Numbers 17

1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

Then Yahweh said to Moses/me,

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 Israeli people to bring to you twelve walking sticks. They should bring one from each of the leaders of the twelve tribes. You should carve each leader’s name on his 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.

There must be one stick for the leader of each tribe, so you must carve Aaron’s name on the stick for the tribe of Levi.

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

Put those sticks inside the Sacred Tent, in front of the sacred chest that has in it the tablets on which the Ten Commandments are written. That is the place where I always talk 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.

Buds will sprout on the stick of the man whom I have chosen [to be the priest]. [When the people see that], they will stop their constantly complaining about you [because they will realize that you are the one whom I have chosen].”

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/I told the people what Yahweh had said. Then each of the twelve Israeli leaders, including Aaron, brought his walking stick to Moses/me.

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

Moses/I placed the sticks inside the Sacred Tent in front of the sacred chest.

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 following morning, when he/I went into the tent, he/I saw that Aaron’s stick, which represented the tribe of Levi, had sprouted, it had produced leaves and blossoms, and it had also produced almonds that were ripe!

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/I brought all the sticks out of the Sacred Tent and showed them to the people. Each of the twelve leaders took back his own 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.

Then Yahweh said to Moses/me, “Put Aaron’s stick in front of the sacred chest, and let it stay there permanently. That will be a warning to people who want to rebel [against me]. Then no more people will die [because of complaining against me].”

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

So Moses/I did what Yahweh had commanded.

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

Then the Israeli people said to Moses/me, “We are going to die! All of us are surely going to die!

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

Everyone who comes close to Yahweh’s Sacred Tent dies. Are the rest of us going to die, also?” [RHQ]