Numbers 17

1 And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,

And the LORD spake unto 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 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 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 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 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 tent of meeting before the testimony, where I meet with you.

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.

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

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

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 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.

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

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

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 spake unto Moses, saying, Behold, we perish, we are undone, we are all undone.

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

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