What Does Numbers 18:16 Mean in the King James?
And those that are to be redeemed from a month old shalt thou redeem, according to thine estimation, for the money of five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Redemption is made tangible by a stated price weighed against the sanctuary’s own standard.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks plainly now: the one designated for redemption is counted from a month old, and the price is five shekels by the sanctuary’s measure. Release has a stated value, weighed by a standard belonging to what is set apart.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The sacred cannot be measured in material terms; here redemption is explicitly reckoned in shekels by the sanctuary’s own standard.
THE ROOT
תִּפְדֶּה
tipdeh
GROWS FROM
פדה
פדה (pādāh): to redeem or ransom.
The verse repeats this root in the one designated for redemption and in the command to redeem. That repetition makes redemption an enacted release with a named measure, rather than an abstract status.
ALSO GROWS
pādāh: to redeem or ransom
פָּדָה
This verb names the act that the verse gives a specific price.
pōdeh: one who redeems; redeeming
פֹּדֶה
This participle keeps the redeemer and the act of redemption within the same root family.
שֶׁקֶל
sheqel
GROWS FROM
שקל
שקל (shaqal): to weigh.
The word for shekel belongs to the Hebrew root for weighing: it names currency and carries the idea of measured weight. The price is therefore framed as something weighed against a standard, which the verse identifies as the sanctuary’s shekel.
ALSO GROWS
shaqal: to weigh
שָׁקַל
This verb exposes the weighing action held within the name of the monetary unit.
mishqal: weight; a measure of weight
מִשְׁקָל
This noun makes the shared weighing and measurement explicit.
הַקֹּדֶשׁ
ha-qodesh
GROWS FROM
קדש
קדש (q-d-sh): to set apart.
“sanctuary” in this verse is ha-qodesh. The measure is called the shekel of qodesh, the set-apart sphere. The same root describes what is set apart, so the verse locates the valuation within a defined sacred standard.
ALSO GROWS
qadosh: set apart
קָדוֹשׁ
This adjective shares the root and names the quality that marks the sanctuary’s sphere.
qiddesh: to set apart; consecrate
קִדֵּשׁ
This verb shows the action expressed by the root whose noun names the sanctuary’s measure.
THE PATTERN
Redemption is made concrete through a stated measure of value, while its worth can exceed material payment.
Thou shalt even take five shekels apiece by the poll, after the shekel of the sanctuary shalt thou take them: (the shekel is twenty gerahs:)When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the LORD, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them. This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs:) an half shekel shall be the offering of the LORD.Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:THE THREAD
And for those that are to be redeemed of the two hundred and threescore and thirteen of the firstborn of the children of Israel, which are more than the Levites;The Hebrew wording for those to be redeemed belongs to the same פדה (pādāh) root as “redeem” here. The next verse fixes their price at five sanctuary shekels, showing the measure attached to those marked for redemption.
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