Numbers 17

1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

The Lord told 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.

“Tell the Israelites to bring twelve walking sticks, one from the leader of each tribe. Write the name of each man on the walking stick,

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 write Aaron's name on the walking stick of the tribe of Levi, because there has to be a walking stick for the head of each tribe.

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

Place the walking sticks in the Tent of Meeting in front of the Testimony where I meet with 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.

The walking stick that belongs to the man I choose will sprout buds, and I will put a stop to the Israelites' constant complaints 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.

Moses explained this to the Israelites, and each of their leaders gave him a walking stick, one for each of the leaders of their tribes. So there were twelve walking sticks including the one belonging to Aaron.

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

Moses placed the walking sticks before the Lord in the Tent of the Testimony.

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.

The next day Moses went into the Tent of the Testimony and saw that Aaron's walking stick that represented the tribe of Levi, had sprouted and developed buds, flowered and produced almonds.

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.

Moses took all the walking sticks from the presence of the Lord and showed them to all the Israelites. They saw them, and each man collected his own walking stick.

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.

The Lord told Moses, “Put Aaron's walking stick back in front of the Testimony, to be kept there as a reminder to warn anyone who wants to rebel, so that you may stop their complaining against me. Otherwise they'll die.”

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

Moses did what the Lord ordered him to do.

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

Then the Israelites came and told Moses, “Can't you see we're all going to die? We'll be destroyed! We're all going to be killed!

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

Anyone who dares to approach the Tabernacle of the Lord will die. Are we all going to be completely wiped out?”