Aaron’s Staff Buds
1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the Israelites and take staffs for them, one for each ancestral house, of all their leaders according to their ancestral houses, twelve staffs. Write each man’s name on his staff. 3 You shall write Aaron’s name on Levi’s staff. There shall be one staff for each head of their ancestral houses. 4 You shall lay them up in the Tent of Meeting before the covenant, where I meet with you. 5 It shall happen that the staff of the man whom I shall choose shall bud, and I will cause the complaining of the Israelites against you to cease.
6 Moses spoke to the Israelites, and all their leaders gave him staffs, one for each clan leader, a total of twelve staffs. Aaron’s staff was among their staffs. 7 Moses laid up the staffs before the Lord in the Tent of the Testimony.
8 The next day, Moses went into the Tent of the Testimony, and Aaron’s staff for the house of Levi had sprouted, budded, produced blossoms, and bore ripe almonds. 9 Moses brought out all the staffs from before the Lord to all the Israelites. They looked, and each man took his staff.
10 The Lord said to Moses, “Put back the staff of Aaron before the covenant, to be kept as a token against the children of rebellion, that you may make an end of their complaining against me, that they not die.” 11 Moses did so. As the Lord commanded him, so he did.
12 The Israelites spoke to Moses, saying, “We are perishing! We are undone! We are all undone! 13 Everyone who keeps approaching the Lord’s tabernacle dies! Will we all perish?”