Read the Modern Pastor’s Version

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to the people of Israel and tell them that when someone makes a vow involving another person, their value will be determined according to their age.

When someone makes a singular vow, the person's value is for the Lord as you estimate it. Your valuation for a male from twenty years old to sixty years old is fifty shekels of silver after the sanctuary shekel. For a female, your valuation is thirty shekels. If the person is between five and twenty years old, your valuation is twenty shekels of silver for a male and ten shekels for a female. If it's from one month to five years old, your valuation is five shekels of silver for a male and three shekels of silver for a female.

If the person is sixty or older, if they are male, their value is fifteen shekels; if female, ten shekels. But if someone is too poor to pay the estimated value, they must appear before the priest, who will determine their ability to pay. If it's an animal offered to the Lord as a gift, everything given becomes holy and cannot be changed or exchanged for something else.

If it's an unclean animal not offered to the Lord, its owner must bring it to the priest, who will evaluate whether it is good or bad based on your assessment. The owner may redeem the animal by adding a fifth part of its value to it. If someone dedicates their house as holy to the Lord, the priest evaluates it and determines its worth.

If the person wants to redeem their house, they must add a fifth part of the estimated money to it, and it will belong to them again. When someone sets apart a field for the Lord by dedicating a portion of it, its value is determined based on how much seed it produces. An homer of barley seeds is worth fifty shekels of silver.

If the person dedicates their field from the year of jubilee, its value remains as estimated. If they dedicate it after the jubilee, the priest calculates the remaining years until the next jubilee and deducts that from its estimated value. The owner may redeem the field by adding a fifth part to its valuation.

If they choose not to redeem the field or if it's been sold to another person, it cannot be redeemed again. If someone dedicates their field after the jubilee, the priest calculates its value based on the remaining years until the next jubilee and it remains holy to the Lord as a devoted field.

A man may dedicate a purchased field that is not part of his own property to the Lord. The priest calculates its value up to the year of jubilee and gives it in that day as a holy offering to the Lord. In the year of jubilee, the field reverts to its original owner.

All valuations are based on the shekel of the sanctuary, with twenty gerahs equaling one shekel. The firstborn animals dedicated to the Lord cannot be dedicated by anyone else and belong to the Lord. If someone dedicates an unclean animal, they must redeem it according to its value plus a fifth part.

If not redeemed, it is sold according to its value. Nothing that has been devoted to the Lord can be sold or redeemed; it remains most holy unto the Lord. No devoted thing that humans dedicate can be put to death; it also cannot be redeemed.

All tithes of the land, whether from seeds or fruit of trees, belong to the Lord and are considered his. If a person wants to redeem any of their tithe, they must add an additional fifth part to its value. For animals that pass under the rod during counting, the tenth is holy unto the Lord.

A person may not evaluate it as good or bad; nor can they exchange it for something else. If they do exchange it, both the original and the replacement are considered holy and cannot be redeemed. These are the commandments the Lord gave to Moses for the children of Israel on Mount Sinai.