Keep Your Promises to the Lord

¹The Lord said to Moses, ² “Speak to the Israelites. Tell them, ‘Suppose someone makes a special promise to set a person apart to serve the Lord. Here is how much it will cost to set that person free from the promise to serve. ³ The cost for a male between the ages of twenty and sixty is 20 ounces of silver. It must be weighed out in keeping with the standard weights that are used in the sacred tent. ⁴ The cost for a female of the same age is 12 ounces of silver. ⁵ The cost for a male between the ages of five and twenty is 8 ounces of silver. The cost for a female of the same age is 4 ounces of silver. ⁶ The cost for a male between the ages of one month and five years is 2 ounces of silver. The cost for a female of the same age is 1 ounce of silver. ⁷ The cost for a male who is sixty years old or more is 6 ounces of silver. The cost for a female of the same age is 4 ounces of silver. ⁸ But suppose the one who makes the special promise is too poor to pay the required amount. Then they must bring to the priest the person who will be set free. The priest will decide the right value for that person. It will be based on how much the one who makes the promise can afford.

⁹ “ ‘Suppose what they promised is an animal that the Lord will accept as an offering. Then the animal given to the Lord becomes holy. ¹⁰ The one who makes the promise must not trade it. They must not trade a good animal for a bad one. And they must not trade a bad animal for a good one. Suppose they choose one animal instead of another. Then both animals become holy. ¹¹ Suppose the animal they promised is not “clean.” Suppose the Lord will not accept it as an offering. Then the animal must be brought to the priest. ¹² He will decide whether it is good or bad. Its value will be what he decides it will be. ¹³ Suppose the owner wants to buy the animal back. Then a fifth must be added to its cost.

¹⁴ “ ‘Suppose someone sets apart their house as something holy to the Lord. Then the priest will decide whether it is good or bad. Its value will remain what he decides it will be. ¹⁵ Suppose the person sets apart their house. And suppose later they want to buy it back. Then they must add a fifth to its value. The house will belong to them again.

¹⁶ “ ‘Suppose someone sets apart a piece of their family’s land to the Lord. Then here is how its value must be decided. It must be based on the number of seeds that are required to grow a full crop on it. That value will be 20 ounces of silver for every 300 pounds of barley seeds. ¹⁷ Suppose they set apart their field during the Year of Jubilee. Then the value that has been decided will not be changed. ¹⁸ But suppose they set apart their field after the Year of Jubilee. Then here is how the priest will decide its value. It will be based on the number of years that are left until the next Year of Jubilee. The value decided will be reduced. ¹⁹ Suppose the one who set apart their field wants to buy it back. Then they must add a fifth to its value. The field will belong to them again. ²⁰ But suppose they do not buy back the field. Instead, suppose they sell it to someone else. Then they can never buy it back. ²¹ When the field is set free in the Year of Jubilee, it will become holy. It will be like a field set apart to the Lord. It will become the property of the priests.

²² “ ‘Suppose someone sets apart to the Lord a field they have bought. And suppose it is not part of their family’s land. ²³ Then here is how the priest will decide its value. It will be based on the number of years that are left until the Year of Jubilee. The owner must pay that value on the day it is decided. The money is holy. It is set apart for the Lord. ²⁴ In the Year of Jubilee the field will go back to the person it was bought from. That person is the one who had owned the land before. ²⁵ Every amount of money must be weighed out in keeping with the standard weights used in the sacred tent.

²⁶ “ ‘But no one can set apart the first male animal born to its mother. That animal already belongs to the Lord. It does not matter whether it is an ox or a sheep. It belongs to the Lord. ²⁷ Suppose it is an “unclean” animal. Then the owner may buy it back at the value that has been decided. And they must add a fifth to its value. But suppose it is not bought back. Then it must be sold at the value that has been decided.

²⁸ “ ‘But nothing a person owns and sets apart to the Lord can be sold or bought back. It does not matter whether it is a human being or an animal or a family’s land. Everything set apart to the Lord is very holy to him.

²⁹ “ ‘No one set apart in a special way to be destroyed can be bought back. They must be put to death.

³⁰ “ ‘A tenth of everything the land produces belongs to the Lord. That includes grain from the soil and fruit from the trees. It is holy. It is set apart for him. ³¹ Suppose someone wants to buy back some of their tenth. Then they must add a fifth of the cost to it. ³² Every tenth part of herds and flocks will be holy. They will be set apart for the Lord. That includes every tenth animal that its shepherd marks with his wooden staff. ³³ No one may pick out the good animals from the bad. They must not choose one animal instead of another. But if anyone does, both animals become holy. They can’t be bought back.’ ”

³⁴ The Lord gave Moses all these commands on Mount Sinai for the Israelites.