Numbers 16:36–17:13

³⁶The Lord said to Moses, ³⁷“Tell Eleazar^q son of Aaron, the priest, to remove the censers^r from the charred remains and scatter the coals some distance away, for the censers are holy—³⁸the censers of the men who sinned at the cost of their lives.^s Hammer the censers into sheets to overlay the altar,^t for they were presented before the Lord and have become holy. Let them be a sign^u to the Israelites.”

³⁹So Eleazar the priest^v collected the bronze censers brought by those who had been burned to death,^w and he had them hammered out to overlay the altar, ⁴⁰as the Lord directed him through Moses. This was to remind the Israelites that no one except a descendant of Aaron should come to burn incense^x before the Lord,^y or he would become like Korah and his followers.^z

⁴¹The next day the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. “You have killed the Lord’s people,” they said.

⁴²But when the assembly gathered in opposition^a to Moses and Aaron and turned toward the tent of meeting, suddenly the cloud covered it and the glory of the Lord^b appeared. ⁴³Then Moses and Aaron went to the front of the tent of meeting, ⁴⁴and the Lord said to Moses, ⁴⁵“Get away from this assembly so I can put an end^c to them at once.” And they fell facedown.

⁴⁶Then Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer^d and put incense in it, along with burning coals from the altar, and hurry to the assembly^e to make atonement^f for them. Wrath has come out from the Lord;^g the plague^h has started.” ⁴⁷So Aaron did as Moses said, and ran into the midst of the assembly. The plague had already started among the people,ⁱ but Aaron offered the incense and made atonement for them. ⁴⁸He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague stopped.^{j 49}But 14,700 people died from the plague, in addition to those who had died because of Korah.^{k 50}Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the tent of meeting, for the plague had stopped.^c

The Budding of Aaron’s Staff

17^aThe Lord said to Moses, ²“Speak to the Israelites and get twelve staffs^l from them, one from the leader of each of their ancestral tribes.^m Write the name of each man on his staff. ³On the staff of Levi write Aaron’s name,ⁿ for there must be one staff for the head of each ancestral tribe. ⁴Place them in the tent of meeting^o in front of the ark of the covenant law,^p where I meet with you.^{q 5}The staff belonging to the man I choose^r will sprout,^s and I will rid myself of this constant grumbling^t against you by the Israelites.”

⁶So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and their leaders gave him twelve staffs, one for the leader of each of their ancestral tribes, and Aaron’s staff was among them. ⁷Moses placed the staffs before the Lord in the tent of the covenant law.^u

⁸The next day Moses entered the tent^v and saw that Aaron’s staff,^w which represented the tribe of Levi, had not only sprouted but had budded, blossomed and produced almonds.^{x 9}Then Moses brought out all the staffs^y from the Lord’s presence to all the Israelites. They looked at them, and each of the leaders took his own staff.

¹⁰The Lord said to Moses, “Put back Aaron’s staff^z in front of the ark of the covenant law, to be kept as a sign to the rebellious.^a This will put an end to their grumbling against me, so that they will not die.” ¹¹Moses did just as the Lord commanded him.

¹²The Israelites said to Moses, “We will die! We are lost, we are all lost!^{b 13}Anyone who even comes near the tabernacle of the Lord will die.^c Are we all going to die?”