Leviticus 27:27

27:27 If, however, ¹  it is among the unclean animals, he may ransom it according to ²  its conversion value and must add one fifth to it, but if it is not redeemed it must be sold according to its conversion value.

Leviticus 6:6

6:6 Then he must bring his guilt offering to the Lord, a flawless ram from the flock, convertible into silver shekels, ³  for a guilt offering to the priest.

Leviticus 27:2

27:2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When a man makes a special votive offering ⁴  based on the conversion value of persons to the Lord, ⁵ 

¹ tn Heb “And if.”

² tn Heb “in” or “by.”

³ tn The words “into silver shekels” are supplied here. See the full expression in Lev 5:15, and compare 5:18. Cf. NRSV “or its equivalent”; NLT “or the animal’s equivalent value in silver.”

⁵ tn Cf. the note on Lev 22:21. Some take this as an expression for fulfilling a vow, “to fulfill a vow” (e.g., HALOT 927-28 s.v. פלא piel and NASB; cf. NRSV “in fulfillment of a vow”) or, alternatively, “to make a vow” or “for making a vow” (HALOT 928 s.v. פלא piel [II פלא]). Perhaps it refers to the making a special vow, from the verb פָלָא (pala’, “to be wonderful; to be remarkable”), cf. Milgrom, Numbers [JPSTC], 44. B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 151 and 193, suggests that this is a special term for “setting aside a votive offering” (related to פָלָה, palah, “to set aside”). In general, the point of the expression seems to be that this sacrifice is a special gift to God that arose out of special circumstances in the life of the worshiper.

⁶ tn Heb “in your valuation, persons to the Lord,” but “in your valuation” is a frozen form and, therefore, the person (“your”) does not figure into the translation (see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 73). Instead of offering a person to the Lord one could redeem that person with the appropriate amount of money delineated in the following verses (see the note on Lev 5:15 above and the explanation in Hartley, 480-81).