| King James Bible | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, | 1The LORD instructed Moses: " |
| 2Speak unto the children of Israel, and take of every one of them a rod according to the house of their fathers, of all their princes according to the house of their fathers twelve rods: write thou every man's name upon his rod. | 2Speak to the Israelites and take one staff from them for each ancestral house, 12 staffs from all the leaders of their ancestral houses. Write each man's name on his staff. |
| 3And thou shalt write Aaron's name upon the rod of Levi: for one rod shall be for the head of the house of their fathers. | 3Write Aaron's name on Levi's staff, because there must be one staff for the head of each ancestral house. |
| 4And thou shalt lay them up in the tabernacle of the congregation before the testimony, where I will meet with you. | 4Then place them in the tent of meeting in front of the testimony where I meet with you. |
| 5And it shall come to pass, that the man's rod, whom I shall choose, shall blossom: and I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the children of Israel, whereby they murmur against you. | 5The staff of the man I choose will sprout, and I will rid Myself of the Israelites' complaints that they have been making about you." |
| 6And Moses spake unto the children of Israel, and every one of their princes gave him a rod apiece, for each prince one, according to their fathers' houses, even twelve rods: and the rod of Aaron was among their rods. | 6So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and each of their leaders gave him a staff, one for each of the leaders of their ancestral houses, 12 staffs in all. Aaron's staff was among them. |
| 7And Moses laid up the rods before the LORD in the tabernacle of witness. | 7Moses placed the staffs before the LORD in the tent of the testimony. |
| 8And it came to pass, that on the morrow Moses went into the tabernacle of witness; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds. | 8The next day Moses entered the tent of the testimony and saw that Aaron's staff, representing the house of Levi, had sprouted, formed buds, blossomed, and produced almonds! |
| 9And Moses brought out all the rods from before the LORD unto all the children of Israel: and they looked, and took every man his rod. | 9Moses then brought out all the staffs from the LORD's presence to all the Israelites. They saw them, and each man took his own staff. |
| 10And the LORD said unto Moses, Bring Aaron's rod again before the testimony, to be kept for a token against the rebels; and thou shalt quite take away their murmurings from me, that they die not. | 10The LORD told Moses, "Put Aaron's staff back in front of the testimony to be kept as a sign for the rebels, so that you may put an end to their complaints before Me, or else they will die." |
| 11And Moses did so: as the LORD commanded him, so did he. | 11So Moses did as the LORD commanded him. |
| 12And the children of Israel spake unto Moses, saying, Behold, we die, we perish, we all perish. | 12Then the Israelites declared to Moses, "Look, we're perishing! We're lost; we're all lost! |
| 13Whosoever cometh any thing near unto the tabernacle of the LORD shall die: shall we be consumed with dying? | 13Anyone who comes near the LORD's tabernacle will die. Will we all perish?" |
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