Numbers 3:47
in Numbers 3you are to collect five shekels for each one, according to the sanctuary shekel of twenty gerahs.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
thou shalt take five shekels apiece by the poll; after the shekel of the sanctuary shalt thou take them (the shekel is twenty gerahs):
KJV
Thou shalt even take five shekels apiece by the poll, after the shekel of the sanctuary shalt thou take them: (the shekel is twenty gerahs:)
⋯
This verse in Numbers 3
Commentary
3 notes on this verseThou shall even take five shekels apiece the poll,.... Or head; every firstborn, or his parent for him, was bound to pay five shekels, which were about eleven or twelve shillings of our money, and which was afterwards settled as the price of such a redemption, Num 18:16, after the shekel of the sanctuary shall thou take them; being full weight according to the standard there kept: the shekel is twenty gerahs; See Gill on Lev 27:25.
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 Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
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.
The words behind it
11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְלָקַחְתָּ֗ | velakachta | and you will take | H3947 → | 966 times |
| חֲמֵ֧שֶׁת | chameshet | five | H2568 → | 343 times |
| חֲמֵ֛שֶׁת | chameshet | five | H2568 → | 343 times |
| שְׁקָלִ֖ים | shekalim | shekels | H8255 → | 88 times |
| לַגֻּלְגֹּ֑לֶת | lagulgolet | for the head | H1538 → | 12 times |
| בְּשֶׁ֤קֶל | beshekel | by [the] shekel of | H8255 → | 88 times |
| הַקֹּ֙דֶשׁ֙ | hakodesh | the holy place | H6944 → | 469 times |
| תִּקָּ֔ח | tikach | you will take | H3947 → | 966 times |
| עֶשְׂרִ֥ים | ʾesrim | [is] twenty | H6242 → | 315 times |
| גֵּרָ֖ה | gerah | gerah[s] | H1626 → | |
| הַשָּֽׁקֶל׃ | hashakel | the shekel | H8255 → | 88 times |
וְלָקַחְתָּ֗and you will take
velakachtaH3947 →966 times
חֲמֵ֧שֶׁתfive
chameshetH2568 →343 times
חֲמֵ֛שֶׁתfive
chameshetH2568 →343 times
שְׁקָלִ֖יםshekels
shekalimH8255 →88 times
לַגֻּלְגֹּ֑לֶתfor the head
lagulgoletH1538 →12 times
בְּשֶׁ֤קֶלby [the] shekel of
beshekelH8255 →88 times
הַקֹּ֙דֶשׁ֙the holy place
hakodeshH6944 →469 times
תִּקָּ֔חyou will take
tikachH3947 →966 times
עֶשְׂרִ֥ים[is] twenty
ʾesrimH6242 →315 times
גֵּרָ֖הgerah[s]
gerahH1626 →
הַשָּֽׁקֶל׃the shekel
hashakelH8255 →88 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
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.
- 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
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
Leviticus 27:25Every valuation will be according to the sanctuary shekel, twenty gerahs to the shekel.
it leads to
- Numbers 18:16
You 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.
- Leviticus 27:3
if the valuation concerns a male from twenty to sixty years of age, then your valuation shall be fifty shekels of silver, according to the sanctuary shekel.
- Numbers 18:16
Through
Numbers 18:16You 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.
it leads to
- Leviticus 27:2–7
“Speak to the Israelites and say to them, ‘When someone makes a special vow to the LORD involving the value of persons,
- Leviticus 27:2–7
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Numbers
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 (1748-1763) and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament.