Exodus 38:26
בֶּקַע לַגֻּלְגֹּלֶת מַחֲצִית הַשֶּׁקֶל בְּשֶׁקֶל הַקֹּדֶשׁ לְכֹל הָעֹבֵר עַל־הַפְּקֻדִים מִבֶּן עֶשְׂרִים שָׁנָה וָמַעְלָה לְשֵׁשׁ־מֵאוֹת אֶלֶף וּשְׁלֹשֶׁת אֲלָפִים וַחֲמֵשׁ מֵאוֹת וַחֲמִשִּֽׁים׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
בֶּ֚קַע לַגֻּלְגֹּ֔לֶת מַחֲצִ֥ית הַשֶּׁ֖קֶל בְּשֶׁ֣קֶל הַקֹּ֑דֶשׁ לְכֹ֨ל הָעֹבֵ֜ר עַל־הַפְּקֻדִ֗ים מִבֶּ֨ן עֶשְׂרִ֤ים שָׁנָה֙ וָמַ֔עְלָה לְשֵׁשׁ־מֵא֥וֹת אֶ֙לֶף֙ וּשְׁלֹ֣שֶׁת אֲלָפִ֔ים וַחֲמֵ֥שׁ מֵא֖וֹת וַחֲמִשִּֽׁים׃
οὗτος ἐποίησεν τὸν λουτῆρα χαλκοῦν καὶ τὴν βόσιν αὐτοῦ χαλκῆν ἐκ τῶν κατόπτρων τῶν νηστευσασῶν αἳ ἐνήστευσαν παρὰ τὰς θύρας τῆς σκηνῆς τοῦ μαρτυρίου, ἐν ᾗ ἡμέρᾳ ἔπηξεν αὐτήν·
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Fuerunt præterea centum talenta argenti e quibus conflatæ sunt bases sanctuarii, et introitus, ubi velum pendet.
Esto equivalía a medio siclo por cabeza (unos cinco gramos), que fue lo que pagó cada uno de los seiscientos tres mil quinientos cincuenta hombres mayores de veinte años que fueron censados.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Medio por cabeza, medio siclo, según el siclo del santuario, á todos los que pasaron por cuenta de edad de veinte años y arriba, que fueron seiscientos tres mil quinientos cincuenta.
a beka per person, that is, half a shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, from everyone twenty years of age or older who had crossed over to be numbered, a total of 603,550 men.
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse specifies the amount of the sanctuary tax — a beka (H1235) per head, equal to half a shekel by the sanctuary standard — and states the total number of men aged twenty and above who were counted: 603,550.
Key words
- beka ("a beka", H1235) — a specific weight-unit, appearing in construct with la-gulgolet to indicate a per-capita rate.
- gulgolet ("head", H1538) — literally "skull," used idiomatically for "each person" when governed by a preceding preposition.
- machatzit ("half of", H4276) — construct form linking directly to ha-sheqel, expressing "half of the shekel."
- ha-'over ("the one passing over", H5674A) — qal active participle, describing the man who "crosses" into the counted group.
- ha-pequdim ("the enrolled ones", H6485A) — qal passive participle, plural, referring to those already mustered/registered.
What the text says
The sentence opens with the tax amount stated twice in different terms: first as beka ("a beka", H1235) for each gulgolet ("head", H1538), then restated as machatzit ha-sheqel ("half of the shekel", H4276 + H8255) — a common Hebrew technique of giving a measure by two names to clarify equivalence. This half-shekel is qualified further "by the shekel of the holy place" (be-sheqel ha-qodesh), fixing the standard of weight being used, since shekel could vary by region or era.
The next clause identifies who owes this amount: "every one crossing over to those enrolled" — the participle ha-'over (H5674A) describes the act of joining the counted group, while ha-pequdim (H6485A), a passive participle, denotes those already registered. The phrase mi-ben 'esrim shanah wa-ma'lah ("from a son of twenty years and up") is an idiom using ben ("son of", H1121L) plus a number to express age — a standard Hebrew construction for stating someone's age.
The final numbers are built additively: shesh-me'ot elef ("six hundred thousand", H8337+H3967+H505) plus shloshet alafim ("three thousand", H7969+H505) plus chamesh me'ot ("five hundred", H2568+H3967) plus chamishim ("fifty", H2572), totaling 603,550 individuals.
Differences between versions
The LXX text supplied for this reference describes the bronze laver made from women's mirrors — a passage that in the Masoretic tradition corresponds to Exodus 38:8, not to the census-tax content of the Hebrew here. The Vulgate text given similarly speaks of "one hundred talents of silver" used for the bases of the sanctuary and the entrance veil, differing in both figures and subject matter from the Hebrew's per-head tax and population count. The Hebrew total (603,550) matches the numeral cited in the Spanish and English translations (RV1909, BSB, SBLIBRE), which follow the Masoretic tradition rather than the LXX/Vulgate material shown here.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.