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The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Leviticus 27:29

No person set apart for destruction may be ransomed; he must surely be put to death.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Property;   Redemption;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Dedication;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Anathema;   Vow;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Devote, Devoted;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Anathema;   Consecration;   Jericho;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Anathema;   Hormah;   Jephthah;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Accursed;   Avenger;   Excommunication;   Leviticus;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Chronology of the New Testament;   Excommunication;   Vows;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Anathema;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Anathema,;   Law of Moses;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Consecration;   Jephthah;   Vow;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Priesthood, the;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Accursed;   Excommunication;   Forfeit;   Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia - Anathema;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - 'Arakin;   Ban;   Sidra;  

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
No one devoted, who shall be devoted from among men, shall be ransomed; he shall surely be put to death.
King James Version
None devoted, which shall be devoted of men, shall be redeemed; but shall surely be put to death.
Lexham English Bible
Anyone devoted who is devoted from human beings cannot be ransomed—he shall surely be put to death.
New Century Version
"‘If anyone is given for the purpose of being destroyed, he cannot be bought back; he must be put to death.
New English Translation
Any human being who is permanently dedicated must not be ransomed; such a person must be put to death.
Amplified Bible
'No one who may have been set apart among men shall be ransomed [from death], he shall most certainly be put to death.
New American Standard Bible
'No one who may have been set apart among mankind shall be ransomed; he must be put to death.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Nothing separate from the common vse, which shall be separate from man, shalbe redeemed, but dye the death.
Legacy Standard Bible
No one who may have been devoted among men shall be ransomed; he shall surely be put to death.
Contemporary English Version
In fact, any humans who have been promised to me in this way must be put to death.
Complete Jewish Bible
(LY: vii) No person who has been sentenced to die, and thus unconditionally consecrated, can be redeemed; he must be put to death.
Darby Translation
Nothing devoted, which shall be devoted from among men, shall be ransomed: it shall certainly be put to death.
Easy-to-Read Version
If this gift is a person, that person cannot be bought back. That person must be killed.
English Standard Version
No one devoted, who is to be devoted for destruction from mankind, shall be ransomed; he shall surely be put to death.
George Lamsa Translation
Every devoted thing which shall be devoted by men shall not be redeemed, but shall surely be put to death.
Good News Translation
Not even human beings who have been unconditionally dedicated may be bought back; they must be put to death.
Christian Standard Bible®
No person who has been set apart for destruction is to be ransomed; he must be put to death.
Literal Translation
No devoted thing which is dedicated by man shall be ransomed, dying it shall die.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
There shal no dedicated thige of ma be bought out, but shal dye the death.
American Standard Version
No one devoted, that shall be devoted from among men, shall be ransomed; he shall surely be put to death.
Bible in Basic English
Any man given completely to the Lord may not be got back: he is certainly to be put to death.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Nothing seperate from the common vse, whiche shalbe seperate from man, shalbe redeemed, but dye the death.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
None devoted, that may be devoted of men, shall be ransomed; he shall surely be put to death.
King James Version (1611)
None deuoted, which shalbe deuoted of men, shall be redeemed: but shall surely be put to death.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And whatever shall be dedicated of men, shall not be ransomed, but shall be surely put to death.
English Revised Version
None devoted, which shall be devoted of men, shall be ransomed; he shall surely be put to death.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
and ech halewyng which is offrid of man, schal not be ayenbouyt, but it schal die bi deeth.
Young's Literal Translation
`No devoted thing, which is devoted of man, is ransomed, it is surely put to death.
Update Bible Version
No one devoted, that shall be devoted from among man, shall be ransomed; he shall surely be put to death.
Webster's Bible Translation
None devoted, which shall be devoted by men, shall be redeemed: [but] shall surely be put to death.
World English Bible
No one devoted, who shall be devoted from among men, shall be ransomed; he shall surely be put to death.
New King James Version
No person under the ban, who may become doomed to destruction among men, shall be redeemed, but shall surely be put to death.
New Living Translation
No person specially set apart for destruction may be bought back. Such a person must be put to death.
New Life Bible
No person who has been set apart to be destroyed from among men can be paid for. He must be put to death.
New Revised Standard
No human beings who have been devoted to destruction can be ransomed; they shall be put to death.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
As touching any one devoted, who may be devoted from among men he shall not be ransomed, - he must be, surely put to death.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And any consecration that is offered by man, shall not be redeemed, but dying shall die.
Revised Standard Version
No one devoted, who is to be utterly destroyed from among men, shall be ransomed; he shall be put to death.
THE MESSAGE
"No human who has been devoted to destruction can be redeemed. He must be put to death.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
'No one who may have been set apart among men shall be ransomed; he shall surely be put to death.

Contextual Overview

26But no one may consecrate a firstborn of the livestock, because a firstborn belongs to the LORD. Whether it is an ox or a sheep, it is the LORD's. 27But if it is among the unclean animals, then he may redeem it according to your valuation and add a fifth of its value. If it is not redeemed, then it shall be sold according to your valuation. 28Nothing that a man sets apart to the LORD from all he owns-whether a man, an animal, or his inherited land-can be sold or redeemed; everything so devoted is most holy to the LORD. 29No person set apart for destruction may be ransomed; he must surely be put to death.30Thus any tithe from the land, whether from the seed of the land or the fruit of the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD. 31If a man wishes to redeem part of his tithe, he must add a fifth to its value. 32Every tenth animal from the herd or flock that passes under the shepherd's rod will be holy to the LORD. 33He must not inspect whether it is good or bad, and he shall not make any substitution. But if he does make a substitution, both the animal and its substitute shall become holy; they cannot be redeemed.'" 34These are the commandments that the LORD gave to Moses for the Israelites on Mount Sinai.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

None: Numbers 21:2, Numbers 21:3, 1 Samuel 15:18-23

which shall be devoted: That is, either that every person devoted to the service of God shall not be redeemed, but die in that devoted state, or, that such as were devoted to death by appointment and law of God, as the Canaanites were, shall be put to death.

Reciprocal: Leviticus 27:21 - devoted Numbers 16:26 - I pray you Deuteronomy 2:34 - utterly destroyed Deuteronomy 3:6 - we utterly Deuteronomy 7:2 - utterly Deuteronomy 7:26 - shalt Deuteronomy 13:17 - cursed Joshua 6:17 - accursed Joshua 9:23 - General Judges 11:31 - shall surely Judges 11:35 - have opened Judges 11:39 - did with Judges 21:5 - a great oath 1 Samuel 14:24 - Cursed 1 Samuel 15:3 - utterly destroy Acts 23:12 - under a curse

Cross-References

Genesis 12:3
I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you; and all the families of the earth will be blessed through you."
Genesis 25:33
"Swear to me first," Jacob said. So Esau swore to Jacob and sold him the birthright.
Genesis 27:1
When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called his older son Esau and said to him, "My son." "Here I am," Esau replied.
Genesis 27:2
"Look," said Isaac, "I am now old and do not know the day of my death.
Genesis 27:5
Now Rebekah was listening to what Isaac told his son Esau. So when Esau went into the field to hunt game and bring it back,
Genesis 27:6
Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "Behold, I overheard your father saying to your brother Esau,
Genesis 27:8
Now, my son, listen to my voice and do exactly as I tell you.
Genesis 27:9
Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so that I can make them into a tasty dish for your father-the kind he loves.
Genesis 27:10
Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies."
Genesis 27:11
Jacob answered his mother Rebekah, "Look, my brother Esau is a hairy man, but I am smooth-skinned.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

None devoted, which shall be devoted of men, shall be redeemed,.... This is said, not of such men as are devoted to the Lord, as in the preceding verse; for it is not said here as there, "none devoted unto the Lord", but of such as are devoted to ruin and destruction, for whom there was no redemption, but they must die; nor is it said, "which is devoted by men, but of men", or from among men; whether they be devoted by God himself, as all idolaters, and particularly the seven nations of the land of Canaan, and especially the Amalekites, who therefore were not to be spared on any account, but to be put to death, Exodus 22:20. So in the Talmud o, this is interpreted of Canaanitish servants and handmaids; or whether devoted by men to destruction, either by the people of Israel, as their avowed enemies they should take in war, whom, and their cities, they vowed to the Lord they would utterly destroy, Numbers 21:2; and of such Aben Ezra interprets the words of the text; or such as were doomed by the civil magistrates to die for capital crimes, by stoning, burning, strangling, and slaying with the sword. And this sense is given into by many; because the judges kill with many kinds of death, therefore, says Chaskuni, it is said "every devoted thing", as if he should say, with whatsoever of the four kinds of death the judges pass sentence of destruction on a man, he must die that death; so Jarchi and Ben Melech interpret it of such as go out to be slain, i.e. by the decree of the judges; and if one says, his estimation, or the price of him be upon me, he says nothing, it is of no avail:

[but] shall surely be put to death; as the same writer observes, lo, he goes forth to die, he shall not be redeemed, neither by price nor estimation. The Targum of Jonathan is,

"he shall not he redeemed with silver, but with burnt offerings, and holy sacrifices, and petitions of mercy, because he is condemned by a sentence to be slain.''

And of either, or of all of these, may the words be understood, and not as they are by some, as if Jewish parents and masters had such a power over their children and servants to devote them to death, or in such a manner devote them, that they were obliged to put them to death; for though they had power in some cases to sell, yet had no power over their lives to take them away, or to devote them to death, which would be a breach of the sixth command, and punishable with death; even a master that accidentally killed his servant did not escape punishment; nay, if he did him any injury, by smiting out an eye, or a tooth, he was obliged to give him his freedom, and much less had he power to take away his life, or devote him to destruction. Some have thought, that it was through a mistaken sense of this law, that Jephthah having made a rash vow sacrificed his daughter, Judges 11:30; but it is a question whether he did or not.

o T. Bab. Gittin, fol. 38. 2.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Leviticus 27:29. Which shall be devoted of men — Every man who is devoted shall surely be put to death; or, as some understand it, be the Lord's property, or be employed in his service, till death. The law mentioned in these two verses has been appealed to by the enemies of Divine revelation as a proof, that under the Mosaic dispensation human sacrifices were offered to God; but this can never be conceded. Had there been such a law, it certainly would have been more explicitly revealed, and not left in the compass of a few words only, where the meaning is very difficult to be ascertained; and the words themselves differently translated by most interpreters. That there were persons, devoted to destruction under the Mosaic dispensation, is sufficiently evident, for the whole Canaanitish nations were thus devoted by the Supreme Being himself, because the cup of their iniquity was full; but that they were not sacrificed to God, the whole history sufficiently declares. Houbigant understands the passage as speaking of these alone; and says, Non alios licebat anathemate voveri, quam Chananaeos, quos jusserat Deus ad internecionem deleri. "It was not lawful to devote any persons to death but the Canaanites, whom God had commanded to be entirely extirpated." This is perfectly correct; but he might have added that it was because they were the most impure idolaters, and because the cup of their iniquity was full. These God commanded to be put to death; and who can doubt his right to do so, who is the Maker of man, and the Fountain of justice? But what has this to do with human sacrifices? Just nothing. No more than the execution of an ordinary criminal, or a traitor, in the common course of justice, has to do with a sacrifice to God. In the destruction of such idolaters, no religious formality whatever was observed; nor any thing that could give the transaction even the most distant semblance of a sacrifice. In this way Jericho was commanded to be destroyed, Joshua 6:17, and the Amalekites, Deuteronomy 25:19; 1 Samuel 15:3: but in all these cases the people commanded to be destroyed were such sinners as God's justice did not think proper to spare longer. And has not every system of law the same power? And do we not concede such power to the civil magistrate, for the welfare of the state? God, who is the sovereign arbiter of life and death, acts here in his juridical and legislative capacity; but these are victims to justice, not religious sacrifices.

It may be necessary just farther to note that two kinds of vows are mentioned in this chapter: -

1. The נדר neder, (Leviticus 27:2; Leviticus 27:2,) which comprehends all those things which, when once devoted, might be redeemed at a certain price, according to the valuation of the priest.

2. The חרם cherem, those things vowed to God of which there remained no power of redemption; they were most holy, i. e., so absolutely devoted to God that they could neither be changed, alienated, nor redeemed: probably because no mental reservation had been made, as in the above case may be supposed. On this ground the word was afterward applied to the most solemn and awful kind of excommunication, meaning a person so entirely devoted to the stroke of vindictive justice, as never to be capable of receiving pardon; and hence the word may be well applied in this sense to the Canaanites, the cup of whose iniquity was full, and who were consigned, without reprieve, to final extermination.


 
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