17 The Lord said to Moses, 2 ‘Tell the Israelites that they must give to you 12 sticks, one for each tribe. Write the name of the leader of each tribe on each stick. 3 Write Aaron's name on the stick from the tribe of Levi. 4 Take the sticks to the Tent of Meeting and put them in front of the Covenant Box. 5 Leaves will start to grow on the stick of the man that I have chosen as priest. In that way I will stop the bad words that the Israelites are always saying against you.’
6 Moses spoke to the Israelites and the leaders gave him 12 sticks. 7 Moses put the sticks in front of the Covenant Box of the Lord in the Tent of Meeting.
8 The next day, Moses went to the Tent of Meeting. He saw that the stick of the tribe of Levi had started to make leaves. That stick had the name of Aaron on it. Flowers and almonds were growing on it! 9 Moses brought all the sticks out of the Tent of Meeting. He showed them to the leaders and they saw what had happened. Each leader took his own stick.
10 The Lord said to Moses, ‘Put Aaron's stick in front of the Covenant Box again. The people will see it there like a sign. Then they will remember that they must not turn against me. If they continue to complain, they will die.’ 11 Moses did what the Lord told him.
12 The Israelites said to Moses, ‘We will all die! 13 Any person who comes near the Lord 's special Tent will die. So we will all die!’
17 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the Israelites. Get twelve wooden walking sticks from them. Get one from the leader of each of the twelve tribes. Write the name of each man on his walking stick. 3 On the stick from Levi, write Aaron’s name. There must be one stick for the head of each of the twelve tribes. 4 Put these walking sticks in the Meeting Tent in front of the Box of the Agreement. This is the place where I meet with you. 5 I will choose one man to be the true priest. You will know which man I choose because his walking stick will begin to grow new leaves. In this way I will stop the people from always complaining against you and me.”
6 So Moses spoke to the Israelites. Each of the leaders gave him a walking stick. There were twelve walking sticks. There was one stick from each leader of each tribe. One of the walking sticks belonged to Aaron. 7 Moses put the walking sticks before the Lord in the Tent of the Agreement.
8 The next day Moses entered the Tent. He saw that Aaron’s walking stick, the stick from the family of Levi, was the one that had grown new leaves. That walking stick had even grown branches and made almonds. 9 So Moses brought out all the sticks from the Lord ’s place. He showed the walking sticks to the Israelites. They all looked at the sticks, and each man took his own stick back.
10 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Put Aaron’s walking stick back in front of the Box that holds the Agreement. [ a ] This will be a warning for these people who are always turning against me. This will stop their complaining against me so that I will not destroy them.” 11 So Moses did what the Lord commanded him.
12 The Israelites said to Moses, “We know that we will die! We are lost! We will all be destroyed! 13 Anyone who even comes near the Lord ’s holy place will die. Is it true that we will all die?”
17 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and take of every one of them a rod according to the house of their fathers, of all their princes according to the house of their fathers twelve rods: write thou every man's name upon his rod.
3 And thou shalt write Aaron's name upon the rod of Levi: for one rod shall be for the head of the house of their fathers.
4 And thou shalt lay them up in the tabernacle of the congregation before the testimony, where I will meet with you.
5 And it shall come to pass, that the man's rod, whom I shall choose, shall blossom: and I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the children of Israel, whereby they murmur against you.
6 And Moses spake unto the children of Israel, and every one of 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.
7 And Moses laid up the rods before the Lord in the tabernacle of witness.
8 And it came to pass, that on the morrow Moses went into the tabernacle of witness; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds.
9 And Moses brought out all the rods from before the Lord unto all the children of Israel: and they looked, and took every man his rod.
10 And the Lord said unto Moses, Bring Aaron's rod again before the testimony, to be kept for a token against the rebels; and thou shalt quite take away their murmurings from me, that they die not.
11 And Moses did so: as the Lord commanded him, so did he.
12 And the children of Israel spake unto Moses, saying, Behold, we die, we perish, we all perish.
13 Whosoever cometh any thing near unto the tabernacle of the Lord shall die: shall we be consumed with dying?
17 [ a ] Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the sons of Israel, and obtain from them a staff for each father’s household: twelve staffs, from all their leaders for their fathers’ households. You shall write each man’s name on his staff, 3 and write Aaron’s name on the staff of Levi; for there is to be one staff for the head of each of their fathers’ households. 4 You shall then leave them in the tent of meeting in front of ( A ) the testimony, where I meet with you. 5 And it will come about that the staff of ( B ) the man whom I choose will sprout. So I will relieve Myself of the grumblings of the sons of Israel, who are grumbling against you.” 6 So Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, and all their leaders gave him a staff, one for each leader, for their fathers’ households, twelve staffs in all , with the staff of Aaron among their staffs. 7 Then Moses left the staffs before the Lord in ( C ) the tent of the testimony.
8 Now on the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony; and behold, ( D ) Aaron’s staff for the house of Levi had sprouted and produced buds and bloomed with blossoms, and it yielded ripe almonds. 9 Moses then brought out all the staffs from the presence of the Lord to all the sons of Israel; and they looked, and each man took his staff. 10 But the Lord said to Moses, “Put the staff of Aaron ( E ) back in front of the testimony [ b ] to be kept as a sign against the [ c ] ( F ) rebels, so that you may put an end to their grumblings against Me and they do not die.” 11 Moses did so ; just as the Lord had commanded him, so he did.
12 Then the sons of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, “ ( G ) Behold, we are passing away, we are perishing, we are all perishing! 13 ( H ) Everyone who comes near, who comes near to the tabernacle of the Lord , must die. Are we to perish completely?”
17 [ a ] The Lord said to Moses, 2 “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. 3 On the staff of Levi write Aaron’s name, ( C ) for there must be one staff for the head of each ancestral tribe. 4 Place them in the tent of meeting ( D ) in front of the ark of the covenant law, ( E ) where I meet with you. ( F ) 5 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.”
6 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. 7 Moses placed the staffs before the Lord in the tent of the covenant law. ( J )
8 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 ) 9 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?”
