The Fourth Book of Moses Called Numbers

 1 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

 2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and take of every one of them ^aa 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.

 3 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.

 4 And thou shalt lay them up in the ^atabernacle of the congregation before the testimony, where I will ^bmeet with you.

 5 And it shall come to pass, that the man’s rod, whom I shall ^achoose, shall blossom: and I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the children of Israel, whereby they murmur against you.

 6 ¶And Moses spake unto the children of Israel, and every one of their ^aprinces 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.

 7 And Moses laid up the rods before the Lord in the ^atabernacle of witness.

 8 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.

 9 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.

 10 ¶And the Lord said unto Moses, Bring ^aAaron’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.

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

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

 13 Whosoever cometh ^aany thing near unto the tabernacle of the Lord shall ^bdie: ^cshall we be consumed with dying?