Numbers 17

1 And the Lord said to Moses,

And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

2 Say to the children of Israel that they are to give you rods, one for every family, for every chief, the head of his father's house, making twelve rods; let every man's name be placed on his rod.

Speak unto the children of Israel, and take of them a staff, a staff for each father's house, of all their princes according to the houses of their fathers, twelve staves: thou shalt write each one's name upon his staff.

3 And let Aaron's name be placed on the rod of Levi: for there is to be one rod for the head of every family.

And Aaron's name shalt thou write upon the staff of Levi; for one staff shall be for [each] head of their fathers' houses.

4 And let them be stored up in the Tent of meeting, in front of the ark of witness where I come to you.

And thou shalt lay them up in the tent of meeting before the testimony, where I meet with you.

5 And the rod of that man who is marked out by me for myself will have buds on it; so I will put a stop to the outcries which the children of Israel make to me against you.

And it shall come to pass, that the man whom I shall choose, his staff shall bud forth; and I will make to cease from before me the murmurings of the children of Israel, that they murmur against you.

6 So Moses gave these orders to the children of Israel, and all their chiefs gave him rods, one for the head of every family, making twelve rods: and Aaron's rod was among them.

And Moses spoke to the children of Israel, and all their princes gave him a staff, one staff for each prince according to their fathers' houses, twelve staves, and the staff of Aaron was among their staves.

7 And Moses put the rods before the Lord in the Tent of witness.

And Moses laid the staves before Jehovah in the tent of the testimony.

8 Now on the day after, Moses went into the Tent of witness; and he saw that Aaron's rod, the rod of the house of Levi, had put out buds, and was covered with buds and flowers and fruit.

And it came to pass, when on the morrow Moses went into the tent of the testimony, behold, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and ripened almonds.

9 Then Moses took out all the rods from before the Lord, and gave them back to the children of Israel: and they saw them, and every man took his rod.

And Moses brought out all the staves from before Jehovah to all the children of Israel, and they looked and took each one his staff.

10 And the Lord said to Moses, Put Aaron's rod back in front of the ark of witness, to be kept for a sign against this false-hearted people, so that you may put a stop to their outcries against me, and death may not overtake them.

And Jehovah said to Moses, Bring Aaron's staff again before the testimony, to be kept as a token for the sons of rebellion, that thou mayest put an end to their murmurings before me, that they may not die.

11 This Moses did: as the Lord gave orders, so he did.

And Moses did so: as Jehovah had commanded him, so did he.

12 And the children of Israel said to Moses, Truly, destruction has come on us; an evil fate has overtaken us all.

And the children of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, Lo, we expire, we perish, we all perish.

13 Death will overtake everyone who comes near, who comes near the House of the Lord: are we all to come to destruction?

Every one that comes at all near to the tabernacle of Jehovah shall die: shall we then expire altogether?