Leviticus 27:20

Lev 27:20 And if he will not redeem the field, or if he have sold the field to another man, it shall not be redeemed any more.

Ver. 20. Or if he have sold the field.] And so, sacrilegiously robbed God.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For their own necessity or godly uses.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

(20) And if he will not redeem the field.—That is, if after all the advantages which the law affords to the vower to redeem his patrimonial inheritance before the jubile year, he is base enough to forego the privilege of redemption, thus showing no desire to perpetuate his family name,—

Or if he have sold the field to another man.—Better, and if he yet sells the field to another man, that is, if in addition to this absence of family honour he surreptitiously sells the field which he has vowed to the sanctuary to another man, thus adding sacrilege to baseness,—

It shall not be redeemed any more,—then he loses all right ever to redeem it at all.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But the field, when it goeth out in the jubilee,.... Out of the hand of him that bought it:

shall be holy unto the Lord, as a field devoted; though it went out of the hand of the purchaser, it did not return to him that sanctified or devoted it, but was separated to sacred uses for the service of the Lord; for every devoted thing, whether of man, beast, or field, was most holy to the Lord, Lev 27:28,

the possession thereof shall be the priests'; it did not return to the treasurer of the sanctuary, who had sold it to another for the repair of the temple, as Jarchi observes, but as a devoted field it was given to the priests, as it is said, "everything devoted in Israel shall be thine", Num 18:14; and even this was divided, as he says, between the priests of that ward or course that happened to be on the day of atonement of the jubilee year: but in case it never was redeemed, but remained sanctified in the year of jubilee, the priests did not possess it without paying for it; and so the Jewish canon runs (c),"the jubilee comes, and the field is not redeemed, the priests enter into it, and pay the price of it;''on which one of the commentators (d) observes, when anyone has redeemed it, the money becomes sacred for the repairs of the temple; and when the jubilee comes, it goes out (i.e. of the hands of the purchaser) to the priests freely; but if it is not redeemed, the priests must pay the price of fifty shekels, and take it; and if even it was bought by a priest before out of the hands of the treasurer, it went from him to his brethren the priests, in the year of jubilee: the rule is this,"if any of the priests redeem it, and, lo, it is in his possession, he may not say, seeing it goes out to the priests in the year of jubilee, lo, it is in my possession, lo, it is mine, but it shall go out to all his brethren the priests (e).''

(c) Misn. Eracin, c. 7. sect. 4. (d) Bartenora in ib. (e) Misn. Eracin, c. 7. sect. 3.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

If he will not redeem the field, to wit, when the priest shall set a price upon it, and offer it to him in the first place to redeem it.

If he have sold; he, who? Either,

1. The man that vowed it; if he after such a vow made shall neglect to pay his vow, and shall sacrilegiously sell the same land to another man; or, if he sell it, i.e. suffer it to be sold to another, and will not prevent that by redeeming it to himself. Or rather,

2. The priest, or some in his name, who, though not expressed, is sufficiently understood out of the foregoing clause, If he will not redeem or buy again the field, to wit, of the priest, who is now the seller of it; or, or rather and, for this seems to be added by way of accumulation, if he, i.e. the priest, of whom he might have redeemed it, upon his refusal, offers it to sale, and

have sold the field to another man. Add to this, that none but the priest could sell this land, after it was once vowed and declared to be so, and offered by the priest to him again to redeem it, which is apparently the present case.

It shall not be redeemed any more, i.e. he shall for ever lose the benefit of redemption.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

20. If he will not redeem — Since the priests were employed in the sanctuary and could not secularize themselves by cultivating patches of land scattered through the country, the land vowed lay idle or was still cultivated by its proprietor. As a penalty for his neglect to pay the redemption year by year, the land was forfeited to the sanctuary in the jubilee. “Hence it is to be inferred that a consecrated field must have been redeemed before the jubilee unless any one manifestly wished it to be alienated.” — Clericus.

If he have sold — Knobel thinks that only culpable caprice or dishonesty could have induced the proprietor to sell a field after he had vowed it to the Lord. The fact that it became irredeemable after such an act seems to favour this theory. The fault, for which the forfeiture of the field is a penalty, may have consisted in the fact that he still assumed undisputed ownership of a field which he had solemnly consecrated to the Lord, to whose rights he had done violence by the sale.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

If he will not redeem it - When the priest shall set a price upon it, and offer it to him in the first place to redeem it: or, rather and, for this seems to be added by way of accumulation, if he, that is, the priest, of whom he might have redeemed it, upon his refusal, offers it to sale, and have sold the field to another man - He shall forever lose the benefit of redemption.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

ואם לא יגאל את השדה AND IF HE WILL NOT REDEEM THE FIELD— “he” means, the man who dedicated it,

ואם מכר OR IF HE HATH SOLD — “he”: the treasurer of the Temple property has sold (Arakhin 25b),

את השדה לאיש אחר לא יגאל עוד THE FIELD TO ANOTHER MAN, IT SHALL NOT BE REDEEMED ANY MORE so as to return into the possession of him who dedicated it.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.