Numbers 18:16
in Numbers 18You are to pay the redemption price for a month-old male according to your valuation: five shekels of silver, according to the sanctuary shekel, which is twenty gerahs.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And those that are to be redeemed of them from a month old shalt thou redeem, according to thine estimation, for the money of five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary (the same is twenty gerahs).
KJV
And those that are to be redeemed from a month old shalt thou redeem, according to thine estimation, for the money of five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs.
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This verse in Numbers 18
Commentary
4 notes on this verseShalt thou redeem - for the money of five shekels - Redemption of the first-born is one of the rites which is still practiced among the Jews. According to Leo of Modena, it is performed in the following manner: - When the child is thirty days old, the father sends for one of the descendants of Aaron: several persons being assembled on the occasion, the father brings a cup containing several pieces of gold and silver coin. The priest then takes the child into his arms, and addressing himself to the mother, says: Is this thy son? Mother. Yes. Priest.
This site's exposition
Every thing that openeth the matrix
on Numbers 18:15-19
The claim on the firstborn made at Exodus 13:2 comes back here as income for the priests, and the five shekels of verse 16 is the price Numbers 3:46-51 set when the Levites were counted against the firstborn of Israel. Clean and unclean are separated in the payment, since a clean firstling is killed with its blood sprinkled and its flesh given to the priest, while a man and an unclean beast are bought back with money. Verse 19 calls the arrangement a covenant of salt, a phrase used of the meat offering at Leviticus 2:13 and of the throne of David at 2 Chronicles 13:5. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown tie it to the eating of salt as a pledge of fidelity in the East, which makes the shared meal the sign of the bond.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Those that are to be redeemed - Namely, of men only, not of unclean beasts, as is manifest from the time and price of redemption here mentioned, both which agree to men; the time, ver. 16, the price, chap. iii, 46, 47, but neither agree to unclean beasts, which were to be redeemed with a sheep, Exod. xiii, 13, and that after it was eight days old.
And those that are to be redeemed,....
The words behind it
13 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וּפְדוּיָו֙ | ufeduyav | and redemption price its | H6299 → | 59 times |
| מִבֶּן־ | miben- | from a son of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| חֹ֣דֶשׁ | chodesh | a month | H2320 → | 284 times |
| תִּפְדֶּ֔ה | tifdeh | you will redeem [it] | H6299 → | 59 times |
| בְּעֶ֨רְכְּךָ֔ | beerkekha | by valuation your | H6187 → | |
| כֶּ֛סֶף | kesef | [will be] silver | H3701 → | 403 times |
| חֲמֵ֥שֶׁת | chameshet | five | H2568 → | 343 times |
| שְׁקָלִ֖ים | shekalim | shekels | H8255 → | 88 times |
| בְּשֶׁ֣קֶל | beshekel | by [the] shekel of | H8255 → | 88 times |
| הַקֹּ֑דֶשׁ | hakodesh | the holy place | H6944 → | 469 times |
| עֶשְׂרִ֥ים | ʾesrim | [is] twenty | H6242 → | 315 times |
| גֵּרָ֖ה | gerah | gerah[s] | H1626 → | |
| הֽוּא׃ | hu' | it | H1931 → | 1879 times |
וּפְדוּיָו֙and redemption price its
ufeduyavH6299 →59 times
מִבֶּן־from a son of
miben-H1121 →4930 times
חֹ֣דֶשׁa month
chodeshH2320 →284 times
תִּפְדֶּ֔הyou will redeem [it]
tifdehH6299 →59 times
בְּעֶ֨רְכְּךָ֔by valuation your
beerkekhaH6187 →
כֶּ֛סֶף[will be] silver
kesefH3701 →403 times
חֲמֵ֥שֶׁתfive
chameshetH2568 →343 times
שְׁקָלִ֖יםshekels
shekalimH8255 →88 times
בְּשֶׁ֣קֶלby [the] shekel of
beshekelH8255 →88 times
הַקֹּ֑דֶשׁthe holy place
hakodeshH6944 →469 times
עֶשְׂרִ֥ים[is] twenty
ʾesrimH6242 →315 times
גֵּרָ֖הgerah[s]
gerahH1626 →
הֽוּא׃it
hu'H1931 →1879 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Ezekiel 45:12The shekel will consist of twenty gerahs. Twenty shekels plus twenty-five shekels plus fifteen shekels will equal one mina.
it leads to
- Exodus 30:13
Everyone who crosses over to those counted must pay a half shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs. This half shekel is an offering to the LORD.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Exodus 30:13
Through
Exodus 30:13Everyone who crosses over to those counted must pay a half shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs. This half shekel is an offering to the LORD.
it leads to
- Leviticus 27:25
Every valuation will be according to the sanctuary shekel, twenty gerahs to the shekel.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Numbers 3:47
you are to collect five shekels for each one, according to the sanctuary shekel of twenty gerahs.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Ezekiel 45:12
The shekel will consist of twenty gerahs. Twenty shekels plus twenty-five shekels plus fifteen shekels will equal one mina.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Exodus 38:26
a beka per person, that is, half a shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, from everyone twenty years of age or older who had crossed over to be numbered, a total of 603,550 men.
- Matthew 17:24
After they had arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax came to Peter and asked, “Does your Teacher pay the two drachmas?”
- Leviticus 27:25
Through
Numbers 3:47you are to collect five shekels for each one, according to the sanctuary shekel of twenty gerahs.
it leads to
- Leviticus 27:6
Now if the person is from one month to five years of age, then your valuation for the male shall be five shekels of silver, and for the female three shekels of silver.
- Numbers 3:50
He collected the money from the firstborn of the Israelites: 1,365 shekels, according to the sanctuary shekel.
- Leviticus 27:6
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Numbers
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch.