Study Desk

'And if only a few years remain until the Year of Jubilee, he shall so calculate it with him. He is to refund the proportionate amount for his release.

'For the children of Israel are My servants; My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

'You shall not make idols for yourselves, nor shall you erect an image, a sacred pillar or an obelisk, nor shall you place any figured stone in your land so that you may bow down to it; for I am the LORD your God.

'You shall keep My Sabbaths and have reverence for My sanctuary. I am the LORD.

'For I will turn toward you [with favor and regard] and make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will establish and confirm My covenant with you.

'You will eat the old supply of [abundant] produce, and clear out the old [to make room] for the new.

I, in turn, will do this to you: I will appoint over you sudden terror, consumption, and fever that will waste away the eyes and cause the soul to languish also. And you will sow your seed uselessly, for your enemies will eat what you plant.

'If in spite of all this you still will not listen to Me and be obedient, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.

'Your strength will be spent uselessly, for your land will not yield its produce and the trees of the land will not yield their fruit.

then I also will act with hostility against you, and I will strike you seven times for your sins.

'I will bring a sword on you that will execute vengeance for [breaking] the covenant; and when you gather together in your cities, I will send pestilence (virulent disease) among you, and you shall be handed over to the enemy.

then I will act with hostility against you in wrath, and I also will punish you seven times for your sins.

'As for those who are left of you, I will bring despair (lack of courage, weakness) into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; the sound of a scattered leaf will put them to flight, and they will flee as if [running] from the sword, and will fall even when no one is chasing them.

I also was acting with hostility toward them and brought them into the land of their enemies—then if their uncircumcised (sin-filled) hearts are humbled and they accept the punishment for their wickedness,

'But the land will be abandoned by them and will enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them; and they will accept the punishment for their wickedness and make amends because they rejected My ordinances and their soul rejected My statutes.

'Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, nor will I so despise them as to destroy them, breaking My covenant with them; for I am the LORD their God.

'But I will, for their sake, [earnestly] remember the covenant with their forefathers, whom I have brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God. I am the LORD.'"

"Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, 'When a man makes a special vow [consecrating himself or a member of his family], he shall be valued according to your [established system of] valuation of people belonging to the LORD [that is, the priest accepts from the man making the vow a specified amount of money for the temple treasury in place of the actual person].

'If the person is between five years and twenty years of age, then your valuation for the male shall be twenty shekels and for the female ten shekels.

'But if the child is between one month and five years of age, then your valuation shall be five shekels of silver for the male and three shekels for the female.