42 Moses obeyed the Lord and counted the firstborn sons;
43 there were 22,273 of them.
44 Then the Lord said,
45 “The Levites will belong to me and will take the place of the firstborn sons; their livestock will take the place of the Israelites' firstborn livestock.
46 But since there are more firstborn sons than Levites, the extra two hundred and seventy-three men and boys must be bought back from me.
47 For each one, you are to collect five pieces of silver, weighed according to the official standards.
48 This money must then be given to Aaron and his sons.”