17 Then Yahweh told Mosheh (Moses), 2 “Tell the Israelis to bring you twelve staffs—one from each ancestral tribe with the leader’s name inscribed on it, 3 and inscribe Aharon’s (Aaron) name on the staff for the Levites so there’s one for each tribe. 4 Put them all in the sacred tent in front of the sacred box where I meet with you, 5 and then the staff of the man that I choose to be the priest will sprout. Then the people can stop complaining to me about you.”

6 So Mosheh passed the message on to the Israeli leaders and they gave him one staff for each leader—a total of twelve including Aharon’s one, 7 and Mosheh laid them in front of Yahweh in the sacred tent.

8 Then the next day when Mosheh went to the sacred tent, wow, he saw that Aharon’s staff (representing Levi tribe) had sprouted, plus it had blossomed and produced a flower and ripened almonds![ref] 9 Mosheh took all the staffs out of the tent to the people to look at and each of the leaders took back his own staff, 10 then Yahweh told Mosheh, “Put Aharon’s staff back in front of the sacred chest. Keep it there as a reminder to any rebels to stop complaining against me so they won’t die.” 11 So Mosheh did what Yahweh had commanded.

12 Then the Israelis complained to Mosheh, “Wow, we’re done for—it’s clear that we’re all going to die! 13 Everyone who goes close to Yahweh’s residence gets killed. Won’t we all die?”