Chapter 17

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, ²Speak 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. ³And 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. ⁴And thou shalt lay them up in the tabernacle of the congregation before the testimony, where I will meet with you. ⁵And 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.

⁶And 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. ⁷And Moses laid up the rods before the Lord in the tabernacle of witness. ⁸And 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. ⁹And 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.

¹⁰And 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. ¹¹And Moses did so: as the Lord commanded him, so did he. ¹²And the children of Israel spake unto Moses, saying, Behold, we die, we perish, we all perish. ¹³Whosoever cometh any thing near unto the tabernacle of the Lord shall die: shall we be consumed with dying?