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

And the name of Aaron shall be for the tribe of Levi, and one rod 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 thou shalt lay them up in the tabernacle of the covenant before the testimony, where I will speak to thee.

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.'

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

And when Moses had laid them up 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;

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

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

And Moses did as the Lord had commanded.

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

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

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

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