• Torah (T): Shemot (Exodus) 38:21-31
• Prophets (P): Jeremiah 30:18-22
• Apostolic (A): Romans 12:1-13
• Additional (ADD): Wisdom of Solomon 2:21 – 3:11

RELATED SCRIPTURES

• 1 Chronicles 22:1-19 (T)
• Exodus 30:11-16 (T)
• Numbers 1:45-54; Numbers 2:32-34 (T)
• Ezekiel 11:18-21 (P)
• Jeremiah 23:15-22 (P)
• Romans 6:1-23 (A)
• 1 Peter 2:1-5 (A)
• Ephesians 6:11-12 (A)
• Luke 12:54-59 (A)
• Romans 2:10-29 (A)
• Romans 14:21-23 (A)
• 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 (A)
• 2 Corinthians 13:1-6 (A)
• Galatians 6:1-10 (A)
• Ephesians 5:6-14 (A)
• Philippians 1:9-11 (A)
• 1 Peter 1:3-9 (A, A.D.D)

RELATED ADDITIONAL READINGS

• Ordinances 4Q159 Fragment 1 Column 2 (T)
• Exodus 38:21-31 from the Jerusalem Targum aka Targum Pseudo-Jonathan (T)
• Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus 3.8.2 (T)

Note: (T) means the verse relates to that week’s Torah portion. (P) means the verse relates to that week’s Prophets portion. (A) means the verse relates to that week’s Apostolic portion. (ADD) means the verse relates to that week’s Additional portion.

Torah Portion (T)

38:21 These are the amounts of materials used for the tabernacle, even the Tabernacle of the Witness, as they were counted, according to the commandment of Moses, for the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar, the son of Aaron the priest. 22 Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that YHWH commanded Moses. 23 With him was Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, and a skillful workman, and an embroiderer in blue, in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen. 24 All the gold that was used for the work in all the work of the sanctuary, even the gold of the offering, was twenty-nine talents and seven hundred thirty shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary. 25 The silver of the registered ones of the congregation was one hundred talents and one thousand seven hundred seventy-five shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary: 26 a beka a head, that is, half a shekel, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, for everyone who passed over to the registered ones, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred three thousand five hundred fifty men. 27 The one hundred talents of silver were for casting the sockets of the sanctuary and the sockets of the veil: one hundred sockets for the one hundred talents, one talent per socket. 28 From the one thousand seven hundred seventy-five shekels he made hooks for the pillars, overlaid their capitals, and made binders for them. 29 The bronze of the offering was seventy talents and two thousand four hundred shekels. 30 With this he made the sockets to the door of the Appointed Tent, the bronze altar, the bronze grating for it, all the vessels of the altar, 31 the sockets around the court, the sockets of the gate of the court, all the pins of the tabernacle, and all the pins around the court.

Prophets Portion (P)

30:18 YHWH says: “Behold, I will reverse the captivity of Jacob’s tents, and have compassion on his dwelling places. The city will be built on its own hill, and the palace will be inhabited in its own place. 19 Thanksgiving will proceed out of them with the voice of those who make merry. I will multiply them, and they will not be few; I will also glorify them, and they will not be small. 20 Their children also will be as before, and their congregation will be established before me. I will punish all who oppress them. 21 His prince will be from him, and his ruler will proceed from his midst. I will cause him to draw near, and he will approach me; for who is he who has had boldness to approach me?” says YHWH. 22 “You will be my people, and I will be your Elohim.

Apostolic Portion (A)

12:1 Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of Elohim, to present your bodies a living slaughter, holy, well-pleasing to Elohim, your logical service. 2 And do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, in the examining of yourselves in what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of Elohim. 3 For I say through the grace that was given me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think; but to be of a sound mind, as Elohim has apportioned to each person a measure of faith. 4 For even as we have many members in one body, and all the members don’t have the same function, 5 so we, who are many, are one body in Messiah, and individually members of one another, 6 having gifts differing according to the grace that was given to us: if prophecy, let’s prophesy according to the proportion of our faith; 7 or service, let’s give ourselves to service; or he who teaches, to his teaching; 8 or he who exhorts, to his exhorting; he who gives, let him do it with generosity; he who rules, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. 9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil. Cling to that which is good. 10 In love of the brothers be tenderly affectionate to one another; in honor prefer one another, 11 not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, 12 rejoicing in hope, enduring in troubles, continuing steadfastly in prayer, 13 contributing to the needs of the holy ones, and pursuing friendliness toward foreigners.

Additional Portion (ADD)

The Wisdom of Solomon or Book of Wisdom is a Jewish work, written in Greek, and most likely composed in Alexandria, Egypt. Generally dated to the mid first century B.C. It is uncertain whether the book has a single author or comes from a school of writers, but recent scholarship has favored regarding it as a unified work. Fragments of the Wisdom of Solomon were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls in the first discovered and excavated cave at Qumran in 1949.

2:21 Thus they reasoned, and they were led astray; for their wickedness blinded them, 22 and they didn’t know the mysteries of Elohim, neither did they hope for wages of holiness, nor did they discern that there is a prize for blameless souls. 23 Because Elohim created man for incorruption, and made him an image of his own everlastingness; 24 but death entered into the world by the envy of the devil, and those who belong to him experience it.

3:1 But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of Elohim, and no torment will touch them. 2 In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died. Their departure was considered affliction, 3 and their travel away from us ruin, but they are in peace. 4 For even if in the sight of men they are punished, their hope is full of immortality. 5 Having borne a little chastening, they will receive great good; because Elohim tested them, and found them worthy of himself. 6 He tested them like gold in the furnace, and he accepted them as a whole burnt offering. 7 In the time of their inspection they will shine. They will run back and forth like sparks among stubble. 8 They will judge nations and have dominion over peoples. The Lord will reign over them forever. 9 Those who trust him will understand truth. The faithful will live with him in love, because grace and mercy are with his chosen ones. 10 But the impious will be punished even as they reasoned, those who neglected righteousness and revolted from the Lord; 11 for he who despises wisdom and discipline is miserable. Their hope is void and their toils unprofitable. Their works are useless.

Related Scriptures

22:1 Then David said, “This is the house of YHWH Elohim, and this is the altar of burnt offering for Israel.” 2 David gave orders to gather together the foreigners who were in the land of Israel; and he set masons to cut dressed stones to build Elohim’s house. 3 David prepared iron in abundance for the nails for the doors of the gates and for the couplings, and bronze in abundance without weight, 4 and cedar trees without number, for the Zidonians and the people of Tyre brought cedar trees in abundance to David. 5 David said, “Solomon my son is young and tender, and the house that is to be built for YHWH must be exceedingly magnificent, of fame and of glory throughout all countries. I will therefore make preparation for it.” So David prepared abundantly before his death. 6 Then he called for Solomon his son, and commanded him to build a house for YHWH, the Elohim of Israel. 7 David said to Solomon his son, “As for me, it was in my heart to build a house to the name of YHWH my Elohim. 8 But the word of YHWH came to me, saying, ‘You have shed blood abundantly and have made great wars. You will not build a house to my name, because you have shed much blood on the land in my sight. 9 Behold, a son will be born to you, who will be a man of peace. I will give him rest from all his enemies all around; for his name will be Solomon, and I will give peace and quietness to Israel in his days. 10 He will build a house for my name; and he will be my son, and I will be his father; and I will establish the throne of his reign over Israel forever.’ 11 Now, my son, may YHWH be with you and prosper you, and build the house of YHWH your Elohim, as he has spoken concerning you. 12 May YHWH give you discretion and understanding, and put you in charge of Israel, so that you may guard the law of YHWH your Elohim. 13 Then you will prosper, if you observe to do the statutes and the ordinances which YHWH gave Moses concerning Israel. Be strong and courageous. Don’t be afraid and don’t be dismayed. 14 Now, behold, in my affliction I have prepared for the house of YHWH one hundred thousand talents of gold, one million talents of silver, and bronze and iron without weight; for it is in abundance. I have also prepared timber and stone; and you may add to them. 15 There are also workmen with you in abundance—cutters and workers of stone and timber, and all kinds of men who are skillful in every kind of work; 16 of the gold, the silver, the bronze, and the iron, there is no number. Arise and be doing, and may YHWH be with you.” 17 David also commanded all the princes of Israel to help Solomon his son, saying, 18 “Isn’t YHWH your Elohim with you? Hasn’t he given you rest on every side? For he has delivered the inhabitants of the land into my hand; and the land is subdued before YHWH and before his people. 19 Now set your heart and your soul to follow YHWH your Elohim. Arise therefore, and build the sanctuary of YHWH Elohim, to bring the ark of the covenant of YHWH and the holy vessels of Elohim into the house that is to be built for the name of YHWH.”

30:11 YHWH spoke to Moses, saying, 12 “When you take a census of the sons of Israel, according to those who are counted among them, then each man will give a ransom for his soul to YHWH when you count them, that there be no plague among them when you count them. 13 They will give this, everyone who passes over to those who are counted, half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs); half a shekel for an offering to YHWH. 14 Everyone who passes over to those who are counted, from twenty years old and upward, will give the offering to YHWH. 15 The rich will not give more, and the poor will not give less, than the half shekel, when they give the offering of YHWH, to make atonement for your souls. 16 You will take the atonement money from the sons of Israel, and will appoint it for the service of the Appointed Tent; that it may be a memorial for the sons of Israel before YHWH, to make atonement for your souls.”

Numbers 1:45 So all the registered ones of the sons of Israel by their fathers’ houses, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war in Israel— 46 all the registered ones were six hundred three thousand five hundred fifty. 47 But the Levites after the tribe of their fathers were not counted among them. 48 For YHWH spoke to Moses, saying, 49 “Only the tribe of Levi you will not count, neither will you take a census of them among the sons of Israel; 50 but appoint the Levites over the Tabernacle of the Testimony, and over all its furnishings, and over all that belongs to it. They will carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings; and they will take care of it, and will encamp around it. 51 When the tabernacle is to move, the Levites will take it down; and when the tabernacle is to be set up, the Levites will set it up. The stranger who comes near will be put to death. 52 The sons of Israel will pitch their tents, every man by his own camp, and every man by his own standard, according to their divisions. 53 But the Levites will encamp around the Tabernacle of the Testimony, that there may be no wrath on the congregation of the sons of Israel. The Levites will be responsible for the Tabernacle of the Testimony.” 54 Thus the sons of Israel did. According to all that YHWH commanded Moses, so they did.

Numbers 2:32 These are the registered ones of the sons of Israel by their fathers’ houses. All who were counted of the camps according to their armies were six hundred three thousand five hundred fifty. 33 But the Levites were not counted among the sons of Israel, as YHWH commanded Moses. 34 Thus the sons of Israel did. According to all that YHWH commanded Moses, so they encamped by their standards, and so they set out, everyone by their families, according to their fathers’ houses.

11:18 “‘They will come there, and they will take away all its detestable things and all its abominations from there. 19 I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them. I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh, 20 that they may walk in my statutes, and guard my ordinances, and do them. They will be my people, and I will be their Elohim. 21 But as for them whose heart walks after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their way on their own heads,’ says the Lord YHWH.”

23:15 Therefore YHWH of Armies says concerning the prophets: “Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink poisoned water; for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has gone out into all the land.” 16 YHWH of Armies says, “Don’t listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They teach you vanity. They speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of YHWH. 17 They say continually to those who despise me, ‘YHWH has said, “You will have peace;” ‘ and to everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart they say, ‘No evil will come on you.’ 18 For who has stood in the council of YHWH, that he should perceive and hear his word? Who has listened to my word, and heard it? 19 Behold, YHWH’s storm, his wrath, has gone out. Yes, a whirling storm! It will burst on the head of the wicked. 20 the anger of YHWH will not return until he has executed and performed the intents of his heart. In the latter days, you will understand it perfectly. 21 I didn’t send these prophets, yet they ran. I didn’t speak to them, yet they prophesied. 22 But if they had stood in my council, then they would have caused my people to hear my words, and would have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.

6:1 What will we say then? Will we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2 May it never be! We who died to sin, how could we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were immersed into Messiah Yeshua were immersed into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him through immersion into death, that just as Messiah was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will also be part of his resurrection; 6 knowing this, that our bearded man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be in bondage to sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8 But if we died with Messiah, we believe that we will also live with him, 9 knowing that Messiah, being raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over him! 10 For the death that he died, he died to sin one time; but the life that he lives, he lives to Elohim. 11 Thus consider yourselves also to be dead to sin, but alive to Elohim in Messiah Yeshua our Lord. 12 Therefore don’t let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its coveting. 13 Also, do not present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to Elohim as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to Elohim. 14 For sin will not have dominion over you, for you are not under law, but under grace. 15 What then? Will we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! 16 Don’t you know that when you present yourselves as servants and obey someone, you are the servants of whomever you obey, whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to Elohim that, whereas you were bondservants of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were delivered. 18 Being made free from sin, you became bondservants of righteousness. 19 I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh; for as you presented your members as servants to uncleanness and to wickedness upon wickedness, even so now present your members as servants to righteousness for sanctification. 20 For when you were servants of sin, you were free from righteousness. 21 What fruit then did you have at that time in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now, being made free from sin and having become servants of Elohim, you have your fruit of sanctification and the result of eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of Elohim is eternal life in Messiah Yeshua our Lord.

2:1 Putting away therefore all wickedness, all deceit, hypocrisies, envies, and all evil speaking, 2 as newborn babies, long for the logical unadulterated milk, that with it you may grow, 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. 4 Come to him, a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by Elohim, precious. 5 You also as living stones are built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual slaughters, acceptable to Elohim through Yeshua the Messiah.

6:11 Put on the whole armor of Elohim, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world’s rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

12:54 He said to the multitudes also, “When you see a cloud rising from the west, immediately you say, ‘A shower is coming,’ and so it happens. 55 When a south wind blows, you say, ‘There will be a scorching heat,’ and it happens. 56 You hypocrites! You know how to examine the appearance of the land and the heavens, but how is it that you don’t examine this time? 57 “Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right? 58 For when you are going with your adversary before the magistrate, try diligently on the way to be released from him, lest perhaps he drag you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. 59 I tell you, you will by no means get out of there until you have paid the very last lepton.”

2:10 But glory, honor, and peace go to every man who does good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 11 For there is no partiality with Elohim. 12 For as many as have sinned without the law will also perish without the law. As many as have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it isn’t the hearers of the law who are righteous before Elohim, but the doers of the law will be justified, 14 for when Nations who don’t have the law do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are a law to themselves, 15 in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience testifying with them, and their thoughts among themselves accusing or else excusing them, 16 in the day when Elohim will judge the secrets of men, according to my Good News, by Yeshua the Messiah. 17 Indeed you bear the name of a Jew, rest on the law, glory in Elohim, 18 know his will, and examine the differences, being instructed out of the law, 19 and are confident that you yourself are a guide of the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20 a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of babies, having in the law the form of knowledge and of the truth. 21 You therefore who teach another, don’t you teach yourself? You who proclaim that a man shouldn’t steal, do you steal? 22 You who say a man shouldn’t commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who glory in the law, do you dishonor Elohim by disobeying the law? 24 For “the name of Elohim is blasphemed among the Nations because of you,” (cf. Isaiah 52:5; Ezekiel 36:22) just as it is written. 25 For circumcision indeed profits, if you are a doer of the law, but if you are a transgressor of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. 26 If therefore the uncircumcised keep the ordinances of the law, won’t his uncircumcision be accounted as circumcision? 27 Won’t those who are physically uncircumcised, but fulfill the law, judge you, who with the letter and circumcision are a transgressor of the law? 28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh; 29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men, but from Elohim.

14:21 It is good to not eat meat, drink wine, nor do anything by which your brother stumbles, is offended, or is made weak. 22 Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before Elohim. Happy is he who doesn’t judge himself in that which he examines. 23 But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because it isn’t of faith; and whatever is not of faith is sin.

11:17 But in giving you this command I don’t praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse. 18 For first of all, when you come together in the assembly, I hear that divisions exist among you, and I partly believe it. 19 For there also must be factions among you, that those who are approved may be revealed among you. 20 When therefore you assemble yourselves together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. 21 For in your eating each one takes his own supper first. One is hungry, and another is drunken. 22 What, don’t you have houses to eat and to drink in? Or do you despise the assembly of Elohim and put them to shame who don’t have enough? What will I tell you? Will I praise you? In this I don’t praise you. 23 For I received from the Lord that which also I delivered to you, that the Lord Yeshua on the night in which he was betrayed took bread. 24 When he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “Take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in memory of me.” 25 In the same way he also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the renewed covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink, in memory of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks the Lord’s cup in a way unworthy of the Lord will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy way eats and drinks judgment to himself if he doesn’t discern the Lord’s body. 30 For this cause many among you are weak and sickly, and not a few sleep. 31 For if we discerned ourselves, we wouldn’t be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world. 33 Therefore, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. 34 But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest your coming together be for judgment. The rest I will set in order whenever I come.

13:1 This is the third time I am coming to you. “At the mouth of two or three witnesses will every word be established.” (cf. Deuteronomy 19:15) 2 I have warned previously, and I warn again, as when I was present the second time, so now, being absent, I write to those who have sinned before now and to all the rest that if I come again, I will not spare, 3 seeing that you seek a proof of Messiah who speaks in me who is not weak, but is powerful in you. 4 For he was crucified through weakness, yet he lives through the power of Elohim. For we also are weak in him, but we will live with him through the power of Elohim toward you. 5 Test yourselves, whether you are in the faith. Examine yourselves. Or don’t you know about yourselves, that Yeshua the Messiah is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified. 6 But I hope that you will know that we aren’t disqualified.

6:1 Brothers, even if a man is caught in some fault, you who are spiritual must restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, looking to yourself so that you also aren’t tested. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Messiah. 3 For if a man thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 But let each man examine his own work, and then he will have reason to boast in himself, and not in someone else. 5 For each man will bear his own burden. 6 But let him who is taught in the word share all good things with him who teaches. 7 Don’t be deceived. Elohim is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. 8 For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. But he who sows to the spirit will from the spirit reap eternal life. 9 Let’s not be weary in doing good, for we will reap in due season if we don’t give up. 10 So then, as we have opportunity, let’s do what is good toward all men, and especially toward those who are of the household of the faith.

5:6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of Elohim comes on the children of disobedience. 7 Therefore don’t be partakers with them. 8 For you were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, 9 for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth, 10 examining what is well-pleasing to the Lord. 11 Have no fellowship with the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather even reprove them. 12 For it is a shame even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. 13 But all things, when they are reproved, are revealed by the light, for everything that reveals is light. 14 Therefore he says, “Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Messiah will shine on you.”

1:9 This I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may examine yourselves the differences, that you may be sincere and without offense to the day of Messiah, 11 being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are through Yeshua the Messiah, to the glory and praise of Elohim.

1:3 Blessed be the Elohim and Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who according to his great mercy caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Yeshua the Messiah from the dead, 4 to an incorruptible and undefiled inheritance that doesn’t fade away, reserved in Heaven for you, 5 who by the power of Elohim are guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved in various trials, 7 that the proving of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes, even though it is examined by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Yeshua the Messiah— 8 whom, not having known, you love. In him, though now you don’t see him, yet believing, you rejoice greatly with joy that is unspeakable and full of glory, 9 receiving the result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Related Additional Readings​

“…the legislation contained in 4Q159 was not intended as a simple repetition of already known biblical law, but as an affirmation of specific biblical laws being interpreted in a new way. Despite the fact that STRUGNELL objects to ALLEGRO’s title, “Ordinances”, as being too modern, ALLEGRO has correctly perceived that the legislative material in 4Q159 was intended for practical observance by the authors’ audience. Even the more traditional title, “halakhah”), would have its drawbacks, and would be applied to 4Q159 only if one were to understand that the regulations in this text antedate the more codified rabbinic “halakhah” and that, however much the legislation in 4Q159 may have essentially had the force of halakhah it is still not, technically speaking, a collection of halakhot.” – 4Q159: Legislation For an Essene Community Outside of Qumran? by Francis D. Weinert

[… concern]ing [the Ransom:] the money of the valuation which a man gives as ransom for his life will be half [a shekel in accordance with the shekel of the sanctuary]. He will give it only o[nce] in his life. A shekel is twenty gerahs in accordance with [the shekel of the sanctuary]. For the six hundr[e]d thousand, one hundred talents; for the third (i.e., three thousand), half a talent, (which is thirty minas; for the five hundred, five minas]; ‘and for the fifty, one half a mi[n]a, [which is twenty-] five shekels. The total [is six thousand thirty-five and one half of a] mina. [… me]n for ten minas; […] [… fi]ve shekels of silver are a tenth of a [mina…] [… the shekel is equivalent to twenty gerahs in accordance with the shekel of the sanctuary. A hal[f of a shekel is twelve meahs and two zuzim …]

The above excerpt is from Wise, Michael Owen, et al. The Dead Sea Scrolls: a New Translation. HarperSanFrancisco, 2005.

Josephus was born Joseph ben Mattathias in 37 AD in Jerusalem of a priestly and royal family. He excelled in his studies of Jewish law and studied with the Sadducees, Pharisees, and the Essenes, eventually aligning himself with the Pharisees. In 62 AD he went to Rome to free some imprisoned priests. After accomplishing this mission through the intercession of Nero’s wife, Poppaea, he returned to Jerusalem in 65 AD to find the country in revolt against Rome. Josephus shrewdly reinterpreted the Messianic prophecies. He predicted that Vespasian would become the ruler of the ‘entire world’. His prophecy became true in 68 AD when Nero committed suicide and Vespasian became Ceasar. As a result, Josephus was freed; he moved to Rome and became a Roman citizen, taking the Vespasian family name Flavius. Vespasian commissioned Josephus to write a history of the war, which he finished in 78 AD, the Jewish War. His second major work, the Antiquities of the Jews, was completed in 93 AD. The extant manuscripts of the book Antiquities of the Jews contain two references to Yeshua of Nazareth (18.3.3. and 20.9.1.) and one reference to the imprisonment and death of John the Baptist (18.5.2.).

3.8.2. Now Moses commanded them to make use of all the utensils which were more than were necessary to the structure of the tabernacle, for covering the tabernacle itself, the candlestick, and altar of incense, and the other vessels, that they might not be at all hurt when they journeyed, either by the rain, or by the rising of the dust. And when he had gathered the multitude together again, he ordained that they should offer half a shekel for every man, as an oblation to Elohim; which shekel is a piece among the Hebrews, and is equal to four Athenian drachmae. Whereupon they readily obeyed what Moses had commanded; and the number of the offerers was six hundred and five thousand five hundred and fifty. Now this money that was brought by the men that were free, was given by such as were about twenty years old, but under fifty; and what was collected was spent in the uses of the tabernacle.