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Aaron's Rod Buds

¹ Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,² "Speak to the sons of Israel and get rods from them, a rod for each father's household, from all their leaders according to their fathers' households, twelve rods. Write every man's name on his rod,³ and write Aaron's name on the rod of Levi his ancestor; for there is one rod for the head of each of their fathers' households.⁴ "You shall then deposit them in the Tent of Meeting (tabernacle) in front of the ark of ^(C1)the Testimony, where I meet with you.⁵ "It shall be that the rod of ^(C1)the man whom I choose will bud, and I will no longer hear the constant grumblings of the Israelites, who are grumbling against you."⁶ So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and each of their leaders gave him a rod, one for each leader according to their fathers' households, twelve rods, and the rod of Aaron was among their rods.⁷ So Moses deposited the rods before the LORD in ^(C1)the Tent of the Testimony (tabernacle).

⁸ Now on the next day Moses went into the Tent of the Testimony, and ^(F1)(C1)the rod of Aaron of the tribe of Levi had sprouted and put out buds and produced blossoms and yielded ripe almonds.⁹ Moses brought out all the rods from the presence of LORD to all the Israelites; and they looked, and each man took his rod.¹⁰ But the LORD said to Moses, "Put Aaron's rod back ^(C1)before the Testimony in the ark, to be kept as a warning sign for the ^(C2)rebellious and contentious, so that you may put an end to their murmurings of discontent against Me, so that they do not die."¹¹ And Moses did so; just as the LORD had commanded him, so he did.

¹² The sons of Israel said to Moses, "^(C1)Look, we perish, we are doomed, all doomed!¹³ "^(C1)Everyone who approaches, who approaches the tabernacle of the LORD, must die. Are we to perish completely?"