Numbers 17

1 And YHWH speaks to Moses, saying,

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

2 “Speak to the sons of Israel, and take a rod from each of them, for a father’s house, from all their princes, for the house of their fathers—twelve rods; you write the name of each on his rod,

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 you write Aaron’s name on the tribe of Levi; for one rod [is] for the head of their fathers’ house.

And the name of Aaron shall be for the tribe of Levi, and one rod shall contain all their families:

4 And you have placed them in the Tent of Meeting before the Testimony, where I 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 has come to pass, the man’s rod on whom I fix flourishes, and I have caused the murmurings of the sons of Israel, which they are murmuring against you, to cease from off Me.”

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 speaks to the sons of Israel, and all their princes give to him one rod for a prince, one rod for a prince, for their fathers’ house—twelve rods; and the rod of Aaron [is] in the midst of their rods;

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 places the rods before YHWH in the Tent of the Testimony.

And when Moses had laid them up before the Lord in the tabernacle of the testimony:

8 And it comes to pass, on the next day, that Moses goes into the Tent of the Testimony, and behold, the rod of Aaron has flourished for the house of Levi, and brings out a bud, and blossoms [with] a blossom, and produces 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 brings out all the rods from before YHWH to all the sons of Israel, and they look, and each takes his rod.

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 YHWH says to Moses, “Put back the rod of Aaron before the Testimony, for a charge, for a sign to the sons of rebellion, and you remove their murmurings from off Me, and they do not die”;

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 does as YHWH has commanded him; so he has done.

And Moses did as the Lord had commanded.

12 And the sons of Israel speak to Moses, saying, “Behold, we have expired, we have perished, all of us have perished!

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

13 Any who is at all drawing near to the Dwelling Place of YHWH dies; have we not been consumed—to expire?”

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