The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 ADONAI said to Moshe,
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And the Lord said to Moses,
2 "Speak to the people of Isra'el, and take from them staffs, one for each ancestral tribe from each leader of a tribe, twelve staffs. Write each man's name on his staff;
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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.
3 and write Aharon's name on the staff of Levi, for each tribe's leader is to have one staff.
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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.
4 Put them in the tent of meeting in front of the testimony, where I meet with you.
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And let them be stored up in the Tent of meeting, in front of the ark of witness where I come to you.
5 The staff of the man I am going to choose will sprout buds - in this way I will put a stop to the complaints the people of Isra'el keep making against you."
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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.
6 Moshe spoke to the people of Isra'el, and all their leaders gave him staffs, one for each leader, according to their ancestral tribes, twelve staffs. Aharon's staff was among their staffs.
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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.
7 Moshe put the staffs before ADONAI in the tent of the testimony.
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And Moses put the rods before the Lord in the Tent of witness.
8 The next day Moshe went into the tent of the testimony, and there he saw that Aharon's staff for the house of Levi had budded - it had sprouted not only buds but flowers and ripe almonds as well.
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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.
9 Moshe brought out all the staffs from before ADONAI to all the people of Isra'el, and they looked, and each man took back his staff.
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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.
10 ADONAI said to Moshe, "Return Aharon's staff to its place in front of the testimony. It is to be kept there as a sign to the rebels, so that they will stop grumbling against me and thus not die."
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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.
11 Moshe did this; he did as ADONAI had ordered him.
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This Moses did: as the Lord gave orders, so he did.
12 But the people of Isra'el said to Moshe, "Oh no! We're dead men! Lost! We're all lost!
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And the children of Israel said to Moses, Truly, destruction has come on us; an evil fate has overtaken us all.
13 Whenever anyone approaches the tabernacle of ADONAI, he dies! Will we all perish?"
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Death will overtake everyone who comes near, who comes near the House of the Lord: are we all to come to destruction?
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.