Numbers 3:45-47 New English Translation
45 “Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn males among the Israelites, and the livestock of the Levites instead of their livestock. And the Levites will be mine. I am the Lord. 46 And for the redemption of the 273 firstborn males of the Israelites who exceed the number of the Levites, 47 collect[a] five shekels for each one[b] individually; you are to collect[c] this amount[d] in the currency of the sanctuary shekel (this shekel is twenty gerahs).[e]
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- Numbers 3:47 tn The verb again is the perfect tense in sequence; the meaning of “take” may be interpreted here with the sense of “collect.”
- Numbers 3:47 tn The idea is expressed simply by repetition: “take five, five, shekels according to the skull.” They were to collect five shekels for each individual.
- Numbers 3:47 tn The verb form now is the imperfect of instruction or legislation.
- Numbers 3:47 tn Heb “them,” referring to the five shekels.
- Numbers 3:47 sn The sanctuary shekel was first mentioned in Exod 30:13. The half-shekel of Exod 38:26 would then be 10 gerahs. Consequently, the calculations would indicate that five shekels was about two ounces of silver for each person. See R. B. Y. Scott, “Weights and Measures of the Bible,” BA 22 (1951): 22-40, and “The Scale-Weights from Ophel, 1963-1964,” PEQ 97 (1965): 128-39.
New English Translation (NET)
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