Numbers 17

1 And the Lord said to Moses,

And the Lord spoke unto 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 from them one staff each for a family division, from all their princes, according to their family divisions, twelve staves: the name of each man shalt thou write 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 the name of Aaron shalt thou write upon the staff of Levi; for there shall be but one staff for the head of their family division.

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 down in the tabernacle of the congregation before the testimony, where I usually 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 staff of the man whom I shall choose, shall blossom: and I will allay from around me the murmurings of the children of Israel, which 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 unto the children of Israel, and all their princes gave him each a staff, one for every prince, according to their family divisions, 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 down the staves before the Lord in the tabernacle 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 on the morrow, that as Moses went into the tabernacle of the testimony, behold, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had budded; and it brought forth buds, and produced blossoms, and yielded ripe 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 the Lord unto all the children of Israel; and they looked [at them], and took away every 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 the Lord said unto Moses, Carry back the staff of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept as a token against the children of rebellion, that there may be an end of their murmurings from around me, and they die not.

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

And Moses did so; as the Lord 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 said unto Moses, thus, Behold, we perish, we are lost, we are all lost.

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 cometh near at all unto the tabernacle of the Lord must die: shall we totally perish?