Funding the Sanctuary

1The LORD spoke to Moses: 2“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When someone makes a special vowa to the LORD that involves the assessment of people, 3if the assessment concerns a male from 20 to 60 years old, your assessment is 50 silver •shekelsb measured by the standard sanctuary shekel.c 4If the person is a female, your assessment is 30 shekels.d 5If the person is from five to 20 years old, your assessment for a male is 20 shekelse and for a female 10 shekels. 6If the person is from one month to five years old, your assessment for a male is five silver shekels,f and for a female your assessment is three shekels of silver. 7If the person is 60 years or more, your assessment is 15 shekels for a male and 10 shekels for a female. 8But if one is too poor to pay the assessment, he must present the person before the priest and the priest will set a value for him. The priest will set a value for him according to what the one making the vow can afford.

9“If the vow involves one of the animals that may be brought as an offering to the LORD, any of these he gives to the LORD will be holy. 10He may not replace it or make a substitution for it, either good for bad, or bad for good.g But if he does substitute one animal for another, both that animal and its substitute will be holy.

11“If the vow involves any of the •unclean animals that may not be brought as an offering to the LORD, the animal must be presented before the priest. 12The priest will set its value, whether high or low; the price will be set as the priest makes the assessment for you. 13If the one who brought it decides to redeem it, he must add a fifth to theh assessed value.i

14“When a man consecrates his house as holy to the LORD, the priest will assess its value, whether high or low. The price will stand just as the priest assesses it. 15But if the one who consecrated his house redeems it, he must add a fifth to thej assessed value, and it will be his.k

16“If a man consecrates to the LORD any part of a field that he possesses, your assessment of value will be proportional to the seed needed to sow it, at the rate of 50 silver shekels for every five bushelsl of barley seed.m 17If he consecrates his field during the Year of Jubilee,n the price will stand according to your assessment. 18But if he consecrates his field after the Jubilee, the priest will calculate the price for him in proportion to the years left until the next Year of Jubilee, so that your assessment will be reduced. 19If the one who consecrated the field decides to redeem it, he must add a fifth to theo assessed value, and the field will transfer back to him. 20But if he does not redeem the field or if he has sold it to another man, it is no longer redeemable. 21When the field is released in the Jubilee, it will be holy to the LORD like a field permanently set apart; it becomes the priest’s property.

22“If a person consecrates to the LORD a field he has purchased that is not part of his inherited landholding, 23then the priest will calculate for him the amount of thep assessment up to the Year of Jubilee, and the person will pay the assessed value on that day as a holy offering to the LORD. 24In the Year of Jubilee the field will return to the one he bought it from,q the original owner. 25All your assessed values will be measured by the standard sanctuary shekel, 20 gerahs to the shekel.r

26“But no one can consecrate a firstborn of the livestock, whether an animal from the herd or flock, to the LORD, because a firstborn already belongs to the LORD.s 27If it is one of the unclean livestock, it must be ransomed according to your assessment by adding a fifth of its value to it. If it is not redeemed, it can be sold according to your assessment.t

28“Nothing that a man permanently sets apart to the LORD from all he owns, whether a person, an animal, or his inherited landholding, can be sold or redeemed; everything set apart is especially holy to the LORD. 29No person who has been set apart for destruction is to be ransomed; he must be put to death.u

30“Every tenth of the land’s produce, grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the LORD;v it is holy to the LORD. 31If a man decides to redeem any part of this tenth, he must add a fifth to its value. 32Every tenth animal from the herd or flock, which passes under the shepherd’s rod,w will be holy to the LORD. 33He is not to inspect whether it is good or bad, and he is not to make a substitution for it. But if he does make a substitution, both the animal and its substitute will be holy;x they cannot be redeemed.”y

34These are the commands the LORD gave Moses for the Israelites on Mount Sinai.z