The firstling of an ass … break its neck is identical with 13.13 except that the word “every” is not used here. (See the comment there.) As in verse 19, the firstborn male is intended. All the first-born of your sons you shall redeem is almost identical with 13.13, which adds “first-born of man among your sons.”

And none shall appear before me empty is identical with 23.15. (See the comment there.) This sentence seems to have no relation to the first part of the verse, so Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, and others show this as a separate paragraph. Some scholars have suggested that it originally followed verse 23.

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .