Numbers 16:36–17:13

^36x And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ³⁷“Say to Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, ‘Take out^y the censers from among the place of burning because they are sacred, and scatter the fire outside. ³⁸The censers of these who have sinned^z at the cost of their lives, let them be made into gilded leafing plating for the altar; because they presented them before Yahweh,^a they are holy; and they will be a sign for the Israelites.’ ”^{b 39}Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers that the ones who were burned presented, and they hammered them out thinly as plating for the altar; ⁴⁰it was a memorial for the Israelites,^c so that no strange man^d who is not from the offspring^e of Aaron should approach the presence of Yahweh to burn a smoke offering;^f he will not be like Korah and his company, just as Yahweh had spoken to him by the hand of Moses.^g

The Israelites Grumble

⁴¹The next day all the community of the Israelites^h grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the people of Yahweh!” ⁴²Then, when the community had gathered against Moses and Aaron, they turned to the tent of assembly, and behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of Yahweh appeared. ⁴³And Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of assembly, ⁴⁴and Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ⁴⁵“Get away from the midst of this community, and I will finish them in an instant,”ⁱ but they fell on their faces. ⁴⁶And Moses and Aaron said, “Take the censer, and put fire on it from the altar. Place incense on it, and bring it quickly to the community, and make atonement for them, because wrath went out from the presence of Yahweh, and a plague has begun.” ⁴⁷And so Aaron took it just as Moses had spoken, and he ran into the midst of the assembly, for behold, the plague had begun among the people; so he gave the incense and made atonement for the people. ⁴⁸He stood between the dead and between the living, and the plague was stopped. ⁴⁹Those who died by the plague were fourteen thousand seven hundred, besides those who died on account of Korah. ⁵⁰Then Aaron returned to Moses at the doorway of the tent of assembly, and the plague was stopped.

Aaron’s Staff Is Chosen

17Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Speak to the Israelites,^a and take from among them twelve staffs, a staff from each family^b from among all their leaders according to their families’ households. Write the name of each man on his staff, ³and the name of Aaron on the staff of Levi, because one staff is for the head of each of their families.^{c 4}You must then put them in the tent of assembly before^d the testimony^e where I meet with you. ⁵And it will happen, the man whom I will choose, his staff will blossom, and so I will rid from upon myself the grumblings of the Israelites,^f who are grumbling against you.” ⁶Moses spoke to the Israelites,^g and all their leaders gave him a staff for each leader, one from each of their families,^h twelve staffs, and the staff of Aaron was in the midst of their tribes. ⁷And Moses put the staffs before Yahweh in the tent of testimony.

⁸Then the next day, Moses went into the tent of the testimony, and behold the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi blossomed and put forth a flower and produced blossoms, and it produced almonds. ⁹Then Moses brought out to all the Israelitesⁱ all the staffs before the presence of Yahweh, and they saw, and each man took his staff. ¹⁰And Yahweh said to Moses, “Bring back the staff of Aaron before the testimony^j as a guard and sign for the children of rebellion, and let them finish their grumblings before me and not die.” ¹¹So Moses did; just as Yahweh commanded him, so he did.

¹²And the Israelites^k said to Moses, saying, “Look! We will die! We will be destroyed! All of us will perish! ¹³Anyone who approaches the tabernacle of Yahweh will die. Will we all die?”^l