The Ransom Money

30:11 20 The Lord spoke to Moses:21 30:12 “When you take a census22 of the Israelites according to their number,23 then each man is to pay a ransom24 for his life to the Lord when you number them,25 so that there will be no plague among them when you number them. 30:13 Everyone who crosses over to those who are numbered26 is to pay this: a half shekel27 according to the shekel of the sanctuary28 (a shekel weighs twenty gerahs). The half shekel is to be an offering29 to the Lord. 30:14 Everyone who crosses over to those numbered, from twenty years old and up, is to pay an offering to the Lord. 30:15 The rich are not to increase it,30 and the poor are not to pay less than the half shekel when giving31 the offering of the Lord, to make atonement32 for your lives. 30:16 You are to receive the atonement money33 from the Israelites and give it for the service34 of the tent of meeting. It will be a memorial35 for the Israelites before the Lord, to make atonement36 for your lives.”