Leviticus 27:6
And if it be from a month old even unto five years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male five shekels of silver, and for the female thy estimation shall be three shekels of silver. And if it be from a month old even unto five years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male five shekels of silver, and for the female thy estimation shall be three shekels of silver.
For a child dedicated to the Lord from a month old through five years old, the estimation is five shekels of silver for a male and three shekels of silver for a female. This belongs to the law for valuing and redeeming persons dedicated by a special vow, which is part of a larger record of laws concerning redemption. That larger record also gives rules for valuing consecrated property and explains how tithing was carried out in Israel. A person so dedicated was not to be sacrificed or otherwise taken for the Lord's use, but could be redeemed by paying the stated value into the sanctuary treasury.
When someone retained a vowed field or house, the priest's valuation was increased by one fifth, which made the vow binding while showing that what had been dedicated to God was sacred and could not be redirected to other uses. The valuation provided a way to fulfill a vow involving something that could not lawfully be offered, so that payment of the estimated value could be given instead of making a human sacrifice. In the case of Jephthah, his daughter could not lawfully be offered as a burnt offering but could be devoted to the Lord's service in lifelong virginity and perpetual virginity. The same law also provided a way to obtain release from vows, so Jephthah could have sought release instead of carrying out a barbarous act.
The verse stands in the law of what is set apart or devoted, where anathema means a curse, a ban, something set apart, separated, and devoted. It denotes complete separation and destruction, even the absolute, irrevocable, and entire separation of a person from the communion of the faithful, from the number of the living, or from the privileges of society. It also denotes the devoting of any man, animal, city, or thing to be extirpated, destroyed, consumed, and annihilated. The estimation devoted to the Lord is the Lord's and bears God's image and superscription, so worship belongs to God and what is the Lord's must be rendered to God and not to Caesar. Civil government has no right to lay any claim upon it, to exact it, to modify it, or to direct it.