Numbers 17

₁The Lord said to Moses: ₂‘Talk to the Israelites and tell them that each tribe must bring a staff. You must get one staff from each family leader, so there must be 12 staffs. You must write the name of each tribe on his staff ₃and you must write Aaron's name on the tribe of Levi's staff. There must be one staff for each tribe. ₄Then you must put the staffs down in the tent where I appear to the Israelites. Put them down in front of the covenant box where the 10 commandments are and where I appear to you. ₅I will choose someone to be priest and his staff will start growing new leaves. That is how I will stop the Israelites from complaining about you.’

₆Moses talked to the Israelites and each leader gave him a staff. There were 12 staffs, one staff for each leader. Aaron's staff was also there. ₇Moses took the staffs and he put them in front of the Lord in the tent where the 10 commandments were.

₈The next day, when Moses went into the tent, there were branches and leaves on Aaron's staff. There were flowers on his staff and ripe almonds. ₉Moses took the staffs out of the tent and he gave them to the Israelites. They looked at the staffs and each leader took his own staff. ₁₀Then the Lord said to Moses: ‘You must put back Aaron's staff in front of the covenant box in which the 10 commandments are. It must stay there as a sign and warn people who want to rebel. They must know that if they don't stop complaining about you, they will die.’

₁₁Moses did what the Lord told him to do. ₁₂Then the Israelites said to Moses: ‘We are going to die. We will all die. None of us will stay alive. ₁₃Any person who comes near the tent of the Lord will die. Will we all die?’