1And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

2Speak to the children of Israel, and take ⁶⁶rods of them, according to the houses of their families, a rod from all their princes, according to the houses of their families, twelve rods, and write the name of each on his rod.

3And write the name of Aaron on the rod of Levi; for it is one rod for each: they shall give them according to the tribe of the house of their families.

4And you shall put them in the tabernacle of witness, before the testimony, where I will be made known to you.

5And it shall be, the man whom I shall choose, his rod shall blossom; and I will remove from me the murmuring of the children of Israel, which they murmur against you.

6And Moses spoke to the children of Israel, and all their chiefs gave him a rod each, for one chief a rod, according to the house of their families, twelve rods; and the rod of Aaron was in the midst of the rods.

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

8And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of witness; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi blossomed, and put forth a bud, and bloomed blossoms and produced almonds.

9And Moses brought forth all the rods from before the Lord to all the sons of Israel; and they looked, and each one took his rod.

10And the Lord said to Moses, Lay up the rod of Aaron before the testimonies to be kept as a sign for the children of the disobedient; and let their murmuring cease from me, and they shall not die.

11And Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded Moses, so did they.

12And the children of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, Behold, we are cut off, we are destroyed, we are consumed.

13Every one that touches the tabernacle of the Lord, dies: shall we die utterly?