If your assessment is of a male from twenty years even to sixty years old, then your assessment shall be fifty shekels of silver, by the shekel of the sanctuary.
Parallel translations
- WEB your valuation of a male from twenty years old even to sixty years old shall be fifty shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary.
- KJV And thy estimation shall be of the male from twenty years old even unto sixty years old, even thy estimation shall be fifty shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary.
- BSB if the valuation concerns a male from twenty to sixty years of age, then your valuation shall be fifty shekels of silver, according to the sanctuary shekel.
- NKJV if your valuation is of a male from twenty years old up to sixty years old, then your valuation shall be fifty shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary.
- NLT here is the scale of values to be used. A man between the ages of twenty and sixty is valued at fifty shekels of silver, as measured by the sanctuary shekel.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
A man between twenty and sixty was valued at fifty shekels for such a vow. The valuations reflect customary earning capacity, not personal worth.
Overview
The fixed sums correspond roughly to a person's capacity for labor and service, not to their value in God's eyes, since all bear His image equally. Fifty shekels was a substantial amount, marking the seriousness of the vow. The system provided an orderly, fair way to fulfill a consecration that could not be carried out literally.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Exod 30:13They shall give this, everyone who passes over to those who are counted, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs ); half a shekel for an offering to Yahweh.
- Num 18:16You shall redeem those who are to be redeemed of them from a month old, according to your estimation, for five shekels of money, after the shekel of the sanctuary, which weighs twenty gerahs.
- Lev 27:25All your valuations shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary: twenty gerahs to the shekel.
- 2 Kgs 12:4Jehoash said to the priests, “All the money of the holy things that is brought into Yahweh’s house, in current money, the money of the people for whom each man is evaluated, and all the money that it comes into any man’s heart to bring into Yahweh’s house,
- Lev 6:6He shall bring his trespass offering to Yahweh, a ram without defect from the flock, according to your estimation, for a trespass offering, to the priest.
- Num 3:47you shall take five shekels apiece for each one; after the shekel of the sanctuary you shall take them (the shekel is twenty gerahs ):
- Lev 27:14“‘When a man dedicates his house to be holy to Yahweh, then the priest shall evaluate it, whether it is good or bad: as the priest shall evaluate it, so shall it stand.
- Lev 5:15“If anyone commits a trespass, and sins unwittingly, in the holy things of Yahweh; then he shall bring his trespass offering to Yahweh, a ram without defect from the flock, according to your estimation in silver by shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for a trespass offering.
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Every sacrifice, every priest, and every day of atonement points beyond itself to the one perfect offering and the great High Priest who, by his own blood, makes the unclean holy once for all.
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Original language
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