What Does Leviticus 27:29 Mean?
No one sealed away from among men is bought back, but he shall surely die.
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
None devoted, which shall be devoted of men, shall be redeemed; but shall surely be put to death.THE KEY
The hidden edge of “devoted” is that חֵרֶם (ḥērem, an irrevocable ban) places a person beyond ransom, with death as the stated consequence.
THE MEANING
A human being placed under this devotion cannot be ransomed; the sentence of death is absolute. Here, dedication does not preserve the person, the stated outcome is death.
THE ROOT
חֵרֶם
ḥērem
GROWS FROM
חרם
ḥ-r-m (ḥāram): to place under a ban or devote irrevocably; here, the stated consequence for a human under that ban is death.
“sealed away” in this verse is ḥērem. English “devoted” can carry the sense of willing dedication; חֵרֶם (ḥērem, an irrevocable ban) points to something placed beyond ordinary use or recovery. In this verse, that status is applied to a human, and the stated outcome is death.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāram: To place under a ban; to devote to destruction.
חָרַם
The verbal form shows that “devoted” names a status placed upon someone, not only an inward feeling.
ḥērem: A person or thing placed under the ban; an irrevocably devoted thing.
חֵרֶם
This noun names the status the verse says cannot be redeemed.
יִפָּדֶה
yippādeh
GROWS FROM
פדה
p-d-h (pādāh): to ransom or redeem, releasing someone or something through payment.
“bought back” in this verse is yippādeh. The verse names ransom as a path of release and explicitly closes it here. פָּדָה (pādāh, to ransom) stands against חֵרֶם (ḥērem, an irrevocable ban): purchase-based release cannot undo this claim.
ALSO GROWS
pādāh: To ransom or redeem.
פָּדָה
This verb names the act the verse expressly says cannot happen.
pidyon: Ransom or redemption price.
פִּדְיוֹן
The related noun makes the refused release concrete: the price that could secure redemption.
THE PATTERN
A חֵרֶם (ḥērem, irrevocable ban) removes what is placed under it from ordinary exchange and can carry a command of destruction.
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.And the city shall be a devoted thing, it and all that are within it, to the LORD. Only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent.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.THE THREAD
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.This verse uses the same root, חֵרֶם (ḥērem, a thing placed under an irrevocable ban): what is devoted cannot be sold or redeemed and is called most holy unto the LORD. Verse 29 then states the human case in its starkest form, the person under that ban is sentenced to death.
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