What Does Leviticus 27:27 Mean?
And if it is of an unclean beast, then he buys it back according to your arranged worth, and adds a fifth part of it to that; but if it is not bought back, then it is sold according to your arranged worth.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And if it be of an unclean beast, then he shall redeem it according to thine estimation, and shall add a fifth part of it thereto: or if it be not redeemed, then it shall be sold according to thy estimation.THE KEY
The verse uses two Hebrew roots for “redeem,” placing a buyback with an added fifth beside the possibility that the beast remains unreclaimed and is sold.
THE MEANING
A label of uncleanness does not erase measurable worth: reclaiming the beast carries an added fifth, while failure to reclaim it leads to sale at the same valuation. The verse keeps both the price and the possibility of transfer in view.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Unclean means worthless; this beast remains valued whether it is reclaimed or sold.
THE ROOT
וּפָדָה
ūpādāh
GROWS FROM
פדה
To ransom, redeem, or buy back.
“buys it back” in this verse is ūpādāh. The first “redeem” is פָּדָה (pādāh), the ransom or buyback verb; the later “redeemed” uses גָּאַל (gāʾal), a different root that elsewhere carries the sense of reclaiming as a kinsman or rightful redeemer. The verse holds these root shades beside a stated valuation, an added fifth, and the possibility of sale.
ALSO GROWS
pādāh: To redeem, ransom, or buy back.
פָּדָה
This base form names the act behind the verse’s “he shall redeem,” tied here to a stated valuation.
yifdeh: He will redeem.
יִפְדֶּה
This active form keeps the act of buying back attached to a redeemer.
nifdāh: Is or was redeemed.
נִפְדָּה
This passive form describes something reclaimed, foregrounding its transfer from one claim to another.
יִגָּאֵל
yiggāʾēl
GROWS FROM
גאל
To redeem or reclaim, often in the role of a kinsman or rightful claimant.
“bought back” in this verse is yiggāʾēl. Elsewhere, גָּאַל (gāʾal) names reclaiming through a redeemer’s relationship or right. Its use after פָּדָה places that shade alongside the priced buyback, while the verse states that if reclaiming does not happen, the beast is sold.
ALSO GROWS
gāʾal: To redeem or reclaim as a rightful redeemer.
גָּאַל
The verb names the reclaiming action in the verse’s second clause.
gōʾēl: A redeemer, often a kinsman who reclaims property or rights.
גֹּאֵל
This branch makes visible the person who may hold the right to reclaim.
geʾullāh: Redemption or the right of redemption.
גְּאֻלָּה
It connects reclaiming with a recognized right, a shade that deepens the verse’s alternative to sale.
בְּעֶרְכְּךָ
beʿerkekha
GROWS FROM
ערך
To arrange or set in order; also to assess and assign value.
“arranged worth” in this verse is beʿerkekha. The root ערך can carry both ordering and valuation. The verse repeats the estimate as the measure for either outcome: reclaiming requires an added fifth, and sale follows the same valuation.
ALSO GROWS
ʿērekh: Value, price, or valuation.
עֵרֶךְ
This noun names the measure that governs the beast’s possible transfer.
heʿerikh: To estimate or appraise.
הֶעֱרִיךְ
This verb names the act of assigning a value before an exchange.
maʿarakh: An arrangement, array, or ordered formation.
מַעֲרָךְ
This branch preserves the root’s sense of setting things in place, alongside the verse’s act of placing a value.
THE PATTERN
Redemption is an exchange with explicit terms: added value, a substitute, or the rejection of a payment medium shapes what happens next.
But if he at all wills to buy it back, then he adds a fifth part of it to your arranged worth.And every firstborn of a donkey you shall buy back with a lamb; and if you will not buy it back, then you shall break its neck. And every firstborn of humankind among your children you shall buy back.knowing that you were not loosed with what can be ruined, silver or gold, from your empty walk handed down from your fathers.THE THREAD
And I said I would uncover your ear, saying, Buy it before those who settle, and before the elders of my people. If you will buy it back, buy it back. But if you will not buy it back, tell me, that I may know, for there is none beside you to buy it back, and I come after you. And he said, I will buy it back.Ruth uses the same גאל (gāʾal) root as Leviticus’s second “redeemed.” Here the person with the right to reclaim the property is explicit, illuminating the claimant shade of that root beside Leviticus’s valuation and sale.
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