Study Desk

Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

"Speak to the sons of Israel, and obtain from them a staff for each father's household: twelve staffs, from all their leaders for their fathers' households. You shall write each man's name on his staff,

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.

and write Aaron's name on the staff of Levi; for there is to be one staff for the head of each of their fathers' households.

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.

"You shall then leave them in the tent of meeting in front of the testimony, where I meet with you.

And thou shalt lay them up in the tabernacle of the congregation before the testimony, where I will meet with you.

"And it will come about that the staff of the man whom I choose will sprout. So I will relieve Myself of the grumblings of the sons of Israel, who are grumbling against you."

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.

So Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, and all their leaders gave him a staff, one for each leader, for their fathers' households, twelve staffs in all, with the staff of Aaron among their staffs.

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.

Then Moses left the staffs before the LORD in the tent of the testimony.

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

Now on the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony; and behold, Aaron's staff for the house of Levi had sprouted and produced buds and bloomed with blossoms, and it yielded ripe almonds.

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.

Moses then brought out all the staffs from the presence of the LORD to all the sons of Israel; and they looked, and each man took his staff.

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.

But the LORD said to Moses, "Put the staff of Aaron back in front of the testimony to be kept as a sign against the rebels, so that you may put an end to their grumblings against Me and they do not die."

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.

Moses did so; just as the LORD had commanded him, so he did.

And Moses did so: as the Lord commanded him, so did he.

Then the sons of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, "Behold, we are passing away, we are perishing, we are all perishing!

And the children of Israel spake unto Moses, saying, Behold, we die, we perish, we all perish.

"Everyone who comes near, who comes near to the tabernacle of the LORD, must die. Are we to perish completely?"

Whosoever cometh any thing near unto the tabernacle of the Lord shall die: shall we be consumed with dying?