Numbers 17

1 And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying,

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

2 'Speak unto the sons of Israel, and take from them each a rod, for a father's house, from all their princes, for the house of their fathers, twelve rods; the name of each thou dost write on his rod,

“Speak to the sons of Israel, and receive from each of them a rod by their kinships, from all the leaders of the tribes, twelve rods, and write the name of each one on his rod.

3 and Aaron's name thou dost write on the tribe of Levi; for one rod [is] for the head of their fathers' house:

But the name of Aaron shall be for the tribe of Levi, and one rod separately shall contain all their families.

4 and thou hast placed them in the tent of meeting, before the testimony, where I meet with you.

And you shall place these in the tabernacle of the covenant before the testimony, where I will speak to you.

5 'And it hath come to pass, the man's rod on whom I fix doth flourish, and I have caused to cease from off me the murmurings of the sons of Israel, which they are murmuring against you.'

Whomever of these I will choose, his rod will germinate, and so shall I restrain the complaints of the sons of Israel before me, by which they murmur against you.”

6 And Moses speaketh unto the sons of Israel, and all their princes give unto 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 to the sons of Israel. And all the leaders gave him rods, one for each tribe. And there were twelve rods, aside from the rod of Aaron.

7 and Moses placeth the rods before Jehovah, in the tent of the testimony.

And when Moses had placed these before the Lord, in the tabernacle of the testimony,

8 And it cometh to pass, on the morrow, that Moses goeth in unto the tent of the testimony, and lo, the rod of Aaron hath flourished for the house of Levi, and is bringing out flourishing, and doth blossom blossoms, and doth produce almonds;

returning on the following day, he found that the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi, had germinated, and that the swelling buds had opened into flowers, which, spreading their petals, were formed into those of an almond tree.

9 and Moses bringeth out all the rods from before Jehovah, unto all the sons of Israel, and they look, and take each his rod.

Therefore, Moses brought out all the rods, from the sight of the Lord, to all the sons of Israel. And they saw, and each one received their rods.

10 And Jehovah saith unto Moses, 'Put back the rod of Aaron, before the testimony, for a charge, for a sign to the sons of rebellion, and thou dost remove their murmurings from off me, and they do not die;'

And the Lord said to Moses: “Carry back the rod of Aaron into the tabernacle of the testimony, so that it may be kept there as a sign of the rebellion of the sons of Israel, and so that their complaints may be quieted before me, lest they die.”

11 and Moses doth as Jehovah hath commanded him; so he hath done.

And Moses did just as the Lord had instructed.

12 And the sons of Israel speak unto Moses, saying, 'Lo, we have expired; we have perished; we have all of us perished;

Then the sons of Israel said to Moses: “Behold, we have been consumed; we have been ruined.

13 any who is at all drawing near unto the tabernacle of Jehovah dieth; have we not been consumed — to expire?'

Whoever approaches to the tabernacle of the Lord dies. Will we all be wiped away, even to total annihilation?”