17 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

² Speak unto the children of Israel, and take of them a staff, a staff for each father's house, of all their princes according to the houses of their fathers, twelve staves: thou shalt write each one's name upon his staff.

³ And Aaron's name shalt thou write upon the staff of Levi; for one staff shall be for [each] head of their fathers' houses.

⁴ And thou shalt lay them up in the tent of meeting before the testimony, where I meet with you.

⁵ And it shall come to pass, that the man whom I shall choose, his staff shall bud forth; and I will make to cease from before me the murmurings of the children of Israel, that they murmur against you.

⁶ And Moses spoke to the children of Israel, and all their princes gave him a staff, one staff for each prince according to their fathers' houses, twelve staves, and the staff of Aaron was among their staves.

⁷ And Moses laid the staves before Jehovah in the tent of the testimony.

⁸ And it came to pass, when on the morrow Moses went into the tent of the testimony, behold, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and ripened almonds.

⁹ And Moses brought out all the staves from before Jehovah to all the children of Israel, and they looked and took each one his staff.

¹⁰ And Jehovah said to Moses, Bring Aaron's staff again before the testimony, to be kept as a token for the sons of rebellion, that thou mayest put an end to their murmurings before me, that they may not die.

¹¹ And Moses did so: as Jehovah had commanded him, so did he.

¹² And the children of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, Lo, we expire, we perish, we all perish.

¹³ Every one that comes at all near to the tabernacle of Jehovah shall die: shall we then expire altogether?

20 And the children of Israel, the whole assembly, came into the wilderness of Zin, in the first month; and the people abode at Kadesh; and Miriam died there, and was buried there.

² And there was no water for the assembly, and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron.

³ And the people contended with Moses, and spoke, saying, Would that we had died when our brethren died before Jehovah!

⁴ And why have ye brought the congregation of Jehovah into this wilderness, that we should die there, we and our beasts?

⁵ And why have ye made us to go up out of Egypt, to bring us to this evil place? it is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates, neither is there any water to drink.

⁶ And Moses and Aaron went from before the congregation to the entrance of the tent of meeting, and fell upon their faces; and the glory of Jehovah appeared to them.

⁷ And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

⁸ Take the staff, and gather the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes, and it shall give its water; and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock, and shalt give the assembly and their beasts drink.

⁹ And Moses took the staff from before Jehovah, as he had commanded him.

¹⁰ And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said to them, Hear now, ye rebels: shall we bring forth to you water out of this rock?

¹¹ And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his staff smote the rock twice, and much water came out, and the assembly drank, and their beasts.

¹² And Jehovah said to Moses and to Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to hallow me before the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land that I have given them.

¹³ These are the waters of Meribah, where the children of Israel contended with Jehovah, and he hallowed himself in them.

¹⁴ And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, Thus says thy brother Israel: Thou knowest all the trouble that hath befallen us,

¹⁵ how our fathers went down to Egypt, and we dwelt in Egypt a long time, and the Egyptians evil entreated us and our fathers;

¹⁶ and when we cried to Jehovah, he heard our voice, and sent an angel, and brought us forth out of Egypt; and behold, we are at Kadesh, a city at the extremity of thy border.

¹⁷ Let us pass, I pray thee, through thy country; we will not pass through fields, or through vineyards, neither will we drink water out of the wells: we will go by the king's road; we will not turn to the right hand nor to the left, until we have passed thy border.

¹⁸ But Edom said to him, Thou shalt not pass by me, lest I come out against thee with the sword.

¹⁹ And the children of Israel said to him, We will go by the high way; and if we drink of thy water, I and my cattle, then I will pay for it: I will only, without anything else, go through on my feet.

²⁰ And he said, Thou shalt not go through. And Edom came out against him with much people, and with a strong hand.

²¹ Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his territory; and Israel turned away from him.

²² And they removed from Kadesh; and the children of Israel, the whole assembly, came to mount Hor.

²³ And Jehovah spoke to Moses and to Aaron in mount Hor, on the border of the land of Edom, saying,

²⁴ Aaron shall be gathered unto his peoples; for he shall not enter into the land that I have given unto the children of Israel, because ye rebelled against my commandment at the waters of Meribah.

²⁵ Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up unto mount Hor,

²⁶ and strip Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son; and Aaron shall be gathered [to his peoples], and shall die there.

²⁷ And Moses did as Jehovah had commanded, and they went up mount Hor before the eyes of the whole assembly.

²⁸ And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son; and Aaron died there upon the top of the mountain; and Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain.

²⁹ And the whole assembly saw that Aaron was dead, and they mourned for Aaron thirty days, [even] the whole house of Israel.