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17 ¶ And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying,

Speak unto the sons of Israel and take of each of them a rod according to the houses of their fathers, of all their princes, twelve rods according to the houses of their fathers, and write thou each man’s name upon his rod.

And thou shalt write Aaron’s name upon the rod of Levi, for each head of family of their fathers shall have one rod.

And thou shalt lay them up in the tabernacle of the testimony, before the testimony, where I will testify of myself unto you.

And it shall come to pass regarding the man whom I shall choose that his rod shall blossom; and I will resolve the complaints of the sons of Israel, with which they murmur against you.

And Moses spoke unto the sons of Israel, and all their princes gave him a rod apiece, for each prince one, according to their fathers’ houses, even twelve rods; and the rod of Aaron was among their rods.

And Moses laid up the rods before the LORD in the tabernacle of the testimony.

¶ And it came to pass that on the next day Moses went into the tabernacle of the testimony; and, behold, the rod of Aaron of the house of Levi had budded and blossomed and brought forth open flowers and yielded almonds.

Then Moses brought out all the rods from before the LORD unto all the sons of Israel; and they looked, and each one took his rod.

10 And the LORD said unto Moses, Return Aaron’s rod before the testimony to be kept for a sign unto the rebellious sons; and thou shalt cause their complaints to cease from upon me, that they not die.

11 And Moses did as the LORD commanded him, so did he.

12 Then the sons of Israel spoke unto Moses, saying, Behold, we are dead, we are lost, we are all lost.

13 Anyone who comes near unto the tabernacle of the LORD shall die; shall we all perish?

The Budding of Aaron’s Staff

17 [a]The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and get twelve staffs(A) from them, one from the leader of each of their ancestral tribes.(B) Write the name of each man on his staff. On the staff of Levi write Aaron’s name,(C) for there must be one staff for the head of each ancestral tribe. Place them in the tent of meeting(D) in front of the ark of the covenant law,(E) where I meet with you.(F) The staff belonging to the man I choose(G) will sprout,(H) and I will rid myself of this constant grumbling(I) against you by the Israelites.”

So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and their leaders gave him twelve staffs, one for the leader of each of their ancestral tribes, and Aaron’s staff was among them. Moses placed the staffs before the Lord in the tent of the covenant law.(J)

The next day Moses entered the tent(K) and saw that Aaron’s staff,(L) which represented the tribe of Levi, had not only sprouted but had budded, blossomed and produced almonds.(M) Then Moses brought out all the staffs(N) from the Lord’s presence to all the Israelites. They looked at them, and each of the leaders took his own staff.

10 The Lord said to Moses, “Put back Aaron’s staff(O) in front of the ark of the covenant law, to be kept as a sign to the rebellious.(P) This will put an end to their grumbling against me, so that they will not die.” 11 Moses did just as the Lord commanded him.

12 The Israelites said to Moses, “We will die! We are lost, we are all lost!(Q) 13 Anyone who even comes near the tabernacle of the Lord will die.(R) Are we all going to die?”

Footnotes

  1. Numbers 17:1 In Hebrew texts 17:1-13 is numbered 17:16-28.