What Does Leviticus 27:28 Mean?
But no sealed-away thing, which a man seals away to the LORD from all that he has, of man and beast, and of the field of his holding, is sold or bought back; every sealed-away thing is most set apart to the LORD.
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
Notwithstanding no devoted thing, that a man shall devote unto the LORD of all that he hath, both of man and beast, and of the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed: every devoted thing is most holy unto the LORD.THE KEY
“Devoted” names a thing that has passed beyond every human claim: no price or redemption can return it.
THE MEANING
This verse names a thing wholly claimed by the LORD: it cannot be sold or bought back, and its status is “most holy.” Devotion here is a concrete boundary on ownership and use, not merely an inward feeling. The reader encounters a dedication whose consequence is irreversibility.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Nothing is truly beyond recovery if someone can pay enough.
THE ROOT
חֵרֶם
ḥērem
GROWS FROM
חרם
To place under a ban, withdrawing something from ordinary use; in some contexts, to devote it to destruction.
“sealed-away thing” in this verse is ḥērem. The root gives “devoted” a harder edge than a gift or vow: the thing is placed under a claim that cannot be reversed by sale or redemption. Elsewhere, this same word-family names destruction, so the verse’s language of consecration carries the possibility of loss as well as belonging.
ALSO GROWS
ḥērem: A thing placed under the ban; an irrevocably devoted thing.
חֵרֶם
This is the noun used for the devoted thing in the verse, naming its changed status rather than its price.
lehaḥarim: To devote to destruction or place under the ban.
לְהַחֲרִים
This verb shows the root’s severe reach: devotion can mean removal from ordinary use through destruction.
קֹדֶשׁ קָדָשִׁים
qōdeš qodāšîm
GROWS FROM
קדש
To set apart as sacred.
“most set apart” in this verse is qōdeš qodāšîm. The Hebrew phrase is literally “holy of holies,” a form that marks the devoted thing as belonging to the highest category of set-apartness. That designation sits beside the ban’s finality: it is sacred to the LORD and no longer available for ordinary exchange.
ALSO GROWS
qōdeš: Sacredness; a sacred or set-apart thing.
קֹדֶשׁ
This is the first word in the verse’s “most holy” phrase and names the thing’s sacred status.
qādōš: Set apart as sacred.
קָדוֹשׁ
This related form names the state of being set apart, showing that the verse describes a status, not just a valuable object.
יִגָּאֵל
yiggāʾēl
GROWS FROM
גאל
To reclaim or redeem, often through the action of a kinsman-redeemer.
“bought back” in this verse is yiggāʾēl. The verse closes off even the usual route of reclaiming what has been sold. Against the root’s language of a redeemer restoring a claim, this devoted thing cannot be brought back into human possession.
ALSO GROWS
gōʾēl: A redeemer, especially a kinsman who reclaims what belongs to family.
גֹּאֵל
This related word makes the denied possibility concrete: even the customary figure of a reclaiming relative cannot recover the devoted thing.
geʾullāh: Redemption or reclamation.
גְּאֻלָּה
The verse bars this kind of recovery, closing the path back from the LORD’s claim to ordinary ownership.
THE PATTERN
What is placed wholly under God’s claim leaves ordinary private use, whether that claim takes the form of an irrevocable ban or a living offering.
And you, guard yourselves from the devoted thing, lest you devote yourselves to destruction, when you take from it, and make the camp of Israel a devoted thing, and uproot it.Now go and strike Amalek, and devote all that they have to destruction, and do not spare them; but put to death man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.Therefore I urge you, brothers, through the compassions of God, to set your bodies beside God as a living sacrifice, set apart, well-pleasing to him, which is your true service.THE THREAD
Do not bring a recoiling thing into your house, lest you become a devoted thing like it. You shall utterly loathe it and utterly recoil from it, for it is a devoted thing.The “cursed thing” here is also ḥērem (חֵרֶם, ḥērem), the thing placed under the ban. This verse opens the boundary further: the status is not only about what can be sold or reclaimed; it can also reach the person who takes the thing into their house.
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