Making Promises to the Lord
1 The Lord told Moses 2 to say to the community of Israel:
If you ever want to free someone who has been promised to me, 3-7 you may do so by paying the following amounts, weighed according to the official standards:
50 pieces of silver for men
ages 20 to 60,
and 30 pieces for women;20 pieces of silverfor young men ages 5 to 20,
and 10 piecesfor young women;
15 pieces of silver for menages 60 and aboveand 10 pieces for women;
5 pieces of silver for boysages 1 month to 5 years,and 3 pieces for girls.
8 If you have promised to give someone to me and can't afford to pay the full amount for that person's release, you will be taken to a priest, and he will decide how much you can afford.
9 If you promise to sacrifice an animal to me, it becomes holy, and there is no way you can set it free. 10 If you try to substitute any other animal, no matter how good, for the one you promised, they will both become holy and must be sacrificed. 11 Donkeys are unfit for sacrifice, so if you promise me a donkey, you must bring it to the priest, 12 and let him determine its value. 13 But if you want to buy it back, you must pay an additional 20 percent.
14 If you promise a house to me, a priest will set the price, whatever the condition of the house. 15 But if you decide to buy it back, you must pay an additional 20 percent.
16 If you promise part of your family's land to me, its value must be determined by the amount of seed needed to plant the land, and the rate will be ten pieces of silver for every 20 kilograms of seed. 17 If this promise is made in the Year of Celebration, the land will be valued at the full price. 18 But any time after that, the price will be figured according to the number of years before the next Year of Celebration. 19 If you decide to buy back the land, you must pay the price plus an additional 20 percent, 20 but you cannot buy it back once someone else has bought it. 21 When the Year of Celebration comes, the land becomes holy because it belongs to me, and it will be given to the priests.
22 If you promise me a field that you have bought, 23 its value will be decided by a priest, according to the number of years before the next Year of Celebration, and the money you pay will be mine. 24 However, on the next Year of Celebration, the land will go back to the family of its original owner. 25 Every price will be set by the official standards.
Various Offerings
The Lord said:
26 All first-born animals of your flocks and herds are already mine, and so you cannot promise any of them to me. 27 If you promise me a donkey, you may buy it back by adding an additional 20 percent to its value. If you don't buy it back, it can be sold to someone else for whatever a priest has said it is worth.
28 Anything that you completely dedicate to me must be completely destroyed. It cannot be bought back or sold. Every person, animal, and piece of property that you dedicate completely is only for me. 29 In fact, any humans who have been promised to me in this way must be put to death.
30 Ten percent of everything you harvest is holy and belongs to me, whether it grows in your fields or on your fruit trees. 31 If you want to buy back this part of your harvest, you may do so by paying what it is worth plus an additional 20 percent.
32 When you count your flocks and herds, one out of ten of every newborn animal is holy and belongs to me, 33 no matter how good or bad it is. If you substitute one animal for another, both of them become holy, and neither can be bought back.
34 Moses was on Mount Sinai when the Lord gave him these laws for the people of Israel.
Laws concerning Gifts to the Lord
1 The Lord gave Moses 2 the following regulations for the people of Israel. When any of you have been given to the Lord in fulfillment of a special vow, you may be set free by the payment of the following sums of money, 3-7 according to the official standard:
–adult male, twenty to sixty years old: 50 pieces of silver–adult female: 30 pieces of silver–young male, five to twenty years old: 20 pieces of silver–young female: 10 pieces of silver–infant male under five: 5 pieces of silver–infant female: 3 pieces of silver–male above sixty years of age: 15 pieces of silver–female above sixty: 10 pieces of silver8 If any of you make a vow and are too poor to pay the standard price, you shall bring the person to the priest, and the priest will set a lower price, according to your ability to pay.
9 If your vow concerns an animal that is acceptable as an offering to the Lord, then every gift made to the Lord is sacred, 10 and you may not substitute another animal for it. If you do, both animals belong to the Lord. 11 But if your vow concerns a ritually unclean animal, which is not acceptable as an offering to the Lord, you shall take the animal to the priest. 12 The priest shall set a price for it, according to its good or bad qualities, and the price will be final. 13 If you wish to buy it back, you must pay the price plus an additional 20 percent.
14 When any of you dedicate your house to the Lord, the priest shall set the price according to its good or bad points, and the price will be final. 15 If you wish to buy your house back, you must pay the price plus an additional 20 percent.
16 If any of you dedicate part of your land to the Lord, the price shall be set according to the amount of seed it takes to sow it, at the rate of ten pieces of silver per bushel of barley. 17 If you dedicate the land immediately after a Year of Restoration, the full price applies. 18 If you dedicate it any time later, the priest shall estimate the cash value according to the number of years left until the next Year of Restoration, and set a reduced price. 19 If you wish to buy your field back, you must pay the price plus an additional 20 percent. 20 If you sell the field to someone else without first buying it back from the Lord, you lose the right to buy it back. 21 At the next Year of Restoration the field will become the Lord's permanent property; it shall belong to the priests.
22 If you dedicate to the Lord a field that you have bought, 23 the priest shall estimate its value according to the number of years until the next Year of Restoration, and you must pay the price that very day; the money belongs to the Lord. 24 At the Year of Restoration the field shall be returned to the original owner or to the descendants.
25 All prices shall be set according to the official standard.
26 The first-born of an animal already belongs to the Lord, so no one may dedicate it to him as a freewill offering. A calf, a lamb, or a kid belongs to the Lord, 27 but the first-born of an unclean animal may be bought back at the standard price plus an additional 20 percent. If it is not bought back, it may be sold to someone else at the standard price.
28 None of you may sell or buy back what you have unconditionally dedicated to the Lord, whether it is a human being, an animal, or land. It belongs permanently to the Lord. 29 Not even human beings who have been unconditionally dedicated may be bought back; they must be put to death.
30 One tenth of all the produce of the land, whether grain or fruit, belongs to the Lord. 31 If you wish to buy any of it back, you must pay the standard price plus an additional 20 percent. 32 One of every ten domestic animals belongs to the Lord. When the animals are counted, every tenth one belongs to the Lord. 33 You may not arrange the animals so that the poor animals are chosen, and you may not make any substitutions. If you do substitute one animal for another, then both animals will belong to the Lord and may not be bought back.
34 These are the commands that the Lord gave Moses on Mount Sinai for the people of Israel.