Numbers 17

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses. He said,

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

2 “Speak to the people of Israel and get staffs from them, one for each ancestral tribe, twelve staffs. Write each man's name on his staff.

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 You must write Aaron's name on Levi's staff. There must be one staff for each leader from his ancestors' tribe.

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

4 You must place the staffs in the tent of meeting in front of the covenant decrees, 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 It will happen that the staff of the man whom I choose will bud. I will cause the complaints from the people of Israel to stop, which they are speaking against you.”

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 So Moses spoke to the people of Israel. All the tribal leaders gave him staffs, one staff from each leader, selected from each of the ancestral tribes, twelve staffs in all. Aaron's staff was among them.

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 Then Moses deposited the staffs before Yahweh in the tent of the covenant decrees.

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

8 The next day Moses went into the tent of the covenant decrees and, behold, Aaron's staff for the tribe of Levi had budded. It grew buds and produced blossoms and ripe 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 Moses brought out all the staffs from before Yahweh to all the people of Israel, and each man took his staff.

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 Yahweh said to Moses, “Put Aaron's staff in front of the covenant decrees. Keep it as a sign of guilt against the people who rebelled so that you may end complaints against me, or they will 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 Moses did just as Yahweh had commanded him.

And Moses did as the Lord had commanded.

12 The people of Israel spoke to Moses and said, “We will die here. We will all perish!

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

13 Everyone who comes up, who approaches Yahweh's tabernacle, will die. Must we all perish?”

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