Leviticus 27 explained: Keeping Promises Made to God

Promising a person (vv. 1-8)

Someone could vow a person to God, and the vow was settled by paying a set amount of silver to the sanctuary, though the chapter does not say why silver was paid instead. Many scholars think the prices reflect a person's expected working strength in that society rather than their worth, and the poor paid only what the priest judged they could afford.

Promising an animal (vv. 9-13)

An animal fit for sacrifice became God's for good, and swapping it for another made both animals belong to God, which discouraged second thoughts. An animal not fit for sacrifice was valued by the priest, and the owner could buy it back for that price plus an extra fifth.

Houses and family land (vv. 14-21)

The priest valued a dedicated house or field, pricing land by how much barley seed it took to sow and how many years remained until the Jubilee, the fiftieth year when land went back to its original family. The owner could buy it back for the price plus a fifth, but if they did not, or if it had been sold to someone else, the field went permanently to the priests at the Jubilee.

Land that was bought (vv. 22-25)

A field someone had bought could only be given for its value up to the next Jubilee, because then it returned to the family who first owned it. This kept a gift to the sanctuary from overriding a family's lasting right to its land.

What cannot be bought back (vv. 26-29)

Firstborn animals already belonged to God, so they could not be promised again, and anything formally "devoted" was handed over for good with no buying back. Verse 29 says a person devoted to destruction must be put to death; many scholars link this to people condemned in war or by legal judgment, some older readers said it only meant they stayed devoted for life, and the exact meaning is still debated.

The tenth for God (vv. 30-34)

A tenth of all crops and fruit belonged to God, and someone who chose to buy back part of it paid its value plus a fifth. Animals passed one by one under the shepherd's staff, and every tenth one was God's, with no picking out the good ones or swapping.

Key verse: Leviticus 27:28

Something to think about

When you have made a promise in a moment of strong feeling, what has helped you decide whether to keep it, change it, or let it go?