¹² “Whenever you take a census of the people of Israel, each man who is counted must pay a ransom for himself to the Lord. Then no plague will strike the people as you count them.

⁵⁰ So we are presenting the items of gold we captured as an offering to the Lord from our share of the plunder—armbands, bracelets, rings, earrings, and necklaces. This will purify our lives before the Lord and make us right with him.^[a]”

¹⁸ For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. ¹⁹ It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.

²⁴ Joab son of Zeruiah began the census but never finished it because^[a] the anger of God fell on Israel. The total number was never recorded in King David’s official records.

²⁵ The whole community of Israel gave 7,545 pounds^[a] of silver, as measured by the weight of the sanctuary shekel. ²⁶ This silver came from the tax collected from each man registered in the census. (The tax is one beka, which is half a shekel,^[b] based on the sanctuary shekel.) The tax was collected from 603,550 men who had reached their twentieth birthday.

²⁸ For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

This is the message God gave to the world at just the right time.

⁴⁵ For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”