Numbers 17

1 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

The Lord told Moses,

2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and take of them a staff, a staff for each father's house, of all their princes according to the houses of their fathers, twelve staves: thou shalt write each one's name upon his staff.

“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,

3 And Aaron's name shalt thou write upon the staff of Levi; for one staff shall be for [each] head of their fathers' houses.

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.

4 And thou shalt lay them up in the tent of meeting before the testimony, where I meet with you.

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

5 And it shall come to pass, that the man whom I shall choose, his staff shall bud forth; and I will make to cease from before me the murmurings of the children of Israel, that they murmur against you.

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.”

6 And Moses spoke to the children of Israel, and all their princes gave him a staff, one staff for each prince according to their fathers' houses, twelve staves, and the staff of Aaron was among their staves.

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.

7 And Moses laid the staves before Jehovah in the tent of the testimony.

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

8 And it came to pass, when on the morrow Moses went into the tent of the testimony, behold, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and ripened almonds.

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.

9 And Moses brought out all the staves from before Jehovah to all the children of Israel, and they looked and took each one his staff.

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.

10 And Jehovah said to Moses, Bring Aaron's staff again before the testimony, to be kept as a token for the sons of rebellion, that thou mayest put an end to their murmurings before me, that they may not die.

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.”

11 And Moses did so: as Jehovah had commanded him, so did he.

Moses did what the Lord ordered him to do.

12 And the children of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, Lo, we expire, we perish, we all perish.

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!

13 Every one that comes at all near to the tabernacle of Jehovah shall die: shall we then expire altogether?

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