“When you tally the sum of Bnei-Yisrael by numbering them, then every man must pay a ransom for his soul to Adonai when you count them, so that no plague will fall on them.
You are to take the atonement money from Bnei-Yisrael and give it for the service of the Tent of Meeting, so that it may be a memorial for Bnei-Yisrael before Adonai, to make atonement for your souls.”
“Take a headcount of the entire community of Bnei-Yisrael, sons twenty years old and upward, by their ancestral houses, all who can serve in Israel’s army.”