Numbers 17

1 And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

2 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.

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 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.

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 down in the tabernacle of the congregation before the testimony, where I usually 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 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.

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 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.

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 down the staves before the Lord in the tabernacle 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 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.

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 the Lord unto all the children of Israel; and they looked [at them], and took away every 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 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.

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 the Lord had commanded him, so did he.

And Moses did as the Lord had commanded.

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

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

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

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