Laws About Vows

¹The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, If anyone makes a special vow to the Lord involving the valuation of persons, ³then the valuation of a male from twenty years old up to sixty years old shall be fifty shekels1 of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary. ⁴If the person is a female, the valuation shall be thirty shekels. ⁵If 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. ⁶If 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. ⁷And 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. ⁸And 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. ¹⁰He 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. ¹¹And 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, ¹²and the priest shall value it as either good or bad; as the priest values it, so it shall be. ¹³But if he wishes to redeem it, he shall add a fifth 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. ¹⁵And if the donor wishes to redeem his house, he shall add a fifth 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. ¹⁷If he dedicates his field from the year of jubilee, the valuation shall stand, ¹⁸but if he dedicates his field after the jubilee, then the priest shall calculate the price according to the years that remain until the year of jubilee, and a deduction shall be made from the valuation. ¹⁹And if he who dedicates the field wishes to redeem it, then he shall add a fifth to its valuation price, and it shall remain his. ²⁰But 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. ²¹But the field, when it is released in the jubilee, shall be a holy gift to the Lord, like a field that has been devoted. The priest shall be in possession of it. ²²If he dedicates to the Lord a field that he has bought, which is not a part of his possession, ²³then 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. ²⁴In the year of jubilee the field shall return to him from whom it was bought, to whom the land belongs as a possession. ²⁵Every valuation shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary: twenty gerahs4 shall make a shekel.

²⁶“But a firstborn of animals, which as a firstborn belongs to the Lord, no man may dedicate; whether ox or sheep, it is the Lord's. ²⁷And if it is an unclean animal, then he shall buy it back at the valuation, and add a fifth to it; or, if it is not redeemed, it shall be sold at the valuation.

²⁸“But no 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. ²⁹No one devoted, who is to be devoted for destruction5 from mankind, shall be ransomed; he shall surely be put to death.

³⁰“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. ³¹If a man wishes to redeem some of his tithe, he shall add a fifth to it. ³²And every tithe of herds and flocks, every tenth animal of all that pass under the herdsman's staff, shall be holy to the Lord. ³³One shall not differentiate between good or bad, neither 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.”

³⁴These are the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses for the people of Israel on Mount Sinai.

Taste and See That the Lord Is Good

Of David, when he changed his behavior before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away.

¹I will bless the Lord at all times;

his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

²My soul makes its boast in the Lord;

let the humble hear and be glad.

³Oh, magnify the Lord with me,

and let us exalt his name together!

⁴I sought the Lord, and he answered me

and delivered me from all my fears.

⁵Those who look to him are radiant,

and their faces shall never be ashamed.

⁶This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him

and saved him out of all his troubles.

⁷The angel of the Lord encamps

around those who fear him, and delivers them.

⁸Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!

Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!

⁹Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints,

for those who fear him have no lack!

¹⁰The young lions suffer want and hunger;

but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

¹¹Come, O children, listen to me;

I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

¹²What man is there who desires life

and loves many days, that he may see good?

¹³Keep your tongue from evil

and your lips from speaking deceit.

¹⁴Turn away from evil and do good;

seek peace and pursue it.

¹⁵The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous

and his ears toward their cry.

¹⁶The face of the Lord is against those who do evil,

to cut off the memory of them from the earth.

¹⁷When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears

and delivers them out of all their troubles.

¹⁸The Lord is near to the brokenhearted

and saves the crushed in spirit.

¹⁹Many are the afflictions of the righteous,

but the Lord delivers him out of them all.

²⁰He keeps all his bones;

not one of them is broken.

²¹Affliction will slay the wicked,

and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.

²²The Lord redeems the life of his servants;

none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.

¹Dead flies make the perfumer's ointment give off a stench;

so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.

²A wise man's heart inclines him to the right,

but a fool's heart to the left.

³Even when the fool walks on the road, he lacks sense,

and he says to everyone that he is a fool.

⁴If the anger of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your place,

for calmness1 will lay great offenses to rest.

⁵There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, as it were an error proceeding from the ruler: ⁶folly is set in many high places, and the rich sit in a low place. ⁷I have seen slaves on horses, and princes walking on the ground like slaves.

⁸He who digs a pit will fall into it,

and a serpent will bite him who breaks through a wall.

⁹He who quarries stones is hurt by them,

and he who splits logs is endangered by them.

¹⁰If the iron is blunt, and one does not sharpen the edge,

he must use more strength,

but wisdom helps one to succeed.2

¹¹If the serpent bites before it is charmed,

there is no advantage to the charmer.

¹²The words of a wise man's mouth win him favor,3

but the lips of a fool consume him.

¹³The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness,

and the end of his talk is evil madness.

¹⁴A fool multiplies words,

though no man knows what is to be,

and who can tell him what will be after him?

¹⁵The toil of a fool wearies him,

for he does not know the way to the city.

¹⁶Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child,

and your princes feast in the morning!

¹⁷Happy 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 drunkenness!

¹⁸Through sloth the roof sinks in,

and through indolence the house leaks.

¹⁹Bread is made for laughter,

and wine gladdens life,

and money answers everything.

²⁰Even in your thoughts, do not curse the king,

nor in your bedroom curse the rich,

for a bird of the air will carry your voice,

or some winged creature tell the matter.

Teach Sound Doctrine

¹But as for you, teach what accords with sound1 doctrine. ²Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. ³Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, ⁴and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, ⁵to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. ⁶Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. ⁷Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, ⁸and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. ⁹Bondservants2 are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, ¹⁰not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.

¹¹For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, ¹²training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, ¹³waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, ¹⁴who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

¹⁵Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.