Numbers 17

1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

The Lord told Moses,

2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and take of every one of them a rod according to the house of [their] fathers, of all their princes according to the house of their fathers twelve rods: write thou 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 one rod [shall be] for the head of the house of their fathers.

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 tabernacle of the congregation before the testimony, where I will 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’s rod, whom I shall choose, shall blossom: and I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the children of Israel, whereby 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 spake unto the children of Israel, and every one of their princes gave him a rod apiece, 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 tabernacle of witness.

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

8 And it came to pass, that on the morrow Moses went into the tabernacle of witness; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded 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, Bring Aaron’s rod again before the testimony, to be kept for a token against the rebels; and thou shalt quite take away their murmurings from 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 And Moses did [so: ] as the LORD commanded him, so did he.

Moses did what the Lord ordered him to do.

12 And the children of Israel spake unto Moses, saying, Behold, we die, we perish, we all perish.

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 Whosoever cometh any thing near unto the tabernacle of the LORD shall die: shall we be consumed with dying?

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