What Does Leviticus 27:5 Mean in the King James?
And if it be from five years old even unto twenty years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male twenty shekels, and for the female ten shekels.
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
The Hebrew makes this an ordered assessment measured in shekels: “estimation” comes from arranging, and “shekel” from weighing.
THE MEANING
Within a vow, this verse assigns an assessment by age and sex: from five through twenty years old, the male is set at twenty shekels and the female at ten. The difference is explicit, the male figure is twice the female figure, and the amount serves as the chapter’s set valuation for the vow.
THE ROOT
עֶרְכְּךָ
ʿerkekha
GROWS FROM
ערך
To arrange or set in order; from this comes the sense of an ordered assessment or valuation.
“estimation” in this verse is ʿerkekha. The valuation is presented as something set by an order, not as an unbounded judgment. The age and sex categories give that assessment its structure.
ALSO GROWS
ʿārakh: To arrange or set in order.
עָרַךְ
The verse places people into defined age and sex categories before assigning the amount.
ʿērekh: Value, assessment, or valuation.
עֵרֶךְ
This is the noun behind “estimation”: the stated figure belongs to a particular assessment.
maʿărākh: An arrangement or array.
מַעֲרָךְ
It echoes the idea of an ordered scheme underlying the verse’s scale.
שְׁקָלִים
sheqalim
GROWS FROM
שקל
To weigh.
“shekels” in this verse is sheqalim. A shekel is rooted in weighing, so the valuation is expressed as a measured quantity. The verse gives that quantity plainly, with different amounts for males and females.
ALSO GROWS
shaqal: To weigh.
שָׁקַל
The root makes the amount a matter of measured weight.
mishqal: Weight or measure.
מִשְׁקָל
It shows how weighing gives rise to a defined quantity.
sheqel: A shekel, a unit of weight used as a monetary amount.
שֶׁקֶל
This is the unit in which the verse states its assessment.
THE PATTERN
When scripture sets a sacred obligation’s value, it names a measured amount and the scale by which it is reckoned.
This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs:) an half shekel shall be the offering of the LORD.And those that are to be redeemed from a month old shalt thou redeem, according to thine estimation, for the money of five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs.THE THREAD
And those that are to be redeemed from a month old shalt thou redeem, according to thine estimation, for the money of five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs.“Estimation” in both verses comes from ערך, the root for arranging or setting in order. Numbers gives a fixed five-shekel valuation for redemption, showing how the same word names an assigned assessment in both passages.
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