What Does Leviticus 27:31 Mean in the King James?

And if a man will at all redeem ought of his tithes, he shall add thereto the fifth part thereof.

Leviticus 27:31 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

Here, reclaiming a tithe is allowed, but the return comes with a fifth added: redemption restores possession without erasing its measure.

THE MEANING

This verse makes room for recovery: part of what has been set apart can return to a person’s possession. Yet reclaiming it carries an added fifth, so the return has a measurable cost.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The belief that what is set apart is either forever unreachable or freely reclaimable gives way: this verse allows the return and names its added cost.

THE ROOT

גָּאֹל יִגְאַל

gāʾōl yigʾal

GROWS FROM

ג־א־ל

g-ʾ-l

To redeem or reclaim; in some uses, to recover as a kinsman.

The repeated form intensifies the act: “if he will at all redeem.” The root can describe reclaiming what has passed out of one’s possession, and here that return carries an added fifth.

ALSO GROWS

go’el: kinsman-redeemer

גֹּאֵל

This branch names one who reclaims what belongs to a relative; it shows redemption as recovery, not merely release from a debt.

ge’ullah: redemption; the right or act of reclaiming

גְּאֻלָּה

This branch makes the recovery itself explicit, illuminating the verse’s permission to reclaim what was set apart.

THE PATTERN

Reclaiming or repairing what is set apart carries an added measure beyond its original value.

But if he will at all redeem it, then he shall add a fifth part thereof unto thy estimation.

Leviticus 27:13 · KJVThe same rule joins reclaiming something dedicated with adding a fifth to its value.

And he shall make amends for the harm that he hath done in the holy thing, and shall add the fifth part thereto, and give it unto the priest: and the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering, and it shall be forgiven him.

Leviticus 5:16 · KJVRepairing harm done to a holy thing also requires an added fifth, so restoration includes more than replacing what was lost.

And Zacchæus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.

Luke 19:8 · KJVThe act of restoring what was taken includes an added measure, extending the pattern beyond the tithe laws.

THE THREAD

If thy brother be waxen poor, and hath sold away some of his possession, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold.

Leviticus 25:25 · KJV

The same root ⁨ג־א־ל⁩ (g-ʾ-l), “redeem or reclaim,” appears here in the act of a kinsman recovering sold land. That root makes the current verse’s redemption concrete: what was set apart can be reclaimed, with the added fifth marking the terms of its return.

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