Numbers 17

1 And the Lord spak to Moises, `and seide, Speke thou to the sones of Israel,

And the LORD said to Moses,

2 and take thou yerdis, bi her kynredis, bi ech kynrede o yeerde, take thou of alle the princes of the lynagis twelue yerdis; and thou schalt write the name of each lynage aboue his yerde;

“Speak to the Israelites and take from them twelve staffs, one from the leader of each tribe. Write each man’s name on his staff,

3 forsothe the name of Aaron schal be in the lynage of Leuy, and o yerde schal conteyne alle the meynees of hem.

and write Aaron’s name on the staff of Levi, because there must be one staff for the head of each tribe.

4 And thou schalt putte tho yerdis in the tabernacle of boond of pees, bifor the witnessyng, where Y schal speke to thee; the yerde of hym schal buriowne, whom Y schal chese of hem;

Place the staffs in the Tent of Meeting in front of the Testimony, where I meet with you.

5 and Y schal refreyne fro me the playnyngis of the sones of Israel, bi whiche thei grutchen ayens you.

The staff belonging to the man I choose will sprout, and I will rid Myself of the constant grumbling of the Israelites against you.”

6 And Moyses spak to the sones of Israel; and alle princes yauen to hym yerdis, bi alle lynagis; and the yerdis weren twelue, without the yerde of Aaron.

So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and each of their leaders gave him a staff—one for each of the leaders of their tribes, twelve staffs in all. And Aaron’s staff was among them.

7 And whanne Moises hadde put tho yerdis bifor the Lord, in the tabernacle of witnessyng, he yede ayen in the day suynge,

Then Moses placed the staffs before the LORD in the Tent of the Testimony.

8 and founde that the yerde of Aaron, `in the hows of Leuy, buriounnede; and whanne knoppis weren greet, the blossoms `hadden broke out, whiche weren alargid in leeuys, and weren fourmed in to alemaundis.

The next day Moses entered the Tent of the Testimony and saw that Aaron’s staff, representing the house of Levi, had sprouted, put forth buds, blossomed, and produced almonds.

9 Therfor Moyses brouyte forth alle the yerdis fro the siyt of the Lord to al the sones of Israel; and thei sien, and resseyueden ech his yerde.

Then Moses brought out all the staffs from the LORD’s presence to all the Israelites. They saw them, and each man took his own staff.

10 And the Lord seide to Moises, Bere ayen the yerde of Aaron in to the tabernacle of witnessyng, that it be kept there in to `the signe of the rebel sones of Israel, and that her `playntis reste fro me, lest thei dien.

The LORD said to Moses, “Put Aaron’s staff back in front of the Testimony, to be kept as a sign for the rebellious, so that you may put an end to their grumbling against Me, lest they die.”

11 And Moises dide, as the Lord comaundide.

So Moses did as the LORD had commanded him.

12 Forsothe the sones of Israel seiden to Moises, Lo! we ben wastid, alle we perischiden;

Then the Israelites declared to Moses, “Look, we are perishing! We are lost; we are all lost!

13 who euer neiyeth to the tabernacle of the Lord, he dieth; whethir we schulen be doon awei alle `til to deeth?

Anyone who comes near the tabernacle of the LORD will die. Are we all going to perish?”