Passage

Leviticus 27.28-29

"Nevertheless, anything which a man sets apart to the LORD out of all that he has, of man or animal or of the fields of his own property, shall not be sold or redeemed. Anything devoted to destruction is most holy to the LORD. No one who may have been set apart among men shall be ransomed; he shall surely be put to death." (Leviticus 27:28-29, NASB95)

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"26. Only the firstling among beasts, which is made a firstling to Jehovah, no man shall sanctify it; whether it be ox or sheep, it is Jehovah's. 27. And if it be of an unclean beast, then he shall ransom it according to thine estimation, and shall add unto it the fifth part thereof: or if it be not redeemed, then it shall be sold according to thy estimation."

"28. Notwithstanding, no devoted thing, that a man shall devote unto Jehovah of all that he hath, whether of man or beast, or of the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed: every devoted thing is most holy unto Jehovah. 29. No one devoted, that shall be devoted from among men, shall be ransomed; he shall surely be put to death."

"30. And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is Jehovah's: it is holy unto Jehovah. 31. And if a man will redeem aught of his tithe, he shall add unto it the fifth part thereof." (Leviticus 27:26-31, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"26. "'Only the firstborn among animals, which is made a firstborn to Yahweh, no man may dedicate it; whether an ox or sheep. It is Yahweh's. 27. If it is an unclean animal, then he shall buy it back according to your valuation, and shall add to it the fifth part of it; or if it isn't redeemed, then it shall be sold according to your valuation."

"28. "'Notwithstanding, no devoted thing, that a man shall devote to Yahweh of all that he has, whether of man or animal, or of the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed: every devoted thing is most holy to Yahweh. 29. "'No one devoted, who shall be devoted from among men, shall be ransomed; he shall surely be put to death."

"30. "'All the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is Yahweh's. It is holy to Yahweh. 31. If a man redeems anything of his tithe, he shall add a fifth part to it." (Leviticus 27:26-31, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"26. Only the firstling of the beasts, which should be the LORD'S firstling, no man shall sanctify it; whether it be ox, or sheep: it is the LORD'S. ^{firstling of: Heb. firstborn, etc} 27. 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."

"28. 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. 29. None devoted, which shall be devoted of men, shall be redeemed; but shall surely be put to death."

"30. And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD'S: it is holy unto the LORD. 31. And if a man will at all redeem ought of his tithes, he shall add thereto the fifth part thereof." (Leviticus 27:26-31, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"26. 'Only, a firstling which is Jehovah's firstling among beasts, no man doth sanctify it, whether ox or sheep; it [is] Jehovah's. 27. And if among the unclean beasts, then he hath ransomed [it] at thy valuation, and he hath added its fifth to it; and if it is not redeemed, then it hath been sold at thy valuation."

"28. 'Only, no devoted thing which a man devoteth to Jehovah, of all that he hath, of man, and beast, and of the field of his possession, is sold or redeemed; every devoted thing is most holy to Jehovah. 29. 'No devoted thing, which is devoted of man, is ransomed, it is surely put to death."

"30. And all tithe of the land, of the seed of the land, of the fruit of the tree, is Jehovah's, holy to Jehovah. 31. 'And if a man really redeem [any] of his tithe, its fifth he addeth to it." (Leviticus 27:26-31, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: YHWH speaking through Moses (Lev 1:1, Lev 27:1)
Audience: Israel at Sinai, preparing to enter the land
Location: Mount Sinai (Lev 27:34)
Time period: the wilderness generation, c. 1446 BC (early date) or c. 1260 BC (late date); the closing legal block of Leviticus before the Numbers wilderness narratives

Synthesis

Leviticus 27:28-29 contains one of the most apologetically charged passages in the Torah. The Hebrew term is חֵרֶם (cherem, sometimes transliterated herem), variously translated "devoted thing," "thing devoted to destruction," or "ban." Anything placed under cherem is irrevocably set apart to YHWH and cannot be ransomed or redeemed; in the case of an animal it is sacrificed, in the case of a person it is "surely put to death." This text is foundational to the so-called genocide-objection: skeptics cite it to argue that the God of Israel commands and even institutionalizes the destruction of human beings. The interpretive question is what cherem actually denotes, what the text in fact commands, and how it relates to the Canaanite-conquest narratives that deploy the same vocabulary. See Canaanite Conquest and Herem for the systematic apologetic treatment.

Theological reading

The cherem concept. Cherem (root charam, H2763 - charam; noun H2764 - cherem) carries the basic sense of "irrevocable devotion / consecration." A cherem object is removed from ordinary use; it cannot be sold, redeemed, or returned to common possession. Two valences attach: the cherem object is "most holy" to YHWH, and it is removed by destruction. The same word covers what is consecrated to God and what is destroyed for God; the apparent paradox dissolves once it is seen that the destruction is itself the mode of irrevocable devotion. The Greek-Bible counterpart is anathema (G0331 - anathema), which retains both senses (devoted to God / accursed) in New Testament usage (Rom 9:3, Gal 1:8-9, 1 Cor 16:22).

What 27:28-29 does and does not authorize. The crucial interpretive question is whether 27:29 ("No one devoted, who shall be devoted from among men, shall be ransomed; he shall surely be put to death") authorizes a private Israelite to designate a fellow human for cherem destruction. The standard rabbinic and conservative-Christian reading is no: this verse refers to persons already under judicial death-sentence whose execution cannot be commuted by ransom (cf. the prohibition of ransom for murder in Numbers 35:31). It is not a private right of consecration-by-destruction. On this reading, Leviticus 27:29 is a sentencing-finality rule, not a license for unilateral human-sacrifice. See Human Sacrifice in the Old Testament for the systematic treatment of the human-sacrifice texts, and contrast with Saul's Partial Obedience / 1 Samuel 15 where cherem is enacted in a holy-war context under explicit divine command.

The Canaanite-conquest connection. The same cherem vocabulary is deployed in the conquest narratives, most prominently Deuteronomy 7.1-2 (the Canaanite peoples are to be cherem-devoted) and Joshua 6 (Jericho under cherem; cf. Joshua 6.17-21, Joshua 6.21). The standard skeptical case treats these texts as authorizing genocide. The apologetic case distinguishes:

Cherem is judicial, not ethnic. The cherem is grounded in judicial response to specific covenant-rejecting wickedness (cf. Gen 15:16 "the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete"), not on racial or ethnic-purity grounds.
Hagiographic-hyperbolic conventions. Many scholars (Copan, Flannagan, Hess) argue the conquest accounts use ancient Near Eastern military-victory hyperbole; the actual practice involved displacement and incorporation more than literal extermination, as the continued presence of Canaanite peoples in later books shows.
The texts are unique to a specific covenantal-historical moment. Cherem warfare is never authorized as ongoing Israelite practice; it is bounded to the conquest generation.

See Canaanite Conquest and Herem for the full systematic-apologetic treatment of these moves.

The atonement-typology echo. Christian-theological readings have long noted that the cherem concept points forward to the cross: Christ becomes anathema / cherem in his crucifixion (Galatians 3:13 "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us"), absorbing the judgment-by-devotion that the cherem texts adumbrate. On this reading the cherem passages are a dark anticipation of substitutionary atonement: the one is consecrated to destruction so that the many are not.

Key words

H2764 - cherem, cherem (devoted thing / ban). The noun form; the object placed under irrevocable devotion-by-destruction.
H2763 - charam, charam (to devote / to ban / to destroy). The verbal root; the action of placing something under cherem.
G0331 - anathema, anathema (devoted to God / accursed). The Septuagint and New Testament Greek counterpart, retaining both senses.

Theological themes

Devotion-by-destruction. The conceptual category that cherem names; foreign to modern moral intuitions but coherent within ancient sacrificial logic.
Judicial finality, not private license. The standard exegesis of 27:29 as a no-ransom rule for capital sentencing, not a license for unilateral human consecration.
Canaanite-conquest substrate. The same vocabulary that grounds the conquest narratives; load-bearing for the "Bible endorses genocide" objection.
Christological adumbration. Christ becomes cherem / anathema on the cross; the substitutionary cure for the curse the cherem texts pronounce.
Difficult-text apologetic. One of the canonical "hard sayings" requiring careful contextual and lexical handling.

Cross-references

Deuteronomy 7.1-2, the Canaanite cherem command in deuteronomic legislation.
Joshua 6, the Jericho cherem narrative; see also Joshua 6.17-21, Joshua 6.17-18, Joshua 6.19, Joshua 6.20, Joshua 6.21.
1 Samuel 15, the Amalekite cherem command to Saul; see also 1 Samuel 15.3, 1 Samuel 15.2-3, Saul's Partial Obedience.
The exodus and conquest narratives generally; cherem is a covenant-historically bounded category, not a standing rule.

Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.