The Bible in Basic English BBE
Good News Translation GNT
1 And the Lord said to Moses,
1
The Lord said to Moses,
2 Say to the children of Israel that they are to give you rods, one for every family, for every chief, the head of his father's house, making twelve rods; let every man's name be placed on his rod.
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 let Aaron's name be placed on the rod of Levi: for there is to be one rod for the head of every family.
3
and then write Aaron's name on the stick representing Levi. There will be one stick for each tribal leader.
4 And let them be stored up in the Tent of meeting, in front of the ark of witness where I come to you.
4
Take them to the Tent of my presence and put them in front of the Covenant Box, where I meet you.
5 And the rod of that man who is marked out by me for myself will have buds on it; so I will put a stop to the outcries which the children of Israel make to me against 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 gave these orders to the children of Israel, and all their chiefs gave him rods, one for the head of every family, making twelve rods: and Aaron's rod was among them.
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 And Moses put the rods before the Lord in the Tent of witness.
7
Moses then put all the sticks in the Tent in front of the Lord's Covenant Box.
8 Now on the day after, Moses went into the Tent of witness; and he saw that Aaron's rod, the rod of the house of Levi, had put out buds, and was covered with buds and flowers and fruit.
8
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 Then Moses took out all the rods from before the Lord, and gave them back to the children of Israel: and they saw them, and every man took his rod.
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 And the Lord said to Moses, Put Aaron's rod back in front of the ark of witness, to be kept for a sign against this false-hearted people, so that you may put a stop to their outcries against me, and death may not overtake them.
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 This Moses did: as the Lord gave orders, so he did.
11
Moses did as the Lord commanded.
12 And the children of Israel said to Moses, Truly, destruction has come on us; an evil fate has overtaken us all.
12
The people of Israel said to Moses, "Then that's the end of us!
13 Death will overtake everyone who comes near, who comes near the House of the Lord: are we all to come to destruction?
13
If anyone who even comes near the Tent must die, then we are all as good as dead!"
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.