the following regulations for the people of Israel. When any of you have been given to the LORD in fulfillment of a special vow, you may be set free by the payment of the following sums of money,

according to the official standard: --adult male, twenty to sixty years old: 50 pieces of silver --adult female: 30 pieces of silver --young male, five to twenty years old: 20 pieces of silver --young female: 10 pieces of silver --infant male under five: 5 pieces of silver --infant female: 3 pieces of silver --male above sixty years of age: 15 pieces of silver --female above sixty: 10 pieces of silver

None of you may sell or buy back what you have unconditionally dedicated to the LORD, whether it is a human being, an animal, or land. It belongs permanently to the LORD.

Not even human beings who have been unconditionally dedicated may be bought back; they must be put to death.

Hannah made a solemn promise: " LORD Almighty, look at me, your servant! See my trouble and remember me! Don't forget me! If you give me a son, I promise that I will dedicate him to you for his whole life and that he will never have his hair cut."

So I am dedicating him to the LORD. As long as he lives, he will belong to the LORD." Then they worshiped the LORD there.

In the meantime the boy Samuel continued to serve the LORD, wearing a sacred linen apron.

The Israelites were weak with hunger that day, because Saul, with a solemn oath, had given the order: "A curse be on anyone who eats any food today before I take revenge on my enemies." So nobody had eaten anything all day.

Saul said to him, "May God strike me dead if you are not put to death!"

I will bring burnt offerings to your house; I will offer you what I promised.

I will give you what I said I would when I was in trouble.

But if your vow concerns a ritually unclean animal, which is not acceptable as an offering to the LORD, you shall take the animal to the priest.

The priest shall set a price for it, according to its good or bad qualities, and the price will be final.

Also, no money earned in this way may be brought into the house of the LORD your God in fulfillment of a vow. The LORD hates temple prostitutes.

I will bring burnt offerings to your house; I will offer you what I promised.

"The people do as they please. It's all the same to them whether they kill a bull as a sacrifice or sacrifice a human being; whether they sacrifice a lamb or break a dog's neck; whether they present a grain offering or offer pigs' blood; whether they offer incense or pray to an idol. They take pleasure in disgusting ways of worship.