Numbers 3:47

47 you shall take five shekels apiece; reckoning by the shekel of the sanctuary, the shekel of twenty gerahs, you shall take them,

Numbers 3:47 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 3:47

Thou shall even take five shekels apiece the poll
Or head; every firstborn, or his parent for him, was bound to pay five shekels, which were about eleven or twelve shillings of our money, and which was afterwards settled as the price of such a redemption, ( Numbers 18:16 ) ;

after the shekel of the sanctuary shall thou take [them];
being full weight according to the standard there kept:

the shekel [is] twenty gerahs; (See Gill on Leviticus 27:25).

Numbers 3:47 In-Context

45 "Take the Levites instead of all the first-born among the people of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of their cattle; and the Levites shall be mine: I am the LORD.

46 And for the redemption of the two hundred and seventy-three of the first-born of the people of Israel, over and above the number of the male Levites,

47 you shall take five shekels apiece; reckoning by the shekel of the sanctuary, the shekel of twenty gerahs, you shall take them,

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

49 So Moses took the redemption money from those who were over and above those redeemed by the Levites;