Laws About Vows
1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, If anyone omakes a special vow to the Lord involving the valuation of persons, 3 then the valuation of a male from twenty years old up to sixty years old shall be fifty shekels1 of silver, according to the pshekel of the sanctuary. 4 If the person is a female, the valuation shall be thirty shekels. 5 If the person is from five years old up to twenty years old, the valuation shall be for a male twenty shekels, and for a female ten shekels. 6 If the person is from a month old up to five years old, the valuation shall be for a male five shekels of silver, and for a female the valuation shall be three shekels of silver. 7 And if the person is sixty years old or over, then the valuation for a male shall be fifteen shekels, and for a female ten shekels. 8 And if someone is too poor to pay the valuation, then he shall be made to stand before the priest, and the priest shall value him; the priest shall value him according to what the vower can afford.
9 “If the vow2 is an animal that may be offered as an offering to the Lord, all of it that he gives to the Lord is holy. 10 qHe shall not exchange it or make a substitute for it, good for bad, or bad for good; and if he does in fact substitute one animal for another, then both it and the substitute shall be holy. 11 And if it is any unclean animal that may not be offered as an offering to the Lord, then he shall stand the animal before the priest, 12 and the priest shall value it as either good or bad; as the priest values it, so it shall be. 13 rBut if he wishes to redeem it, he shall add a sfifth to the valuation.
14 “When a man dedicates his house as a holy gift to the Lord, the priest shall value it as either good or bad; as the priest values it, so it shall stand. 15 tAnd if the donor wishes to redeem his house, he shall add a sfifth to the valuation price, and it shall be his.
16 “If a man dedicates to the Lord part of the land that is his possession, then the valuation shall be in proportion to its seed. A homer3 of barley seed shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver. 17 If he dedicates his field from the year of jubilee, the valuation shall stand, 18 but if he dedicates his field after the jubilee, then the priest shall ucalculate the price according to the years that remain until the year of jubilee, and a deduction shall be made from the valuation. 19 vAnd if he who dedicates the field wishes to redeem it, then he shall add a sfifth to its valuation price, and it shall remain his. 20 But if he does not wish to redeem the field, or if he has sold the field to another man, it shall not be redeemed anymore. 21 But the field, wwhen it is released in the jubilee, shall be a holy gift to the Lord, like a field that has been xdevoted. The priest shall be in ypossession of it. 22 If he dedicates to the Lord a field that he has bought, zwhich is not a part of his possession, 23 athen the priest shall calculate the amount of the valuation for it up to the year of jubilee, and the man shall give the valuation on that day as a holy gift to the Lord. 24 bIn the year of jubilee the field shall return to him from whom it was bought, to whom the land belongs as a possession. 25 Every valuation shall be according to cthe shekel of the sanctuary: dtwenty gerahs4 shall make a shekel.
26 “But a efirstborn of animals, which as a firstborn belongs to the Lord, no man may dedicate; whether ox or sheep, it is the Lord’s. 27 And if it is an unclean animal, then he shall buy it back at the valuation, fand add a fifth to it; or, if it is not redeemed, it shall be sold at the valuation.
28 “But gno devoted thing that a man devotes to the Lord, of anything that he has, whether man or beast, or of his inherited field, shall be sold or redeemed; every devoted thing is most holy to the Lord. 29 hNo one devoted, who is to be devoted for destruction5 from mankind, shall be ransomed; he shall surely be put to death.
30 i“Every tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is the Lord’s; it is holy to the Lord. 31 If a man wishes to redeem some of his tithe, he shall add a fifth to it. 32 And every tithe of herds and flocks, every tenth animal of all that jpass under the herdsman’s staff, shall be holy to the Lord. 33 One shall not differentiate between good or bad, kneither shall he make a substitute for it; and if he does substitute for it, then both it and the substitute shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.”
34 lThese are the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses for the people of Israel mon Mount Sinai.
Taste and See That the Lord Is Good
1 Of David, when he nchanged his behavior before oAbimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away.
1 I will bless the Lord pat all times;
his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
2 My soul qmakes its boast in the Lord;
let the humble hear and rbe glad.
3 Oh, smagnify the Lord with me,
and let us exalt his name together!
4 I tsought the Lord, and he answered me
and delivered me from all my fears.
5 Those who look to him are uradiant,
and their faces shall never be ashamed.
6 vThis poor man cried, and the Lord heard him
and wsaved him out of all his troubles.
7 xThe angel of the Lord yencamps
around those who fear him, and delivers them.
8 Oh, ztaste and see that athe Lord is good!
bBlessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
9 Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints,
for those who fear him have no lack!
10 cThe young lions suffer want and hunger;
but those who dseek the Lord lack no good thing.
11 eCome, O children, listen to me;
fI will teach you the fear of the Lord.
12 gWhat man is there who desires life
and loves many days, that he may hsee good?
13 iKeep your tongue from evil
and your lips from jspeaking deceit.
14 kTurn away from evil and do good;
seek peace and lpursue it.
15 mThe eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous
nand his ears toward their cry.
16 oThe face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
to pcut off the memory of them from the earth.
17 nWhen the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears
and delivers them out of all their troubles.
18 The Lord is near to qthe brokenhearted
and saves rthe crushed in spirit.
19 sMany are the afflictions of the righteous,
tbut the Lord delivers him out of them all.
20 He keeps all his bones;
unot one of them is broken.
21 vAffliction will slay the wicked,
and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
22 The Lord wredeems the life of his servants;
none of those who take refuge in him will be xcondemned.
1 Dead flies make gthe perfumer’s ointment give off a stench;
so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.
2 hA wise man’s heart inclines him to the right,
but a fool’s heart to the left.
3 Even when the fool walks on the road, he lacks sense,
and he isays to everyone that he is a fool.
4 If the anger of the ruler rises against you, jdo not leave your place,
5 There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, as it were lan error proceeding from the ruler: 6 mfolly is set in many high places, and the rich sit in a low place. 7 nI have seen slaves oon horses, and princes walking on the ground like slaves.
8 He who pdigs a pit will fall into it,
and qa serpent will bite him who breaks through a wall.
9 rHe who quarries stones is hurt by them,
and he who ssplits logs is endangered by them.
10 If the iron is blunt, and one does not sharpen the edge,
he must use more strength,
but wisdom helps one to succeed.2
11 If the serpent bites before it is tcharmed,
there is no advantage to the charmer.
12 The words of a wise man’s mouth uwin him favor,3
but vthe lips of a fool consume him.
13 The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness,
and the end of his talk is evil madness.
14 wA fool multiplies words,
though no man knows what is to be,
and who can tell him xwhat will be after him?
15 The toil of a fool wearies him,
for he does not know ythe way to the city.
16 zWoe to you, O land, when your king is a child,
and your princes feast in the morning!
17 Happy are you, O land, when your king is the son of the nobility,
and your princes feast at the proper time,
for strength, and not for adrunkenness!
18 Through sloth the roof sinks in,
and through indolence the house leaks.
19 Bread is made for laughter,
and bwine gladdens life,
and cmoney answers everything.
20 Even in your thoughts, ddo not curse the king,
nor in your ebedroom curse the rich,
for a bird of the air will carry your voice,
or some winged creature tell the matter.
Teach Sound Doctrine
1 But as for you, teach what accords with psound1 doctrine. 2 Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, psound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. 3 qOlder women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, rnot slanderers sor slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, 4 and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled, tpure, uworking at home, kind, and vsubmissive to their own husbands, wthat the word of God may not be reviled. 6 Likewise, urge xthe younger men to be self-controlled. 7 Show yourself in all respects to be ya model of good works, and in your teaching zshow integrity, adignity, 8 and bsound speech that cannot be condemned, cso that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. 9 dBondservants2 are to be submissive to their own masters ein everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, 10 not pilfering, fbut showing all good faith, gso that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.
11 For hthe grace of God ihas appeared, bringing salvation jfor all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and kworldly passions, and lto live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in mthe present age, 13 nwaiting for our blessed ohope, the pappearing of the glory of our great qGod and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 rwho gave himself for us to sredeem us from all lawlessness and tto purify for himself ta people for his own possession who are uzealous for good works.
15 Declare these things; exhort and vrebuke with all authority. wLet no one disregard you.
