Study Desk

"Now, behold, I ^(C1)have taken the Levites from among the sons of Israel instead of every ^(C2)firstborn, the firstborn of the womb among the sons of Israel. So the Levites shall be Mine.

"For ^(C1)all the firstborn are Mine; on the day that I fatally struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified to Myself all the firstborn in Israel, from the human firstborn to animals. They shall be Mine; I am the LORD."

All the numbered men of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron counted at the ^(F1)command of the LORD by their families, every male from a month old and upward, were ^(C1)twenty-two thousand.

Then the LORD said to Moses, "^(C1)Count every firstborn male of the sons of Israel from a month old and upward, and ^(F1)make a list of their names.

"And you ^(C1)shall take the Levites for Me—I am the LORD—instead of all the firstborn among the sons of Israel; and the cattle of the Levites in place of all the firstborn among the cattle of the sons of Israel."

So Moses counted all the firstborn among the sons of Israel, just as the LORD had commanded him;

and all the firstborn males, by the number of names from a month old and upward for their numbered men, were ^(C1)22,273.

Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

"^(C1)Take the Levites in place of all the firstborn among the sons of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites in place of their cattle. And the Levites shall be Mine; I am the LORD.

"^(C1)And as ^(F1)a redemption price for the 273 of the firstborn of the sons of Israel who are in excess of the number of the Levites,

you shall take ^(C1)five shekels apiece, per head; you shall take them in ^(C2)terms of the shekel of the sanctuary (^(C3)the shekel is twenty ^(F1)gerahs),

and you shall give the money, the redemption price of those who are in excess among them, to Aaron and to his sons."

So Moses took the redemption money from those who were in excess of the number of those redeemed by the Levites;

from the firstborn of the sons of Israel he took the money in terms of the shekel of the sanctuary, 1,365.

Then Moses gave the redemption money to Aaron and to his sons, at the ^(F1)command of the LORD, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.