Numbers 17

1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,

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.

Speak unto the children of Israel, and take from them one staff each for a family division, from all their princes, according to their family divisions, twelve staves: the name of each man shalt thou write upon his staff.

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.

And the name of Aaron shalt thou write upon the staff of Levi; for there shall be but one staff for the head of their family division.

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

And thou shalt lay them down in the tabernacle of the congregation before the testimony, where I usually meet 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.

And it shall come to pass, that the staff of the man whom I shall choose, shall blossom: and I will allay from around me the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against you.

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.

And Moses spoke unto the children of Israel, and all their princes gave him each a staff, one for every prince, according to their family divisions, twelve staves: and the staff of Aaron was among their staves.

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

And Moses laid down the staves before the Lord in the tabernacle of the testimony.

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.

And it came to pass on the morrow, that as Moses went into the tabernacle of the testimony, behold, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had budded; and it brought forth buds, and produced blossoms, and yielded ripe almonds.

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.

And Moses brought out all the staves from before the Lord unto all the children of Israel; and they looked [at them], and took away every one his staff.

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.

And the Lord said unto Moses, Carry back the staff of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept as a token against the children of rebellion, that there may be an end of their murmurings from around me, and they die not.

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

And Moses did so; as the Lord had commanded him, so did he.

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

And the children of Israel said unto Moses, thus, Behold, we perish, we are lost, we are all lost.

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

Every one that cometh near at all unto the tabernacle of the Lord must die: shall we totally perish?