, the priest shall reckon the money according to the number of years that remain until the jubilee, and the price shall be abated. 27:19. And if he that had vowed, will redeem his field, he shall add the fifth part of the money of the estimation, and shall possess it.
Lines 13829–13847
27:20. And if he will not redeem it, but it be sold to any other man, he that vowed it, may not redeem it any more. 27:21. For when the day of jubilee cometh, it shall be sanctified to the Lord, and as a possession consecrated, pertaineth to the right of the priest. 27:22. If a field that was bought, and not of a man’s ancestors’ possession, be sanctified to the Lord: 27:23. The priest shall reckon the price according to the number of years, unto the jubilee. And he that had vowed, shall give that to the Lord. 27:24. But in the jubilee, it shall return to the former owner, who had sold it, and had it in the lot of his possession. 27:25. All estimation shall be made according to the sicle of the sanctuary. A sicle hath twenty obols.
Lines 13849–13855
27:26. The firstborn, which belong to the Lord, no man may sanctify and vow: whether it be bullock, or sheep, they are the Lord’s. 27:27. And if it be an unclean beast, he that offereth it shall redeem it, according to thy estimation, and shall add the fifth part of the price. If he will not redeem it, it shall be sold to another for how much soever it was estimated by thee.
Lines 13857–13862
27:28. Any thing that is devoted to the Lord, whether it be man, or beast, or field, shall not be sold: neither may it be redeemed. Whatsoever is once consecrated shall be holy of holies to the Lord. 27:29. And any consecration that is offered by man, shall not be redeemed, but dying shall die.
Lines 13864–13877
27:30. All tithes of the land, whether of corn, or of the fruits of trees, are the Lord’s, and are sanctified to him. 27:31. And if any man will redeem his tithes, he shall add the fifth part of them. 27:32. Of all the tithes of oxen, and sheep, and goats, that pass under the shepherd’s rod, every tenth that cometh shall be sanctified to the Lord. 27:33. It shall not be chosen neither good nor bad, neither shall it be changed for another. If any man change it: both that which was changed, and that for which it was changed, shall be sanctified to the Lord, and shall not be redeemed.
Lines 13879–13884
27:34. These are the precepts which the Lord commanded Moses for the children of Israel in mount Sinai.