27 (RY: vi; LY: iv) Adonai said to Moshe, ² “Tell the people of Isra’el, ‘If someone makes a clearly defined vow to Adonai to give him an amount equal to the value of a human being, ³ the value you are to assign to a man between the ages of twenty and sixty years is to be fifty shekels of silver [one-and-a-quarter pounds], with the sanctuary shekel being the standard, ⁴ if a woman, thirty shekels. ⁵ If it is a child five to twenty years old, assign a value of twenty shekels for a boy and ten for a girl; ⁶ if a baby one month to five years of age, five shekels for a boy and three for a girl; ⁷ if a person past sixty, fifteen shekels for a man and ten for a woman. ⁸ If the person is too poor to be evaluated, set him before the cohen, who will assign him a value in keeping with the means of the person who made the vow.

⁹ “‘If the vow is for the value of an animal of the kind used when people bring an offering to Adonai, all that a person gives of such animals to Adonai will be holy. ¹⁰ He is not to exchange or replace it by substituting a good animal for a bad one or vice versa; if he does make such a substitution, both the original animal and the one replacing it will be holy. ¹¹ If the animal is an unclean one, such as may not be used in an offering to Adonai, he must set it before the cohen; ¹² and the cohen is to set a value on it in relation to its good and bad points; the value set by you the cohen will stand. ¹³ But if the person making the vow wishes to redeem the animal, he must add one-fifth to your valuation.

¹⁴ “‘When a person consecrates his house to be holy for Adonai, the cohen is to set a value on it in relation to its good and bad points; the value set by the cohen will stand. ¹⁵ If the consecrator wishes to redeem his house, he must add one-fifth to the value you have set on it; and it will revert to him.

(RY: vii, LY: v) ¹⁶ “‘If a person consecrates to Adonai part of a field belonging to his tribe’s possession, you are to value it according to its production, with five bushels of barley being valued at fifty shekels of silver [one-and-a-quarter pounds]. ¹⁷ If he consecrates his field during the year of yovel, this valuation will stand. ¹⁸ But if he consecrates his field after the yovel, then the cohen is to calculate the price according to the years remaining till the next yovel, with a corresponding reduction from your valuation. ¹⁹ If the one consecrating the field wishes to redeem it, he must add one-fifth to your valuation, and the field will be set aside to revert to him. ²⁰ If the seller does not wish to redeem the field, or if [the treasurer for the cohanim] has already sold the field to someone else, it can no longer be redeemed. ²¹ But when the purchaser has to vacate the field in the yovel, it will become holy to Adonai, like a field unconditionally consecrated; it will belong to the cohanim.

(LY: vi) ²² “‘If he consecrates to Adonai a field which he has bought, a field which is not part of his tribe’s possession, ²³ then the cohen is to calculate its value according to the years remaining until the year of yovel; and the man will on that same day pay this amount; since it is holy to Adonai. ²⁴ In the year of yovel the field will revert to the person from whom it was bought, that is, to the person to whose tribal possession it belongs.

²⁵ “‘All your valuations are to be according to the sanctuary shekel [two-fifths of an ounce], twenty gerahs to the shekel.

²⁶ “‘However, the firstborn among animals, since it is already born as a firstborn for Adonai, no one can consecrate — neither ox nor sheep — since it belongs to Adonai already. ²⁷ But if it is an unclean animal, he may redeem it at the price at which you value it and add one-fifth; or if he does not redeem it, it is to be sold at the price at which you value it. ²⁸ However, nothing consecrated unconditionally which a person may consecrate to Adonai out of all he owns — person, animal or field he possesses — is to be sold or redeemed; because everything consecrated unconditionally is especially holy to Adonai. (LY: vii) ²⁹ No person who has been sentenced to die, and thus unconditionally consecrated, can be redeemed; he must be put to death.

³⁰ “‘All the tenth given from the land, whether from planted seed or fruit from trees, belongs to Adonai; it is holy to Adonai. ³¹ If someone wants to redeem any of his tenth, he must add to it one-fifth.

(Maftir) ³² “‘All the tenth from the herd or the flock, whatever passes under the shepherd’s crook, the tenth one will be holy to Adonai. ³³ The owner is not to inquire whether the animal is good or bad, and he cannot exchange it; if he does exchange it, both it and the one he substituted for it will be holy; it cannot be redeemed.’”

³⁴ These are the mitzvot which Adonai gave to Moshe for the people of Isra’el on Mount Sinai.

Haftarah B’chukkotai: Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 16:19–17:14

B’rit Hadashah suggested readings for Parashah B’chukkotai: Yochanan (John) 14:15–21; 15:10–12; 1 Yochanan (1 John)

Hazak, hazak, v’nit’chazek!

Be strong, be strong, and let us be strengthened!