Bible Strands
Exodus 30:13
Everyone who crosses over to those counted must pay a half shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs. This half shekel is an offering to the LORD.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses receives direct instructions from the LORD on Mount Sinai regarding the procedure for numbering the Israelite men.
The words — The verse specifies מַחֲצִית (ma.cha.Tzit), meaning "half," and הַ/שֶּׁ֖קֶל (ha./She.kel), meaning "the shekel," to define the exact portion and standard weight required.
The thread — The sanctuary shekel standard of twenty gerahs governs valuations in Leviticus 27:25, Numbers 3:47, and Ezekiel 45:12.
Why it lands — The text mandates a uniform half-shekel payment from every enrolled man to fund the sanctuary, establishing a concrete financial obligation tied directly to the census count.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Leviticus 27:25 Every valuation will be according to the sanctuary shekel, twenty gerahs to the shekel.
- Numbers 3:47 you are to collect five shekels for each one, according to the sanctuary shekel of twenty gerahs.
- Ezekiel 45:12 The shekel will consist of twenty gerahs. Twenty shekels plus twenty-five shekels plus fifteen shekels will equal one mina.
- Exodus 38:26 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.
- Matthew 17:24 After they had arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax came to Peter and asked, “Does your Teacher pay the two drachmas?”
- Matthew 27:24 When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but that instead a riot was breaking out, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “You bear the responsibility.”