Numbers 17

¹And the Lord spak to Moises, `and seide, Speke thou to the sones of Israel,

²and take thou yerdis, bi her kynredis, bi ech kynrede o yeerde, take thou of alle the princes of the lynagis twelue yerdis; and thou schalt write the name of each lynage aboue his yerde;

³forsothe the name of Aaron schal be in the lynage of Leuy, and o yerde schal conteyne alle the meynees of hem.

⁴And thou schalt putte tho yerdis in the tabernacle of boond of pees, bifor the witnessyng, where Y schal speke to thee; the yerde of hym schal buriowne, whom Y schal chese of hem;

⁵and Y schal refreyne fro me the playnyngis of the sones of Israel, bi whiche thei grutchen ayens you.

⁶And Moyses spak to the sones of Israel; and alle princes yauen to hym yerdis, bi alle lynagis; and the yerdis weren twelue, without the yerde of Aaron.

⁷And whanne Moises hadde put tho yerdis bifor the Lord, in the tabernacle of witnessyng, he yede ayen in the day suynge,

⁸and founde that the yerde of Aaron, `in the hows of Leuy, buriounnede; and whanne knoppis weren greet, the blossoms `hadden broke out, whiche weren alargid in leeuys, and weren fourmed in to alemaundis.

⁹Therfor Moyses brouyte forth alle the yerdis fro the siyt of the Lord to al the sones of Israel; and thei sien, and resseyueden ech his yerde.

¹⁰And the Lord seide to Moises, Bere ayen the yerde of Aaron in to the tabernacle of witnessyng, that it be kept there in to `the signe of the rebel sones of Israel, and that her `playntis reste fro me, lest thei dien.

¹¹And Moises dide, as the Lord comaundide.

¹²Forsothe the sones of Israel seiden to Moises, Lo! we ben wastid, alle we perischiden;

¹³who euer neiyeth to the tabernacle of the Lord, he dieth; whethir we schulen be doon awei alle `til to deeth?

Numbers 17

¹And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

²Speak 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.

³And 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.

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

⁵And 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.

⁶And 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.

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

⁸And 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.

⁹And 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.

¹⁰And 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.

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

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

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