³² Also we made ordinances for ourselves, to exact from ourselves yearly ^(A)one-third of a shekel for the service of the house of our God:

Peter and His Master Pay Their Taxes

^24 (A)When they had come to ^[a]Capernaum, those who received the ^[b]temple tax came to Peter and said, “Does your Teacher not pay the temple tax?”

²⁵ He said, “Yes.”

And when he had come into the house, Jesus anticipated him, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth take customs or taxes, from their sons or from ^(B)strangers?”

²⁶ Peter said to Him, “From strangers.”

Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free. ²⁷ Nevertheless, lest we offend them, go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first. And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a ^[c]piece of money; take that and give it to them for Me and you.”

The Ransom Money

¹¹ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ^12 (A)“When you take the census of the children of Israel for their number, then every man shall give ^(B)a^[a] ransom for himself to the Lord, when you number them, that there may be no ^(C)plague among them when you number them. ^13 (D)This is what everyone among those who are numbered shall give: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary ^(E)(a shekel is twenty gerahs). ^(F)The half-shekel shall be an offering to the Lord. ¹⁴ Everyone included among those who are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an ^[b]offering to the Lord. ¹⁵ The ^(G)rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when you give an offering to the Lord, to make atonement for yourselves. ¹⁶ And you shall take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and ^(H)shall ^[c]appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of meeting, that it may be ^(I)a memorial for the children of Israel before the Lord, to make atonement for yourselves.”

²² And this stone which I have set as a pillar ^(A)shall be God’s house, ^(B)and of all that You give me I will surely give a ^[a]tenth to You.”

¹² For ^(A)if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has, and not according to what he does not have.