27:1 Yahweh spoke to Moses This final section of laws in Leviticus follows a common pattern (e.g., 6:1): Yahweh speaks to Moses and explains the laws that Moses should repeat to the Israelites.

27:2 makes a vow Describes the practice of rendering a fixed payment in place of lifelong service to the sanctuary. People who were not Levites could pledge themselves or their child to the sanctuary in some role (compare 1 Sam 1:11). They also could vow to support the sanctuary with some other resource—in this case, silver (Lev 27:3)—in an amount equivalent to one’s life. This practice ensured that the sanctuary received enough financial support to sustain its operations (compare 2 Kgs 12:5–6).

27:3 shekels of money A shekel was a unit of weight for weighing metals as currency. In general terms, one silver shekel weighed approximately 11–13 grams, but the weight for other precious metals is not precisely known.

according to the sanctuary’s shekel Refers to the standard of weight established by the priests to measure the pledge.

27:8 he is poorer than your proper value The priest could make an exception for the fixed values established here in the case of a person who was unable to pay the full amount. This allowance for a lower payment supports the conclusion that payment was preferred over actual service (see note on Lev 27:2–8). If service had been an option, it would be the most obvious way to fulfill the vow for someone who was too poor to pay the contribution.

27:9 a domestic animal The Israelites could pledge animals to the sanctuary. An animal’s value was determined by the priests. If the owner wanted to redeem the animal later, a 20 percent surcharge would be added to the value so that the sanctuary would still profit (v. 13).

27:10 bad with good An animal that did not meet the holiness standards for animals (22:19–21) could not be swapped in lieu of a pledged animal, or pledged outright. See v. 11.

27:14 house as a holy object Israelites could also pledge houses and land (v. 16) to the sanctuary. The priest was responsible to make a fair valuation of the house or land. As with pledged animals, a house or land could be redeemed at a 20 percent penalty (v. 15; compare v. 9). Presuming that “house” refers to a home in a walled city (see 25:29–30), once the house or land passed to the priesthood, they could use it as they wished.

27:16 some of his property’s fields Due to Jubilee laws (ch. 25), rules for pledging land to the sanctuary were more complicated than those for animals or houses. Under the Jubilee principle, land would revert to its original owner in the Jubilee Year (the 50th year).

in accordance with its seed requirements The land being pledged was valued according to the amount of seed required for sowing it annually.

a homer of As with many other weights and measures, the exact amount of a homer is unknown (compare v. 19).

27:17 it shall stand as your proper value Private land in Israel was referred to by the Hebrew term achuzzah—which may be rendered “tenured land” or “land holding.” The Israelites were essentially Yahweh’s tenants, not the outright owners of the land. Consequently, they did not have the right to do whatever they wanted with the land. In the Year of Jubilee, the rights to possess land were transferred back to the property’s earlier inhabitants (see 25:10, 13). For this reason, real estate transactions were considered leases that ran until the next Jubilee Year (which occurred every 50 years).

27:19 he shall add a fifth of your proper value’s money onto it As with pledged animals and houses (vv. 9, 13–15), land could be redeemed at a 20 percent penalty. Since the original owner did not have control over the land until the Jubilee Year—when he would regain it—vv. 19–20 refers to the priesthood selling the land in cases where the donor showed no interest in redeeming it.

27:21 devoted The Hebrew term used here is cherem. See v. 28 and note.

it shall be the priest’s property If the donor did not redeem the land before the next Jubilee Year, the initial donation was considered permanent.

27:25 gerahs The Hebrew term used here, gerah, is likely cognate to the Mesopotamian term giru, which was 1/24 of a shekel in the Mesopotamian monetary system. Coins discovered in Israel marked gerah have an average weight of just over a half gram.

27:26 belongs as firstborn to Yahweh The firstborn males of people and animals are dedicated to Yahweh (Exod 13:2).

27:28 anything devoted that a man has devoted to Yahweh from all that he has, from human or animal, or from the field of his property, may not be sold The Hebrew word used here, cherem, is a technical term used for people and things designated as sacred property—that is, devoted to a deity (compare note on Josh 6:17). In the case of Lev 27:21, certain pieces of property are dedicated exclusively to Yahweh and cannot be redeemed (i.e., no substitute was allowed). In the present verse and v. 29, the term is used with respect to people. The present verse suggests that anything voluntarily dedicated to Yahweh or his service—such as an animal, person, or land—cannot have its status changed.

27:29 is devoted While the same Hebrew term used in v. 28 is used here, cherem, here it does not refer to a positive connotation of dedication, but instead to the idea of fulfilling the law (see note on Josh 6:17). This law suggests that a person who has committed an injustice that would result in death (according to the law) must be put to death—they cannot be redeemed from that punishment (compare Lev 24:11 and note).

27:30 any tithe of the land See Deut 14:22–29. Each year, Israelites donated one-tenth from their crops and vineyards to the sanctuary. The practice of giving one-tenth of one’s possessions was known from the patriarchal narratives (Gen 14:20; 28:20–22). The tithe went to support the Levites, who in turn had to tithe to the priests (Num 18:21–32).

27:32 all which crosses under the rod, the tenth The tithe from livestock was determined by counting every 10th animal that passed under the shepherd’s rod (compare Jer 33:13; Ezek 20:37).