Números 17

¹ And the LORD spake untoWhile he was in the door of the tabernacle.Moses, saying,

² Speake vnto the children of Israel, and take of euery one of them a rod, after the house of their fathers, of all their princes according to the familie of their fathers, euen twelue rods: and thou shalt write euery mans name vpon his rod.

³ And write Aarons name vpon the rod of Leui: for euery rodde shalbe for the head of the house of their fathers.

⁴ And thou shalt put them in the Tabernacle of the Congregation, before the Arke of the Testimonie, where I wil declare my selfe to you.

⁵ And it shall come to pass, [that] the man's rod, whom I shallTo be the chief priest.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 rodThough Joseph's tribe was divided into two in the distribution of the land, yet here it is but one and Levi makes a tribe.of Aaron [was] among their rods.

⁷ And Moses layde the rods before the Lord in the Tabernacle of the Testimonie.

⁸ And it came to pass, that on the morrow Moses went into the tabernacle of witness; and, behold, the rod of AaronTo declare that God chose the house of Levi to serve him in the tabernacle.for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds.

⁹ Then Moses brought out all the rods from before the Lorde vnto all the children of Israel: and they looked vpon them, & tooke euery man his rodde.

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 theirGrudging that Aaron should be high priest.murmurings from me, that they die not.

¹¹ So Moses did as the Lord had commanded him: so did he.

¹² And the children of Israel spake unto Moses, saying, Behold,The Chaldea text describes their complaining in this way; «We die by the sword, the earth swallows us up, the pestilence consumes us.»we die, we perish, we all perish.

¹³ Whosoeuer commeth neere, or approcheth to the Tabernacle of the Lorde, shal dye: shal we be consumed and dye?