Numbers 17

1 The Lord told Moses,

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

2 “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,

Speak unto the children of Israel, and take of them rods, one for each fathers’ house, of all their princes according to their fathers’ houses, twelve rods: write thou every man’s name upon his rod.

3 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.

And thou shalt write Aaron’s name upon the rod of Levi: for there shall be one rod for each head of their fathers’ houses.

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

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

5 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.”

And it shall come to pass, that the man whom I shall choose, his rod shall bud: and I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against you.

6 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.

And Moses spake unto the children of Israel, and all their princes gave him rods, for each prince one, according to their fathers’ houses, even twelve rods: and the rod of Aaron was among their rods.

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

And Moses laid up the rods before the LORD in the tent of the testimony.

8 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.

And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses went into the tent of the testimony; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and put forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and bare ripe almonds.

9 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.

And Moses brought out all the rods from before the LORD unto all the children of Israel: and they looked, and took every man his rod.

10 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.”

And the LORD said unto Moses, Put back the rod of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept for a token against the children of rebellion; that thou mayest make an end of their murmurings against me, that they die not.

11 Moses did what the Lord ordered him to do.

Thus did Moses: as the LORD commanded him, so did he.

12 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!

And the children of Israel spake unto Moses, saying, Behold, we perish, we are undone, we are all undone.

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

Every one that cometh near, that cometh near unto the tabernacle of the LORD, dieth: shall we perish all of us?