Numbers 17

1 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

2 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.

Speak to the children of Israel, and take of every one of them a rod by their kindreds, of all the princes of the tribes, twelve rods, and write the name of every man upon his rod.

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

And the name of Aaron shall be for the tribe of Levi, and one rod shall contain all their families:

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

And thou shalt lay them up in the tabernacle of the covenant before the testimony, where I will speak to thee.

5 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.

Whomsoever of these I shall choose, his rod shall blossom: and I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the children of Israel, wherewith they murmur against you.

6 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.

And Moses spoke to the children of Israel: and all the princes gave him rods one for every tribe: and there were twelve rods besides the rod of Aaron.

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

And when Moses had laid them up before the Lord in the tabernacle of the testimony:

8 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.

He returned on the following day, and found that the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi, was budded: and that the buds swelling it had bloomed blossoms, which spreading the leaves, were formed into almonds.

9 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.

Moses therefore brought out all the rods from before the Lord to all the children of Israel: and they saw, and every one received their rods.

10 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.

And the Lord said to Moses: Carry back the rod of Aaron into the tabernacle of the testimony, that it may be kept there for a token of the rebellious children of Israel, and that their complaints may cease from me lest they die.

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

And Moses did as the Lord had commanded.

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

And the children of Israel said to Moses: Behold we are consumed, we all perish.

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

Whosoever approacheth to the tabernacle of the Lord, he dieth. Are we all to a man to be utterly destroyed?