Exodus 30:11-16
Evangelical Heritage Version
The Redemption Price
11 The Lord spoke to Moses. He said, 12 “When you count[a] the men of Israel to register them, each man shall give to the Lord a redemption price[b] for his life as you register him, so that there is no plague among them as you register them. 13 Each one shall give this redemption as he passes over to the group which has already been registered—half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs),[c] half a shekel for an offering to the Lord. 14 Everyone who passes over to the group that has already been registered, those twenty years old and older, shall give the special elevated offering to the Lord. 15 The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than the half shekel when you give the elevated offering for the Lord to redeem your lives. 16 You shall take the redemption money from the people of Israel, and you shall designate it for the work of the Tent of Meeting so that it may be a memorial for the people of Israel before the Lord, to redeem your lives.”
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Exodus 30:12 Literally when you lift up the head. A more literal translation would be when you carry out a head count. This census was a registration for military service. The danger of death in battle is why there was the ransom or redemption price for each man’s life.
- Exodus 30:12 Or ransom or atonement
- Exodus 30:13 A shekel is a unit of weight (about two fifths of an ounce), but it is also the standard monetary unit. When shekel refers to a monetary unit, this translation retains the term shekel. It appears that the temple shekel was larger than the regular shekel, but we do not know how much a gerah weighed.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.