| King James Bible | New International Version |
| 1And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, | 1The LORD said to Moses, |
| 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. | 2"Speak to the Israelites and get twelve staffs from them, one from the leader of each of their ancestral tribes. Write the name of each man on his staff. |
| 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. | 3On the staff of Levi write Aaron's name, for there must be one staff for the head of each ancestral tribe. |
| 4And thou shalt lay them up in the tabernacle of the congregation before the testimony, where I will meet with you. | 4Place them in the tent of meeting in front of the ark of the covenant law, where I 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. | 5The staff belonging to the man I choose will sprout, and I will rid myself of this constant grumbling against you by the Israelites." |
| 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. | 6So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and their leaders gave him twelve staffs, one for the leader of each of their ancestral tribes, and Aaron's staff was among them. |
| 7And Moses laid up the rods before the LORD in the tabernacle of witness. | 7Moses placed the staffs before the LORD in the tent of the covenant law. |
| 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. | 8The next day Moses entered the tent and saw that Aaron's staff, which represented the tribe of Levi, had not only sprouted but had budded, blossomed and produced 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. | 9Then Moses brought out all the staffs from the LORD's presence to all the Israelites. They looked at them, and each of the leaders took his own staff. |
| 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. | 10The LORD said to Moses, "Put back Aaron's staff in front of the ark of the covenant law, to be kept as a sign to the rebellious. This will put an end to their grumbling against me, so that they will not die." |
| 11And Moses did so: as the LORD commanded him, so did he. | 11Moses did just as the LORD commanded him. |
| 12And the children of Israel spake unto Moses, saying, Behold, we die, we perish, we all perish. | 12The Israelites said to Moses, "We will die! We are lost, we are all lost! |
| 13Whosoever cometh any thing near unto the tabernacle of the LORD shall die: shall we be consumed with dying? | 13Anyone who even comes near the tabernacle of the LORD will die. Are we all going to die?" |
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