Exodus 30:12

Jerome's Latin Vulgate

Quando tuleris summam filiorum Israël juxta numerum, dabunt singuli pretium pro animabus suis Domino, et non erit plaga in eis, cum fuerint recensiti.

Parallel Translations

Clementine Latin Vulgate (1592)
Peperit quoque Zelpha alterum.

Nova Vulgata (1979)
"Quando tuleris summam filiorum Israel iuxta numerum, dabunt singuli pretium expiationis pro animabus suis Domino; et non erit plaga in eis, cum fuerint recensiti.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

takest: Exodus 38:25, Exodus 38:26, Numbers 1:2-5, Numbers 26:2-4, 2 Samuel 24:1

their number: Heb. them that are to be numbered

a ransom: Numbers 31:50, 2 Chronicles 24:6, Job 33:24, Job 36:18, Psalms 49:7, Matthew 20:28, Mark 10:45, 1 Timothy 2:6, 1 Peter 1:18, 1 Peter 1:19

no plague: 2 Samuel 24:2-15, 1 Chronicles 21:12, 1 Chronicles 21:14, 1 Chronicles 27:24

Reciprocal: Exodus 21:30 - for the ransom Exodus 30:15 - give less than 2 Kings 12:4 - even the money

Gill's Notes on the Bible

When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel, after their number,.... An account of them, how many they are; which was sometimes done, and was proper to be done, especially in time of war; though the present case seems to be for the sake of raising money for the tabernacle and the service of it:

then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord, when thou numberest them; which was not done yearly, nor was it perpetual; we have but two instances of it after this until the times of David, Numbers 1:2 yet it seems to have been a yearly tax or tribute, in the times of Christ, Numbers 1:2- : Numbers 1:2- :; and in the Misnah is a whole treatise called "Shekalim", in which an account is given of the time and manner of collecting this ransom money, and for what uses, and who were obliged to pay it, and who not; on the first of Adar (or February) they proclaimed concerning the payment of it, on the fifteenth the tables were set for that purpose, and on the twenty fifth the proper persons sat in the sanctuary to receive it w: this was typical of the ransom of souls by Christ, who are not all the world, for they are ransomed out of it, but Israelites, the whole mystical Israel of God, and are a numbered people; their names are written in the book of life, they are told into the hands of Christ, are exactly known by God and Christ; and these are many and even numberless to men:

that there be no plague amongst them when thou numberest them; as there was when David numbered them; which some have thought was owing to the non-payment of the ransom money after mentioned; the Septuagint version is, "no fall", the ransom of souls by Christ preserves them from a total and final fall by sin into everlasting ruin and destruction; or, "no death" as the Targum of Onkelos, for redemption by Christ secures from the second death, and even from a corporeal death as a penal evil.

w Misn. Shekalim, c. 1. sect. 1, 3.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The Ransom of Souls. - Exodus 38:25-28. On comparing these words with those of Numbers 1:1-3, we may perhaps infer that the first passage relates to a mere counting of the adult Israelites at the time when the money was taken from each, and that what the latter passage enjoins was a formal enrolment of them according to their genealogies and their order of military service.

A ransom for his soul - What the sincere worshipper thus paid was at once the fruit and the sign of his faith in the goodness of Yahweh, who had redeemed him and brought him into the covenant. Hence, the payment is rightly called a ransom inasmuch as it involved a personal appropriation of the fact of his redemption. On the word soul, see Leviticus 17:11.

That there be no plague - i. e. that they might not incur punishment for the neglect and contempt of spiritual privileges. Compare Exodus 28:35; 1 Corinthians 11:27-30; and the exhortation in our communion Service.

Exodus 30:13

Half a shekel - The probable weight of silver in the half-shekel would now be worth about 1 shilling, 3 1/2d. (Compare Genesis 23:16. See Exodus 38:24 note.) Gerah is, literally, a bean, probably the bean of the carob or locust-tree. It was used as the name of a small weight, as our word grain came into use from a grain of wheat.

Exodus 30:15

Every Israelite stood in one and the same relation to Yahweh. See Exodus 30:11-12.

Exodus 30:16

tabernacle of the congregation - tent of meeting, here and in Exodus 30:18, Exodus 30:20,

A memorial unto the children of Israel - The silver used in the tabernacle was a memorial to remind each man of his position before the Lord, as one of the covenanted people.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Exodus 30:12. Then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul — This was a very important ordinance, and should be seriously considered. See the following verse (Exodus 30:12).