Numbers 8:16-17

8:16 For they are entirely given ¹  to me from among the Israelites. I have taken them for myself instead of ²  all who open the womb, the firstborn sons of all the Israelites. 8:17 For all the firstborn males among the Israelites are mine, both humans and animals; when I destroyed ³  all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I set them apart for myself.

Numbers 18:15

18:15 The firstborn of every womb which they present to the Lord, whether human or animal, will be yours. Nevertheless, the firstborn sons you must redeem, ⁴  and the firstborn males of unclean animals you must redeem.

[8:16]  ¹ tn As before, the emphasis is obtained by repeating the passive participle: “given, given to me.”

[8:16]  ² tn Or “as substitutes” for all the firstborn of the Israelites.

[8:17]  ³ tn The idiomatic “on the day of” precedes the infinitive construct of נָכָה (nakhah) to form the temporal clause: “in the day of my striking…” becomes “when I struck.”

[18:15]  ⁵ tn The construction uses the infinitive absolute and the imperfect tense of the verb “to redeem” in order to stress the point – they were to be redeemed. N. H. Snaith suggests that the verb means to get by payment what was not originally yours, whereas the other root גָאַל (ga’al) means to get back what was originally yours (Leviticus and Numbers [NCB], 268).