¹³ But every firstborn donkey you shall redeem with a sheep; if you do not redeem it, you must break its neck. Every firstborn male among your children you shall redeem.

²⁰ The firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem.

No one shall appear before me empty-handed.

²⁷ If it is an unclean animal, it shall be ransomed at its assessment, with one-fifth added; if it is not redeemed, it shall be sold at its assessment.

The Redemption of the Firstborn

⁴⁰ Then the Lord said to Moses: Enrol all the firstborn males of the Israelites, from a month old and upwards, and count their names. ⁴¹ But you shall accept the Levites for me—I am the Lord—as substitutes for all the firstborn among the Israelites, and the livestock of the Levites as substitutes for all the firstborn among the livestock of the Israelites. ⁴² So Moses enrolled all the firstborn among the Israelites, as the Lord commanded him. ⁴³ The total enrolment, all the firstborn males from a month old and upwards, counting the number of names, was twenty-two thousand two hundred and seventy-three.

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 and 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. ⁴⁹ So Moses took the redemption money from those who were over and above those redeemed by the Levites; ⁵⁰ from the firstborn of the Israelites he took the money, one thousand three hundred and sixty-five shekels, reckoned by the shekel of the sanctuary; ⁵¹ and Moses gave the redemption money to Aaron and his sons, according to the word of the Lord, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

¹⁵ The first issue of the womb of all creatures, human and animal, which is offered to the Lord, shall be yours; but the firstborn of human beings you shall redeem, and the firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem. ¹⁶ Their redemption price, reckoned from one month of age, you shall fix at five shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary (that is, twenty gerahs). ¹⁷ But the firstborn of a cow, or the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat, you shall not redeem; they are holy. You shall dash their blood on the altar, and shall turn their fat into smoke as an offering by fire for a pleasing odour to the Lord;