Numbers 17

1 And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying:

The Lord told Moses,

2 '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; thou shalt write every man's name upon 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 thou shalt write Aaron's name upon the rod of Levi, for there shall be one rod for the head of their fathers' houses.

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

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

5 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.'

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 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.

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 tent of the testimony.

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 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 bore ripe 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 out all the rods from before the LORD unto all the children of Israel; and they looked, and took every man 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 unto Moses: 'Put back the rod of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept there, for a token against the rebellious children; that there may be made an end of their murmurings against Me, that they die not.'

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

Moses did what the Lord ordered him to do.

12 And the children of Israel spoke unto Moses, saying: 'Behold, we perish, we are undone, we are all undone.

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 cometh near, that cometh near unto the tabernacle of the LORD, is to die; shall we wholly perish?'

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