Numbers 17

1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

And the Lord said to Moses,

2 Speak to the children of Israel, and take rods of them, according to the houses of their families, a rod from all their princes, according to the houses of their families, twelve rods, and write the name of each on his rod.

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.

3 And write the name of Aaron on the rod of Levi; for it is one rod [for each]: they shall give [them] according to the tribe of the house of their families.

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.

4 And thou shalt put them in the tabernacle of witness, before the testimony, where I will be made known to thee.

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

5 And it shall be, the man whom I shall choose, his rod shall blossom; and I will remove from me the murmuring of the children of Israel, which they murmur against you.

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.

6 And Moses spoke to the children of Israel, and all their chiefs gave him a rod [each], for one chief a rod, according to the house of their families, twelve rods; and the rod of Aaron [was] in the midst of the rods.

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.

7 And Moses laid up the rods before the Lord in the tabernacle of witness.

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

8 And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of witness; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi blossomed, and put forth a bud, and bloomed blossoms and produced almonds.

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.

9 And Moses brought forth all the rods from before the Lord to all the sons of Israel; and they looked, and each one took his rod.

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.

10 And the Lord said to Moses, Lay up the rod of Aaron before the testimonies to be kept as a sign for the children of the disobedient; and let their murmuring cease from me, and they shall not die.

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.

11 And Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded Moses, so did they.

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

12 And the children of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, Behold, we are cut off, we are destroyed, we are consumed.

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

13 Every one that touches the tabernacle of the Lord, dies: shall we die utterly?

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