Leviticus 27

EasyEnglish Bible

Rules about gifts to the Lord

27 The Lord said to Moses, ² ‘Speak to Israel's people. Tell them this. A person might give another person to the Lord for a special promise. ³ They can make that person free. But they must give the right amount of money to God. For a man between 20 years and 60 years old, they must give 50 pieces of silver. ⁴ For a woman, they must give 30 pieces of silver. ⁵ For a male between five years and 20 years old, they must give to God 20 pieces of silver. For a female, they must give ten pieces of silver. ⁶ For a boy between one month and five years old, they must give five pieces of silver. For a girl of the same age, God must have three pieces of silver. ⁷ If a man is older than 60 years, they must give 15 pieces of silver. For a woman, they must give ten pieces of silver. ⁸ A person might say this special promise to God. But he might be too poor to pay the money. He must bring the person to the priest. The priest will tell the person how much money to pay. The priest will know how much money the man can give.

⁹ If the promise is to give an animal to God the animal becomes holy to the Lord. ¹⁰ The person must not change a good animal for a bad animal. He must not change a bad animal for a good animal. If the person does change one animal for another, both the animals become holy. ¹¹ The animal might be an animal that you must not eat. And you can not give it to the Lord. If it is, the person must bring it to the priest. ¹² The priest will decide if the animal is good or bad. ¹³ The person might want to buy the animal back. He must pay the price of the animal and one fifth more.

¹⁴ A person might give his house to the Lord. The priest will decide if the house is good or bad. The priest will decide the price of the house. ¹⁵ The person might want to buy the house back. He must pay the price of the house and one fifth more. Then it will again belong to him.

¹⁶ A person might give part of his land to the Lord. The person will decide the price by how much seed the land needs. The price will be 50 pieces of silver for a homer (220 litres) of seed. ¹⁷ If a person gives his land in a Jubilee year, the price is the same. ¹⁸ A person might give his land after the Jubilee year. The priest will count the number of years before the next Jubilee. The price will be less. ¹⁹ A person might want to buy the land back. He must pay the price of the land and one fifth more. ²⁰ He may not buy it back before the year of Jubilee. Then the field becomes holy. But the man may have sold the land to another person. If he has, he cannot get it back. ²¹ In the Jubilee year the land will become holy. Then it will belong to the priests.

²² A person might buy some land from another family. He might give that land to the Lord. ²³ The priest will count how many years there are until the Jubilee year. The person must pay the money on that day. The money is holy to the Lord. ²⁴ In the Jubilee year, the land returns to the family from whom he bought it. ²⁵ The priest must decide the price of the land. He must use the correct measures.

²⁶ The first baby that an animal has is holy. It belongs to the Lord. A person cannot give it as a special gift to the Lord. ²⁷ The animal might be an unclean animal (an animal that they must not eat). The person can pay the price of the animal and one fifth more to get it back. If the person does not buy it back, the priest will sell it.

²⁸ A man might give to the Lord something that the man has. Everything that a man gives like that is holy. It might be a person, an animal or land. The priest must not sell it. A man cannot take it back. Everything that someone gives to the Lord is most holy.

²⁹ God might decide that a person must die. If he does, nobody can buy the person back. The person must die.

³⁰ One tenth of everything that comes from the land is holy to the Lord. It may be grain or fruit. It belongs to the Lord. ³¹ If a person buys back any of his gift, he must pay the price and one fifth more. ³² Out of every ten animals, one animal is holy. It belongs to the Lord. ³³ A person must not change a good animal for a bad animal. A person must not change a bad animal for a good animal. If he does that, both animals are holy. They belong to God. A person cannot buy them back.’

³⁴ These are the rules that the Lord gave to Moses on Sinai mountain. They are the rules for Israel's people.