Numbers 17
1 And the
LORD spake unto
Moses, saying,
2 Speak 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. 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. 4 And thou shalt lay them
up in the
tabernacle of the
congregation before the
testimony, where I will
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, whereby they
murmur against you.
6 And
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. 7 And
Moses laid
up the
rods before the
LORD in the
tabernacle of
witness. 8 And 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. 9 And
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. 10 And 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.
11 And
Moses did so: as the
LORD commanded him, so
did he.
12 And the
children of
Israel spake unto
Moses, saying, Behold, we
die, we
perish, we all
perish.
13 Whosoever cometh any thing
near unto the
tabernacle of the
LORD shall
die: shall we be
consumed with
dying?