Numbers 17

1 The Lord told Moses,

And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,

2 “Tell the Israelites to bring twelve walking sticks, one from the leader of each tribe. Write the name of each man on the walking stick,

Speak unto the children of Israel, and take from them one staff each for a family division, from all their princes, according to their family divisions, twelve staves: the name of each man shalt thou write upon his staff.

3 and write Aaron's name on the walking stick of the tribe of Levi, because there has to be a walking stick for the head of each tribe.

And the name of Aaron shalt thou write upon the staff of Levi; for there shall be but one staff for the head of their family division.

4 Place the walking sticks in the Tent of Meeting in front of the Testimony where I meet with you.

And thou shalt lay them down in the tabernacle of the congregation before the testimony, where I usually meet with you.

5 The walking stick that belongs to the man I choose will sprout buds, and I will put a stop to the Israelites' constant complaints against you.”

And it shall come to pass, that the staff of the man whom I shall choose, shall blossom: and I will allay from around me the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against you.

6 Moses explained this to the Israelites, and each of their leaders gave him a walking stick, one for each of the leaders of their tribes. So there were twelve walking sticks including the one belonging to Aaron.

And Moses spoke unto the children of Israel, and all their princes gave him each a staff, one for every prince, according to their family divisions, twelve staves: and the staff of Aaron was among their staves.

7 Moses placed the walking sticks before the Lord in the Tent of the Testimony.

And Moses laid down the staves before the Lord in the tabernacle of the testimony.

8 The next day Moses went into the Tent of the Testimony and saw that Aaron's walking stick that represented the tribe of Levi, had sprouted and developed buds, flowered and produced almonds.

And it came to pass on the morrow, that as Moses went into the tabernacle of the testimony, behold, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had budded; and it brought forth buds, and produced blossoms, and yielded ripe almonds.

9 Moses took all the walking sticks from the presence of the Lord and showed them to all the Israelites. They saw them, and each man collected his own walking stick.

And Moses brought out all the staves from before the Lord unto all the children of Israel; and they looked [at them], and took away every one his staff.

10 The Lord told Moses, “Put Aaron's walking stick back in front of the Testimony, to be kept there as a reminder to warn anyone who wants to rebel, so that you may stop their complaining against me. Otherwise they'll die.”

And the Lord said unto Moses, Carry back the staff of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept as a token against the children of rebellion, that there may be an end of their murmurings from around me, and they die not.

11 Moses did what the Lord ordered him to do.

And Moses did so; as the Lord had commanded him, so did he.

12 Then the Israelites came and told Moses, “Can't you see we're all going to die? We'll be destroyed! We're all going to be killed!

And the children of Israel said unto Moses, thus, Behold, we perish, we are lost, we are all lost.

13 Anyone who dares to approach the Tabernacle of the Lord will die. Are we all going to be completely wiped out?”

Every one that cometh near at all unto the tabernacle of the Lord must die: shall we totally perish?