English Standard Version ESV
The Message Bible MSG
1 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
1
God spoke to Moses:
2 "Speak to the people of Israel, and get from them staffs, one for each fathers' house, from all their chiefs according to their fathers' houses, twelve staffs. Write each man's name on his staff,
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"Speak to the People of Israel. Get staffs from them - twelve staffs in all, one from the leader of each of their ancestral tribes. Write each man's name on his staff.
3 and write Aaron's name on the staff of Levi. For there shall be one staff for the head of each fathers' house.
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Start with Aaron; write Aaron's name on the staff of Levi and then proceed with the rest, a staff for the leader of each ancestral tribe.
4 Then you shall deposit them in the tent of meeting before the testimony, where I meet with you.
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Now lay them out in the Tent of Meeting in front of The Testimony where I keep appointments with you.
5 And the staff of the man whom I choose shall sprout. Thus I will make to cease from me the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against you."
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What will happen next is this: The staff of the man I choose will sprout. I'm going to put a stop to this endless grumbling by the People of Israel against you."
6 Moses spoke to the people of Israel. And all their chiefs gave him staffs, one for each chief, according to their fathers' houses, twelve staffs. And the staff of Aaron was among their staffs.
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Moses spoke to the People of Israel. Their leaders handed over twelve staffs, one for the leader of each tribe. And Aaron's staff was one of them.
7 And Moses deposited the staffs before the LORD in the tent of the testimony.
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Moses laid out the staffs before God in the Tent of Testimony.
8 On the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony, and behold, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds.
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Moses walked into the Tent of Testimony the next day and saw that Aaron's staff, the staff of the tribe of Levi, had in fact sprouted - buds, blossoms, and even ripe almonds!
9 Then Moses brought out all the staffs from before the LORD to all the people of Israel. And they looked, and each man took his staff.
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Moses brought out all the staffs from God's presence and presented them to the People of Israel. They took a good look. Each leader took the staff with his name on it.
10 And the LORD said to Moses, "Put back the staff of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept as a sign for the rebels, that you may make an end of their grumblings against me, lest they die."
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God said to Moses, "Return Aaron's staff to the front of The Testimony. Keep it there as a sign to rebels. This will put a stop to the grumbling against me and save their lives."
11 Thus did Moses; as the LORD commanded him, so he did.
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Moses did just as God commanded him.
12 And the people of Israel said to Moses, "Behold, we perish, we are undone, we are all undone.
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The People of Israel said to Moses, "We're as good as dead. This is our death sentence.
13 Everyone who comes near, who comes near to the tabernacle of the LORD, shall die. Are we all to perish?"
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Anyone who even gets close to The Dwelling of God is as good as dead. Are we all doomed?"
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.