Numbers 3:46

46 As the price of redemption of the two hundred seventy-three of the firstborn of the Israelites, over and above the number of the Levites,

Numbers 3:46 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 3:46

And for those that are to be redeemed
With money, there being not Levites enough to answer to them, and exchange for them:

of the two hundred and threescore and thirteen of the firstborn of the
children of Israel, which are more than the Levites;
for the sum total of the Levites, as given, was but 22,000, ( Numbers 3:39 ) , whereas the sum total of the firstborn of Israel were 22,273, ( Numbers 3:43 ) , so that there were, two hundred seventy three more of the latter than of the former; and what was to be done with these next follows.

Numbers 3:46 In-Context

44 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

45 Accept the Levites as substitutes for all the firstborn among the Israelites, and the livestock of the Levites as substitutes for their livestock; and the Levites shall be mine. I am the Lord.

46 As the price of redemption of the two hundred seventy-three of the firstborn of the Israelites, over and above the number of the Levites,

47 you shall accept five shekels apiece, reckoning by the shekel of the sanctuary, a shekel of twenty gerahs.

48 Give to Aaron and his sons the money by which the excess number of them is redeemed.