The Budding of Aaron’s Staff

17 ^[a]The Lord said to Moses, ² “Speak to the Israelites and get twelve staffs^(A) from them, one from the leader of each of their ancestral tribes.^(B) Write the name of each man on his staff. ³ On the staff of Levi write Aaron’s name,^(C) for there must be one staff for the head of each ancestral tribe. ⁴ Place them in the tent of meeting^(D) in front of the ark of the covenant law,^(E) where I meet with you.^{(F) 5} The staff belonging to the man I choose^(G) will sprout,^(H) and I will rid myself of this constant grumbling^(I) against you by the Israelites.”

⁶ So 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. ⁷ Moses placed the staffs before the Lord in the tent of the covenant law.^(J)

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

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

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

³⁹ When daylight came, they did not recognize the land, but they saw a bay with a sandy beach,^(A) where they decided to run the ship aground if they could. ⁴⁰ Cutting loose the anchors,^(B) they left them in the sea and at the same time untied the ropes that held the rudders. Then they hoisted the foresail to the wind and made for the beach. ⁴¹ But the ship struck a sandbar and ran aground. The bow stuck fast and would not move, and the stern was broken to pieces by the pounding of the surf.^(C)

⁴² The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners to prevent any of them from swimming away and escaping. ⁴³ But the centurion wanted to spare Paul’s life^(D) and kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land. ⁴⁴ The rest were to get there on planks or on other pieces of the ship. In this way everyone reached land safely.^(E)