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45 “Take the Levites instead of every firstborn among the Israelites, and the livestock of the Levites instead of their livestock. The Levites will be mine. I am the Lord. 46 For the redemption of the 273 firstborn Israelites who outnumber the Levites, 47 you are to collect five shekels apiece for each one, according to the sanctuary shekel (this shekel is twenty gerahs[a]).

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Footnotes

  1. Numbers 3:47 The exact value of most ancient weights and measures is uncertain, and there was no universal standard. The sanctuary had its own set of official weights. A shekel is about 10 to 12 grams or .4 to .5 of an ounce, with the sanctuary shekel being slightly larger than the common shekel. There is no independent evidence for the weight of a gerah.

45 “Take the Levites in place of all the firstborn of Israel, and the livestock of the Levites in place of their livestock. The Levites are to be mine.(A) I am the Lord.(B) 46 To redeem(C) the 273 firstborn Israelites who exceed the number of the Levites, 47 collect five shekels[a](D) for each one, according to the sanctuary shekel,(E) which weighs twenty gerahs.(F)

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Footnotes

  1. Numbers 3:47 That is, about 2 ounces or about 58 grams