Numbers 18:16

16 You are to pay the redemption price for a month-old male according to your valuation: five shekels of silver, ^[a] according to the sanctuary shekel, which is twenty gerahs. ^[b]

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 Every devoted thing in Israel belongs to you.

15 The firstborn of every womb, whether man or beast, that is offered to the LORD belongs to you. But you must surely redeem every firstborn son and every firstborn male of unclean animals.

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.

17 But you must not redeem the firstborn of an ox, a sheep, or a goat; they are holy. You are to splatter their blood on the altar and burn their fat as a food offering, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.

18 And their meat belongs to you, just as the breast and right thigh of the wave offering belong to you.

Footnotes

• [a]. 5 shekels is approximately 2 ounces or 57 grams of silver.
• [b]. 20 gerahs is equivalent to one shekel (approximately 0.4 ounces or 11.4 grams).