Numbers 17

1 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

Then spake Yahweh unto Moses, saying:

2 Speak to 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.

Speak unto the sons of Israel and take of them one staff each for an ancestral house of all their princes, by their ancestral houses, twelve staves, —each man’s name, shalt thou write upon his staff;

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.

and, Aaron’s name, shalt thou write upon the staff of Levi, —for, one staff, shall there be for the head of their ancestral house.

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

Then shalt thou lay them up in the tent of meeting, —before the testimony, where I 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, by which they murmur against you.

So shall it come to pass, that, the man whom I shall choose, his staff, shall bud, —so will I cause to cease from against me the murmurings of the sons of Israel, wherewith they, are murmuring against you.

6 And Moses spoke to 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.

And Moses spake unto the sons of Israel and every one of their princes gave unto him, a staff apiece, for each prince, by their ancestral houses, twelve staves, —and the staff of Aaron, was in the midst of their staves.

7 And Moses laid the rods before the LORD in the tabernacle of witness.

So Moses laid up the staves before Yahweh, —in the tent of the testimony.

8 And it came to pass, that on the next day Moses went into the tabernacle of witness; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi had budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds.

And it came to pass, on the morrow, that Moses entered into the tent of the testimony; and lo! the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi, had budded, —yea it had brought forth buds and bloomed blossoms, and borne ripe almonds.

9 And Moses brought out all the rods from before the LORD to all the children of Israel: and they looked, and took every man his rod.

So then Moses brought forth all the staves, from before Yahweh, unto all the sons of Israel, —and they saw and took, each man his own staff.

10 And the LORD said to Moses, Bring Aaron’s rod again before the testimony, to be kept for a sign against the rebels; and thou shalt quite take away their murmurings from me, that they die not.

And Yahweh said unto Moses—Put back the rod of Aaron, before the testimony, to be kept as a sign unto such as are perverse, —that thou mayest bring to an end their murmurings against me that they die not.

11 And Moses did so: as the LORD commanded him, so did he.

Thus did Moses, —as Yahweh commanded him, so, did he.

12 And the children of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, Behold, we die, we perish, we all perish.

Then spake the sons of Israel unto Moses saying: Lo! we have breathed our last—we are lost, we are, all, lost:

13 Whoever approacheth the tabernacle of the LORD shall die: shall we be consumed with dying?

whosoever draweth near—draweth near—unto the habitation of Yahweh, dieth, —are we ever to have made an end of breathing our last?