< Numbers 17 >
1 And YHWH speaks to Moses, saying,
The Lord told Moses,
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,
“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 you write Aaron’s name on the tribe of Levi; for one rod [is] for the head of their fathers’ house.
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 you have placed them in the Tent of Meeting before the Testimony, where I 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 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.”
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 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;
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 places the rods before YHWH in the Tent of the Testimony.
Moses placed the walking sticks before the Lord in the Tent 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;
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 brings out all the rods from before YHWH to all the sons of Israel, and they look, and each takes 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 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”;
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 does as YHWH has commanded him; so he has done.
Moses did what the Lord ordered him to do.
12 And the sons of Israel speak to Moses, saying, “Behold, we have expired, we have perished, all of us have perished!
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 Any who is at all drawing near to the Dwelling Place of YHWH dies; have we not been consumed—to expire?”
Anyone who dares to approach the Tabernacle of the Lord will die. Are we all going to be completely wiped out?”