Numbers 17

¹And our Lord spake to Moyses, saying:

²Speak to the children of Israel, and take a rod of every one of their kindreds, of all the Princes of their tribes, twelve rods, and the name of every one thou shalt write upon his rod.

³And the name of Aaron shall be in the tribe of Levi, and one rod shall contain all their families:

⁴and thou shalt lay them in the tabernacle of covenant before the testimony, where I will speak to thee.

⁵Whomsoever of these I shall choose, his rod shall blossom: and I shall stay from me the grudgings of the children of Israel, wherewith they murmur against you.

⁶And Moyses spake to the children of Israel: and all the Princes gave him rods by every tribe: and they were twelve rods besides Aaron's rod.

⁷Which when Moyses had laid before our Lord in the tabernacle of testimony:

⁸returning the day following he found that Aaron's rod in the house of Levi was budded: and the buds thereof swelling, the blossoms were shot forth, which spreading the leaves; were fashioned into almonds.

⁹Moyses therefore brought forth all the rods from the sight of our Lord to all the children of Israel, and they saw and every one received their rods.

¹⁰And our Lord said to Moyses: Carry back Aaron's rod into the tabernacle of testimony, that it may be kept there for a sign of the rebellious children of Israel, and let their complaints cease from me, lest they die.

¹¹And Moyses did as our Lord had commanded.

¹²And the children of Israel said to Moyses: Behold we are consumed, we are all perished.

¹³Whosoever approacheth to the tabernacle of our Lord, he dieth. Are we all to be destroyed unto utter consumption?