Leviticus 27

Leviticus closes with rules for gifts promised to God: people, animals, houses, fields, and tithes. Each may be given, or bought back at a fair price plus a fifth. The chapter shows that vows to God are serious and that everything belongs to Him.

Leviticus 27:1-2

God gives Moses a final set of instructions, this time about special vows. A person might promise to dedicate someone, perhaps himself or a family member, to the LORD’s service. The law sets a fair money value so the promise can be honored in a practical way.

BSA: vow (“promise, dedication”): A vow was a solemn promise to God, and it had to be taken seriously and kept.

See also: Ecclesiastes 5:4-5.

Leviticus 27:3-4

A man in his working prime was valued at fifty shekels of silver, a woman at thirty. These are not statements of worth in God’s eyes. They are set amounts for paying a vow, probably reflecting how much heavy labor each could typically do. The sanctuary shekel was the standard weight.

BSA: valuation (“estimation, assessment of worth”): This is a fixed amount used to settle the vow, not a verdict on a person’s value to God.

Leviticus 27:5-7

The amounts drop for the young and the old, who could do less physical work. Children from five to twenty and infants had their own rates. Those over sixty had lower rates still. The rates were simply a fair, orderly scale, so that every vow could be paid.

Leviticus 27:8

God makes room for the poor. If someone could not pay the set amount, the priest decided a lower figure that the person could afford. A vow was never meant to crush anyone. God’s law is firm, but it is also kind.

BSA: priest (“the spiritual leader, mediator”): The priest stood between the worshiper and God and judged the case fairly.

Leviticus 27:9-10

An animal fit for sacrifice, once vowed, becomes holy and cannot be swapped for another. People must not trade a good animal for a worse one. If they try, both animals become God’s. Giving to God means giving honestly, with no bargaining.

BSA: holy (“set apart, sacred”): Holy means set apart for God’s use alone, so it can no longer be treated as ordinary property.

Hebrew: קֹדֶשׁ (qodesh, H6944) — “holy, set apart.” The word means belonging to God and set apart from ordinary use. Here it describes how an animal changes status the moment it is vowed.

See also: Malachi 1:8.

Leviticus 27:11-13

An unclean animal could not be sacrificed, so the priest set its price. The owner could buy it back, but he had to add a fifth. That extra fifth discouraged hasty vows and made it costly to take back what he had promised to God.

BSA: redeem (“to buy back, restore”): Redeeming means paying a price to get back what had been given away.

Hebrew: גָּאַל (ga’al, H1350) — “to redeem, buy back.” This is the same word used of a family redeemer who rescues what has been lost. It is a rich picture of paying a price to bring something back.

Leviticus 27:14-15

A man might dedicate his house to the LORD. The priest valued it, whether it was in good or poor condition, and that value stood. If the man wanted his house back, he paid the value plus a fifth. The house then belonged to him again.

BSA: house (“dwelling place, family home”): A home was a deep personal gift, so giving it to God showed real devotion.

Leviticus 27:16

Family farmland is valued by how much seed it needs. The rate is fifty shekels of silver for each homer of barley seed. A larger field costs more, since it can grow more. The measure is simple, fair, and the same for everyone.

BSA: homer (“a dry measure, about 65 gallons”): A homer was a large dry measure, used here to size a field by the grain needed to sow it.

Leviticus 27:17-18

The price of a field depends on how many harvests remain until the Year of Jubilee. If it is given at the Jubilee, the full value applies. If given later, the priest lowers the price for each year already gone. The Jubilee was the year when land returned to its family.

BSA: Jubilee (“year of liberation, time of freedom”): Jubilee was the great release when debts were cleared and land went back to its original family.

See also: Leviticus 25:10.

Leviticus 27:19-21

The owner may redeem the field by adding a fifth. If he does not, or if he sells it to someone else, the right to buy it back is lost. At the Jubilee it does not return to the family but becomes holy, like a devoted field, and belongs to the priests.

BSA: devoted (“dedicated, given over”): A devoted field was handed over completely to God with no way back.

Hebrew: חֵרֶם (cherem, H2764) — “devoted, set apart for God.” This word describes something given over to God completely. It could not be sold or taken back, which is why the field here goes to the priests for good.

Leviticus 27:22-24

A man cannot give God land that was never his family’s. If he dedicates a field he bought, he pays its value only up to the Jubilee. Then the field goes back to the original owner’s family. God’s gift honors His own law that family land must come home.

BSA: return (“be restored, come back”): The land is restored to its first family, showing that God cares about every family’s inheritance.

See also: Leviticus 25:23-28.

Leviticus 27:25

All payments use one fixed standard, the sanctuary shekel of twenty gerahs. A single, honest measure kept everyone from cheating and kept worship fair. God is a God of justice, even in matters of money.

BSA: sanctuary (“holy, set-apart”): The sanctuary shekel was the standard kept at the place of worship, so it could be trusted.

See also: Proverbs 11:1.

Leviticus 27:26-27

No one can vow a firstborn animal, because it already belongs to the LORD. You cannot give God what is already His. An unclean firstborn animal could be bought back with a fifth added, or else sold. The principle: the firstborn is God’s by right.

BSA: firstborn (“the firstling, the premier”): The firstborn is the first and best, and God claims it as His own.

See also: Exodus 13:2; Exodus 34:19-20.

Leviticus 27:28

Things placed under a special, total dedication to the LORD cannot be sold or bought back. They are most holy. Such a gift goes to God with no return. This is a more serious kind of giving than the ordinary vows above.

BSA: devoted (“consecrated, set apart”): Here devoted means given over to God so completely that it cannot be taken back.

Hebrew: חֵרֶם (cherem, H2764) — “devoted thing, set apart completely.” This word marks something placed wholly in God’s hands. It is not available for sale or redemption.

Leviticus 27:29

A person placed under this total devotion, here someone doomed for destruction as a judgment, cannot be ransomed. He must die. It is a sober reminder that God’s justice is real and that some matters belong entirely to His judgment, not to human bargaining.

BSA: ransomed (“bought back, redeemed”): No payment could buy back one whom God’s judgment had claimed.

Leviticus 27:30

The tithe, one tenth of the grain and fruit of the land, belongs to the LORD. It is not a gift that Israel gives so much as a portion that is already His. Giving it acknowledges that the harvest comes from God.

BSA: tithe (“a tenth part”): A tithe is simply one tenth, set aside as holy to God.

See also: Deuteronomy 14:22; Proverbs 3:9.

Leviticus 27:31

A man could keep some of his tithe of crops by paying its value in silver, but he had to add a fifth. This made it costly to hold back what belongs to God. The tithe was not to be treated lightly.

BSA: redeem (“to buy back, to restore”): Even a tithe could be bought back, but only at a penalty that showed its holiness.

Leviticus 27:32

For the herds and flocks, every tenth animal that passes under the shepherd’s rod is holy to the LORD. The animals were counted as they walked beneath the staff, and every tenth was marked. The count was objective, not a matter of choice.

BSA: rod (“staff”): The shepherd’s staff counted the animals one by one as they passed.

See also: Ezekiel 20:37.

Leviticus 27:33

The owner must not pick the best or the worst, and must not swap one for another. If he does, both animals are holy and neither can be bought back. God asks for honest, unselfish giving, not a choice based on what costs us least.

BSA: substitution (“exchange, replacement”): Swapping animals was an attempt to give less, and it cost the giver both animals.

Leviticus 27:34

The book ends by pointing back to where these laws came from. The LORD gave them to Moses on Mount Sinai for the people of Israel. They are not human inventions but the words of the God who rescued His people and lives among them.

BSA: commandments (“laws, ordinances”): These are the orders God Himself appointed, given for His people to live by.

See also: Leviticus 26:46.