Numbers 17 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

Yahweh spoke to Moses:

"Tell the Israelites to bring you staffs — one from each ancestral house, one from each leader of their ancestral houses, twelve staffs total. Write each man's name on his staff.

Write Aaron's name on Levi's staff, because there is one staff for the head of each ancestral house.

Place them in the Tent of Meeting, in front of the Testimony — the place where I meet with you.

The staff of the man I choose will sprout. This will put an end to the constant complaints the Israelites keep bringing against you two."

Moses told the Israelites, and each of their leaders gave him a staff — one per leader, one per ancestral house, twelve staffs total. Aaron's staff was among them.

Moses placed the staffs before Yahweh in the Tent of the Testimony.

The next day, when Moses entered the Tent of the Testimony, there it was — Aaron's staff, representing the house of Levi, had sprouted. It had put out buds, produced blossoms, and grown ripe almonds.

Moses brought out all the staffs from before Yahweh to show the Israelites. They all looked, and each leader took back his own staff.

Yahweh said to Moses, "Put Aaron's staff back in front of the Testimony. Keep it there as a warning sign for anyone who wants to rebel — so their complaints against me will stop, and they won't die."

Moses did exactly as Yahweh commanded him.

The Israelites said to Moses, "We're done for! We're lost! Every single one of us is lost!

Anyone who even comes near — who even approaches Yahweh's dwelling — dies! Are we all just going to be wiped out?"