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Numbers

Tells about the Israelites' 40 years in the desert, including their travels and the census of their tribes.

Chapter 17

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1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

*And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

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

*Tell the people of Israel to give you a stick from each family, following the leaders' families, and twelve sticks in total. Write each person's name on their stick.

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.

*And you should write Aaron's name on Levi's staff, because each staff will represent the family leader.

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

*And you shall place them in the church tent, near the sacred message, where I will meet with you.

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

*Then, the special man's stick I pick will bloom, and I will stop hearing the complaints from the Israelites about you.

6 And Moses spake unto the children of Israel, and every one of their princes 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.

*Moses talked to the people of Israel and their leaders each gave him a stick. There were 12 sticks in total, one for each leader, based on their family groups. One of these sticks belonged to Aaron.

7 And Moses laid up the rods before the LORD in the tabernacle of witness.

*Moses put the sticks away in the witness tent for God to see.

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.

*One day later, Moses entered the tent where people could see God's presence. Inside, he saw Aaron's staff for the family of Levi had sprouted branches, flowers, and produced 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.

*Moses showed all the sticks to the people, and they looked at them. Each person then took their own stick.

10 And the LORD said unto Moses, Bring Aaron’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.

*And God told Moses, "Bring back Aaron's staff in front of the evidence. It will serve as a sign against those who rebel. Then, you should stop their complaints so I am not forced to punish them with death."

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

*And Moses followed: exactly as the Lord instructed him, and he did the same.

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

*The Israelite children told Moses, "We are dying, we're disappearing, everyone is disappearing."

13 Whosoever cometh any thing near unto the tabernacle of the LORD shall die: shall we be consumed with dying?

*Whoever gets close to God's tent will die; should we all perish like this?

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* work in progress, there will be mistakes

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