Numbers 18:16

16 As to their price of redemption, from {a one-month-old} you will redeem them according to your proper value, five shekels of silver according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which [is] twenty gerah.

Numbers 18:16 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 18:16

And those that are to be redeemed
Which is to be understood not of unclean beasts last mentioned, for they were redeemed with lambs and not with money; and after they were eight days and not a month old, as follows, ( Exodus 13:13 ) ( 22:30 ) ; but of the firstborn of men:

from a month old shalt thou redeem, according to thine estimation:
that is, take the redemption money next mentioned; and though both time and price are fixed, yet said to be according to the estimation of the priest; see ( Leviticus 27:5 Leviticus 27:6 ) ;

for the money of five shekels;
which was about eleven or twelve shillings of our money, and is the price given for the redemption of the firstborn, when the Levites were taken in their stead, ( Numbers 3:47 ) ;

after the shekel of the sanctuary, which [is] twenty gerahs,
(See Gill on Numbers 3:47); of the manner of redeeming the firstborn, (See Gill on Exodus 13:15).

Numbers 18:16 In-Context

14 All consecrated possessions in Israel will be for you.
15 All [the] first offspring of a womb of any creature that they offer to Yahweh, whether human or animal, will be yours; you will surely redeem the firstborn of the human and the unclean firstborn of the animal.
16 As to their price of redemption, from {a one-month-old} you will redeem them according to your proper value, five shekels of silver according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which [is] twenty gerah.
17 Only the firstborn of an ox or the firstborn of a sheep or the firstborn of a goat you will not redeem; they [are] holy. Their blood you will sprinkle over the altar, and their fat you will turn into smoke [as] an offering made by fire, a fragrance of appeasement for Yahweh.
18 But their flesh will be for you like the breast section of the wave offering, and it will be for you like the right upper thigh.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Literally "a son of a month"
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.