¹Then the Lord spoke to Moses and said, ²“Speak to the sons of Israel, and take from each of them a rod according to the paternal house, from all their leaders, according to their paternal house – twelve rods – and you will write each one's name on his rod. ³And you will write the name of Aaron on Levi's rod, for there is one rod for the head of their paternal house. ⁴And you will deposit them in the tent of contact in front of the testimony, where I will meet with you. ⁵And it will come to pass that the rod of the man whom I choose will sprout, and I will put a stop to the murmurings against me of the sons of Israel, which they murmur against you.” ⁶And Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, and each of their leaders gave him a rod – for each leader, a rod for that leader – according to their paternal house, twelve rods, and Aaron's rod was among their rods. ⁷And Moses deposited the rods before the Lord at the tent of the testimony. ⁸And it came to pass on the next day that Moses went to the tent of the testimony, and what he saw was that Aaron's rod had sprouted, for the house of Levi, and it had produced a sprout, and it had blossomed with a flower, and it had yielded almonds. ⁹And Moses brought out all the rods from before the Lord to all the sons of Israel, and they each saw and took their own rod. ¹⁰And the Lord said to Moses, “Bring Aaron's rod back before the testimony, as a retained item, as a sign about the rebels. And you will put an end to their murmurings against me so that they do not die.” ¹¹And Moses did it. As the Lord commanded him, so he acted. ¹²And the sons of Israel spoke to Moses, and they said, “Look, we are expiring, we are perishing, we are all perishing. ¹³Anyone who approaches – who approaches the tabernacle of the Lord – will die. Will we ever cease from expiring?”