Aaron's Walking Stick

17 The Lord said to Moses, ² “Tell the people of Israel to give you twelve walking sticks, one from the leader of each tribe. Write each man's name on his stick ³ and then write Aaron's name on the stick representing Levi. There will be one stick for each tribal leader. ⁴ Take them to the Tent of my presence and put them in front of the Covenant Box, where I meet you. ⁵ Then the stick of the man I have chosen will sprout. In this way I will put a stop to the constant complaining of these Israelites against you.”

⁶ So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and each of their leaders gave him a stick, one for each tribe, twelve in all, and Aaron's stick was put with them. ⁷ Moses then put all the sticks in the Tent in front of the Lord's Covenant Box.

^8 (A)The next day, when Moses went into the Tent, he saw that Aaron's stick, representing the tribe of Levi, had sprouted. It had budded, blossomed, and produced ripe almonds! ⁹ Moses took all the sticks and showed them to the Israelites. They saw what had happened, and each leader took his own stick back. ¹⁰ The Lord said to Moses, “Put Aaron's stick back in front of the Covenant Box. It is to be kept as a warning to the rebel Israelites that they will die unless their complaining stops.” ¹¹ Moses did as the Lord commanded.

¹² The people of Israel said to Moses, “Then that's the end of us! ¹³ If anyone who even comes near the Tent must die, then we are all as good as dead!”