Numbers 17

1 And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,

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

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

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

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

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