Numbers 17

¹And the Lord said to Moses,

²Say to the children of Israel that they are to give you rods, one for every family, for every chief, the head of his father's house, making twelve rods; let every man's name be placed on his rod.

³And let Aaron's name be placed on the rod of Levi: for there is to be one rod for the head of every family.

⁴And let them be stored up in the Tent of meeting, in front of the ark of witness where I come to you.

⁵And the rod of that man who is marked out by me for myself will have buds on it; so I will put a stop to the outcries which the children of Israel make to me against you.

⁶So Moses gave these orders to the children of Israel, and all their chiefs gave him rods, one for the head of every family, making twelve rods: and Aaron's rod was among them.

⁷And Moses put the rods before the Lord in the Tent of witness.

⁸Now on the day after, Moses went into the Tent of witness; and he saw that Aaron's rod, the rod of the house of Levi, had put out buds, and was covered with buds and flowers and fruit.

⁹Then Moses took out all the rods from before the Lord, and gave them back to the children of Israel: and they saw them, and every man took his rod.

¹⁰And the Lord said to Moses, Put Aaron's rod back in front of the ark of witness, to be kept for a sign against this false-hearted people, so that you may put a stop to their outcries against me, and death may not overtake them.

¹¹This Moses did: as the Lord gave orders, so he did.

¹²And the children of Israel said to Moses, Truly, destruction has come on us; an evil fate has overtaken us all.

¹³Death will overtake everyone who comes near, who comes near the House of the Lord: are we all to come to destruction?