Numbers 17

1 And YHWH speaks to Moses, saying,

And Yhwh spake unto 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 unto the children of Israel, and take of every one of them a rod according to the house of their fathers, of all their princes according to the house of their fathers twelve rods: write thou every man’s name 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 thou shalt write Aaron’s name upon the rod of Levi: for one rod shall be for the head of the house of their fathers.

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 congregation before the testimony, where I will 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.”

And it shall come to pass, that the man’s rod, whom I shall choose, shall blossom: and I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the children of Israel, whereby 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 spake unto the children of Israel, and every one of their princes gave him a rod apiece, for each prince one, according to their fathers’ houses, even twelve rods: and the rod of Aaron was among their rods.

7 and Moses places the rods before YHWH in the Tent of the Testimony.

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

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;

And it came to pass, that on the morrow Moses went into the tabernacle of witness; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded 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.

And Moses brought out all the rods from before Yhwh unto all the children of Israel: and they looked, and took every man his rod.

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 Yhwh said unto Moses, Bring Aaron’s rod again before the testimony, to be kept for a token against the rebels; and thou shalt quite take away their murmurings from me, that they die not.

11 and Moses does as YHWH has commanded him; so he has done.

And Moses did so: as Yhwh commanded him, so did he.

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 spake unto Moses, saying, Behold, we die, we perish, 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 cometh any thing near unto the tabernacle of Yhwh shall die: shall we be consumed with dying?