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Numbers 3:46

in Numbers 3

To redeem the 273 firstborn Israelites who outnumber the Levites,

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And for the redemption of the two hundred and threescore and thirteen of the first-born of the children of Israel, that are over and above the number of the Levites,

KJV

And for those that are to be redeemed of the two hundred and threescore and thirteen of the firstborn of the children of Israel, which are more than the Levites;

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This verse in Numbers 3

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

The excess of the general over the Levitical first-born is so small, that the only way of accounting for it is, by supposing those first-born only were counted as were males remaining in their parents' household, or that those first-born only were numbered which had been born since the departure from Egypt, when God claimed all the first-born as his special property.

This site's exposition

the two hundred and threescore and thirteen

on Numbers 3:46-48

The Levites fall short of the firstborn by two hundred and seventy three, and those are redeemed at five shekels a head. Five shekels is the figure Leviticus 27:6 sets for a male between a month old and five years old, and Numbers 18:16 makes it the standing price for redeeming a firstborn from that day forward. The verse stops to define its unit, the shekel of the sanctuary at twenty gerahs, which Exodus 30:13 had already fixed. The money is paid to Aaron and his sons, so the surplus goes to the house the Levites themselves were given to.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

The Separation of the Levites. 1 These also are the generations of Aaron and Moses in the day that the L ORD spake with Moses in mount Sinai. 2 And these are the names of the sons of Aaron;

quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:89%@v1-3

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

proposed

For those that are to be redeemed - 'Tis probable, in the exchange they began with the eldest of the first-born, and so downwards, so that those were to be redeemed, who were the two hundred, seventy three youngest of them.
And for those that are to be redeemed, &c. With money, there being not Levites enough to answer to them, and exchange for them: of the two hundred and threescore and thirteen of the firstborn of the children of Israel, which are more than the Levites; for the sum total of the Levites, as given, was but 22,000, Num 3:39, whereas the sum total of the firstborn of Israel were 22,273, Num 3:43, so that there were, two hundred seventy three more of the latter than of the former; and what was to be done with these next follows.

The words behind it

11 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • וְאֵת֙and <obj.>

    veetH853 →10935 times

  • פְּדוּיֵ֣י[the] ransom<s> of

    peduyeiH6302 →4 times

  • הַשְּׁלֹשָׁ֔הthe three

    hasheloshahH7969 →432 times

  • וְהַשִּׁבְעִ֖יםand the seventy

    vehashivimH7657 →91 times

  • וְהַמָּאתָ֑יִםand the two hundred

    vehamatayimH3967 →581 times

  • הָעֹֽדְפִים֙who are in excess

    haodefimH5736 →9 times

  • עַל־to

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • הַלְוִיִּ֔םthe Levites

    halviyimH3881 →291 times

  • מִבְּכ֖וֹרof [the] firstborn of

    mibekhorH1060 →122 times

  • בְּנֵ֥י[the] people of

    beneiH1121 →4930 times

  • יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃Israel

    yisraelH3478 →2507 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

2 in all, six open

The walk

5 stops

Each 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

    Exodus 13:13

    You must redeem every firstborn donkey with a lamb, and if you do not redeem it, you are to break its neck. And every firstborn of your sons you must redeem.

    it leads to

    • Exodus 34:20

      You must redeem the firstborn of a donkey with a lamb; but if you do not redeem it, you are to break its neck. You must redeem all the firstborn of your sons. No…

    • Numbers 18:15–17

      The firstborn of every womb, whether man or beast, that is offered to the LORD belongs to you. But you must surely redeem every firstborn son and every firstborn male of unclean animals.

    • Numbers 3:46–51

      To redeem the 273 firstborn Israelites who outnumber the Levites,

    • Exodus 12:3

      Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man must select a lamb for his family, one per household.

    • Revelation 14:4

      These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they are virgins. They follow the Lamb wherever He goes. They have been redeemed from among men as firstfruits to God and…

Where this verse is studied

About Numbers

The Bronze Serpent, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Bronze Serpent, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Numbers: the study guide →Read Numbers 3 →

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Numbers 3 →