Numbers 17

1 And YHWH speaks to Moses, saying,

And the Lord spoke 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 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.

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 shalt thou write upon the staff of Levi; for there shall be but one staff for the head of their family division.

4 And you have placed them in the Tent of Meeting before the Testimony, where I meet with you.

And thou shalt lay them down in the tabernacle of the congregation before the testimony, where I usually 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 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.

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 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.

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

And Moses laid down the staves 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;

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.

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 staves from before the Lord unto all the children of Israel; and they looked [at them], and took away every one his staff.

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 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.

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

And Moses did so; as the Lord had 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 said unto Moses, thus, Behold, we perish, we are lost, we are all lost.

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

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