And their redemption price (at a month old you shall redeem them) you shall fix at five shekels in silver … is literally “And his redemption from a son of a month you [singular] shall redeem by your [singular] valuation five silver shekels….” Good News Translation makes it clear that the complex sentence in this verse deals with the cost of redeeming children by beginning with “Children shall be bought back at the age of one month for the fixed price of five pieces of silver….” The modal verb shall does not focus on some future event, but one that must be carried out at all times, so another possible model here is “Firstborn sons must be bought back….” Languages may have different tenses and/or aspects to indicate this nuance.

For five shekels in silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs, see 3.47. This last half of the verse may be rendered “five pieces of silver weighed according to the standard weight of the Tabernacle.”

Quoted with permission from de Regt, Lénart J. and Wendland, Ernst R. A Handbook on Numbers. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .