What Does Leviticus 27:7 Mean?
And if it is from sixty years old and above; if it is a male, then your arranged worth is fifteen shekels, and for the female ten shekels.
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 from sixty years old and above; if it be a male, then thy estimation shall be fifteen shekels, and for the female ten shekels.THE KEY
The verse’s “estimation” is an assigned measure, and that measure gives the same age band different prices by sex.
THE MEANING
This verse sets a male’s estimation at fifteen shekels and a female’s at ten when both are sixty or older. The difference is explicit in the measure attached to the vow; this line neither equates the amounts nor explains why they differ.
THE ROOT
עֶרְכְּךָ
ʿerkekha
GROWS FROM
ערך
ʿ-r-k
To arrange, set in order, or assign a measure.
“arranged worth” in this verse is ʿerkekha. The word translated “estimation” comes from a root used for arranging or setting something in order. The verse’s amount is therefore part of an assigned scale, not an open-ended description of the person.
ALSO GROWS
ʿārakh: To arrange or set in order.
עָרַךְ
This branch shows the ordering sense carried by the root behind the stated valuation.
maʿărākāh: An array or formation.
מַעֲרָכָה
An array is something set out in an ordered arrangement, echoing the verse’s placement of people within a valuation scale.
ʿērekh: Value or valuation.
עֵרֶךְ
This related word names the assigned measure directly.
שְׁקָלִים
sheqalim
GROWS FROM
שקל
sh-q-l
To weigh.
The amounts are named in shekels, a word from the root “to weigh.” The valuation is expressed as a countable weight of silver, making the difference in the scale concrete.
ALSO GROWS
shaqal: To weigh.
שָׁקַל
This verb reveals the weighing sense behind the unit used for the valuation.
mishqal: Weight or measure.
מִשְׁקָל
This related word links the verse’s stated sum to a measured quantity.
THE PATTERN
Scripture makes an assigned value concrete through a stated weight or amount.
And your arranged worth for the male, from twenty years old to sixty years old, is fifty shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the set-apart place.And those from a month old that are to be bought back, you shall buy back by your valuation, for five shekels of silver, by the shekel of the set-apart place, which is twenty gerahs.And Abraham heard and responded to Ephron, and Abraham weighed out to Ephron the silver, which he had spoken in the ears of the sons of Heth, four hundred weights of silver, passing from hand to hand with the merchant.THE THREAD
But if he is poorer than your arranged worth, then he stands himself before the priest, and the priest sets his worth according to what his hand can reach.The same root, ערך (ʿ-r-k), meaning “to arrange or assign a valuation,” appears in the repeated words “estimation” and “value.” This next verse sets the fixed schedule beside a valuation made according to ability, showing another way the vow’s measure is assigned.
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