Numbers 18:16

Summary

Numbers 18:16 specifies the redemption price for a person "from a son of a month" (i.e., one month old): five shekels of silver, assessed by the priest, measured according to the sanctuary shekel, which equals twenty gerahs. The verse closes the unit on redemption values with a numeric equivalence clause.

Key words

• fedu-Yav ("redemption price of him", H6299) — masculine plural noun in construct with a 3ms suffix; the plural form of the abstract noun for "ransom/redemption" carrying a possessive pronoun.
• ben-Chodesh ("a son of a month", H1121L + H2320G) — construct chain literally "son of a month," an idiom marking age (one-month-old), not a statement about elapsed time.
• tif.Deh ("you will redeem", H6299) — qal imperfect 2ms, the verbal form of the same root as fedu-yav, producing a noun-plus-verb repetition of the redemption concept.
• 'Er.ke.kha ("your valuation", H6187) — masculine singular noun in construct with 2ms suffix, referring to an assessed value attributed to the addressee (the priest).
• Ke.sef chameshet shekalim ("silver, five of shekels", H3701H + H2568 + H8255) — construct chain stating the material (silver) and the counted amount (five shekels).

What the text says

The clause opens with the noun fedu-yav, "his redemption price," built on the same root (H6299) as the verb tifdeh, "you will redeem," later in the verse. This repetition of the root in both nominal and verbal form is a common Hebrew technique for emphasis, tying the abstract concept of "ransom" directly to the action of "redeeming." The phrase mibben-chodesh, "from a son of a month," functions as an idiomatic age marker: the construct "son of X" is regularly used in Biblical Hebrew to express age or category, so this denotes someone one month old, not a temporal clause about waiting a month.

The valuation is placed in the hands of the addressee through be-erke-kha, "by your valuation," a construct noun with a 2ms suffix, indicating an assessed sum attributed to the person addressed. The specific amount is given through a chain of construct numerals: chameshet shekalim, "five of shekels," qualified further by be-sheqel ha-qodesh, "by the shekel of the holy place," a standard of weight tied to a specific setting. The final clause, esrim gerah hu, "twenty gerah it [is]," uses the independent pronoun hu ("it/he," H1931) to state a defining equivalence — the sanctuary shekel equals twenty gerahs.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew mibben-chodesh is rendered by the Vulgate as "post unum mensem" ("after one month"), treating the phrase as a temporal marker for when redemption occurs, whereas the Hebrew construct more naturally indicates age ("one month old"), a reading reflected in the BSB and SBLIBRE renderings ("month-old," "niños de un mes de nacidos"). The LXX text given omits an explicit rendering of the "month-old" phrase altogether, moving directly from "his redemption" to "from a valuation of five shekels," making the age qualifier implicit rather than stated. The Hebrew gerah (H1626) is rendered as "obolos" in the Vulgate and "ὀβολοί" in the LXX, using a Greco-Roman monetary term as a functional equivalent rather than a transliteration.