Numbers 17

Berean Standard Bible

Chapter summary

The Lord instructed Moses to collect twelve staffs from the leaders of the Israelite tribes, including Aaron's staff for the tribe of Levi, and to place them in the Tent of Meeting in front of the Testimony. God stated that the staff of the man He chose would sprout to end the grumbling of the Israelites. The following day, Moses entered the tent and discovered that Aaron's staff had sprouted, budded, blossomed, and produced almonds. Moses brought all the staffs out to the Israelites, who viewed them and retrieved their own individual staffs. God then commanded Moses to return Aaron's staff before the Testimony as a sign to rebellious people to end their grumbling and prevent their death, which Moses did. Finally, the Israelites exclaimed to Moses that they were perishing and feared that anyone approaching the tabernacle would die.

Summary automatically generated from the Bible text.

Words of Jesus in red

¹And the LORD said to Moses, ²“Speak to the Israelites and take from them twelve staffs, one from the leader of each tribe. Write each man’s name on his staff, ³and write Aaron’s name on the staff of Levi, because there must be one staff for the head of each tribe. ⁴Place the staffs in the Tent of Meeting in front of the Testimony, where I meet with you. ⁵The staff belonging to the man I choose will sprout, and I will rid Myself of the constant grumbling of the Israelites against you.” ⁶So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and each of their leaders gave him a staff—one for each of the leaders of their tribes, twelve staffs in all. And Aaron’s staff was among them. ⁷Then Moses placed the staffs before the LORD in the Tent of the Testimony. ⁸The next day Moses entered the Tent of the Testimony and saw that Aaron’s staff, representing the house of Levi, had sprouted, put forth buds, blossomed, and produced almonds. ⁹Then Moses brought out all the staffs from the LORD’s presence to all the Israelites. They saw them, and each man took his own staff. ¹⁰The LORD said to Moses, “Put Aaron’s staff back in front of the Testimony, to be kept as a sign for the rebellious, so that you may put an end to their grumbling against Me, lest they die.” ¹¹So Moses did as the LORD had commanded him. ¹²Then the Israelites declared to Moses, “Look, we are perishing! We are lost; we are all lost! ¹³Anyone who comes near the tabernacle of the LORD will die. Are we all going to perish?”

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Louis Segond 1910 and Berean Standard Bible: public domain. Cross references: open-cross-ref, Creative Commons BY 4.0.