EasyEnglish Bible 2018
Numbers 3:47
47You must accept five shekels for each extra firstborn male. The shekel must have the same weight as the shekel that the Levites use in God's tabernacle. There are 20 gerahs in one shekel.
Numbers 3:47 in other versions
- King James Version (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:)
- New International Version (NIV)collect five shekels for each one, according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs.
- English Standard Version (ESV)you shall take five shekels per head; you shall take them according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel of twenty gerahs),
- New King James Version (NKJV)you shall take five shekels for each one individually; you shall take them in the currency of the shekel of the sanctuary, the shekel of twenty gerahs.
Context of Numbers 3:47
45‘Do not take the firstborn males among the people to belong to me. Accept the Levites instead. Do not use the firstborn animals of the people. Accept the animals of the Levites instead. The Levites will belong to me. I am the Lord. 46There are 273 more firstborn males of the people than there are Levites. So the people must pay for the extra firstborn sons. You must accept five shekels for each extra firstborn male. The shekel must have the same weight as the shekel that the Levites use in God's tabernacle. There are 20 gerahs in one shekel. 48Give that money to Aaron and his sons.’ 49So Moses took the money to buy back the extra 273 firstborn sons. That was because the number of firstborn sons was more than the number of Levites.
Read all of Numbers 3Numbers 3:47 word by word
וְלָקַחְתָּ֗ חֲמֵ֧שֶׁת חֲמֵ֛שֶׁת שְׁקָלִ֖ים לַגֻּלְגֹּ֑לֶת בְּשֶׁ֤קֶל הַקֹּ֙דֶשׁ֙ תִּקָּ֔ח עֶשְׂרִ֥ים גֵּרָ֖ה הַשָּֽׁקֶל׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Numbers 3:47
- Numbers 18:16When they are one month old, you must buy them from me for five shekels of silver each. The shekel must have the same weight as the shekel that the Levites use in God's Holy Tent. There are 20 gerahs in one shekel.
- Leviticus 27:6For a boy between one month and five years old, they must give five pieces of silver. For a girl of the same age, God must have three pieces of silver.
- Numbers 3:50He took 1,365 shekels from them. The shekels had the same weight as the shekel that the Levites used in God's tabernacle.
- Exodus 30:13Each person that you count must give six grams of silver. That is the proper weight that they use in the tabernacle. The silver is an offering to the Lord.
- Leviticus 27:25The priest must decide the price of the land. He must use the correct measures.
- Ezekiel 45:1220 gerahs will be equal to one shekel. 60 shekels will be equal to one mina.
Commentaries on Numbers 3:47
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 44-51Verses 44-51 This redemption money (see the marginal references) would perhaps be exacted from the parents of the “youngest” children of the 22,273 Numbers 3:43. The cattle of the Levites was doubtless taken in the gross as an equivalent for the first-born cattle of the other tribes, which of course, no less than the first-born of men, belonged to the Lord; and in future would have to be redeemed Numbers 18:15; Deuteronomy 15:19.Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 40-51Verses 40-51 The number of the first-born, and that of the Levites, came near to each other. Known unto God are all his works beforehand; there is an exact proportion between them, and so it will appear, when they are compared together. The small number of first-born, over and above the number of the Levites, were to be redeemed, and the redemption-money given to Aaron. The church is called the church of the first-born, which is redeemed, not as they…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 40-51There were 273 more firstborn sons in Israel from the non-Levite tribes than there were Levite males (compare Leviticus 3:39). The Levites acted as substitutes for Israel's firstborn sons (3:41; see study note on 3:11–13). The law required a redemption price of five pieces of silver for each extra firstborn son (Numbers 3:46–48; compare Leviticus 27:6). It is unclear who paid this cost. This arrangement for special substitutes points to Christ’s role as a…Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 40-5140-51. Number all the first-born of the males of the children of Israel, &c.--The principle on which the enumeration of the Levites had been made was now to be applied to the other tribes. The number of their male children, from a month old and upward, was to be reckoned, in order that a comparison might be instituted with that of the Levites, for the formal adoption of the latter as substitutes for the first-born. The Levites, amounting to twenty-two…Read the comment
Topics related to Numbers 3:47
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Numbers 3
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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