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Numbers 17
English Standard Version Anglicised
Numbers 17
English Standard Version Anglicised
Aaron's Staff Buds
17 [a] The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 (A)“Speak to the people of Israel, and get from them staffs, one for each fathers' house, from all their chiefs according to their fathers' houses, twelve staffs. Write each man's name on his staff, 3 and write Aaron's name on the staff of Levi. For there shall be one staff for the head of each fathers' house. 4 Then you shall deposit them in the tent of meeting before the testimony, (B)where I meet with you. 5 And the staff of the man (C)whom I choose shall sprout. Thus I will make to cease from me (D)the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against you.” 6 Moses spoke to the people of Israel. And all their chiefs gave him staffs, one for each chief, according to their fathers' houses, twelve staffs. And the staff of Aaron was among their staffs. 7 And Moses deposited the staffs before the Lord in (E)the tent of the testimony.
8 On the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony, and behold, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds. 9 Then Moses brought out all the staffs from before the Lord to all the people of Israel. And they looked, and each man took his staff. 10 And the Lord said to Moses, “Put back (F)the staff of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept (G)as a sign for the rebels, (H)that you may make an end of their grumblings against me, lest they die.” 11 Thus did Moses; as the Lord commanded him, so he did.
12 And the people of Israel said to Moses, “Behold, we perish, we are undone, we are all undone. 13 (I)Everyone who comes near, who comes near to the tabernacle of the Lord, shall die. Are we all to perish?”
Footnotes
- Numbers 17:1 Ch 17:16 in Hebrew
Numbers 17
New International Version
Numbers 17
New International Version
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?”
Footnotes
- Numbers 17:1 In Hebrew texts 17:1-13 is numbered 17:16-28.
Numbers 17
King James Version
Numbers 17
King James Version
17 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
2 Speak 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.
3 And 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.
4 And thou shalt lay them up in the tabernacle of the congregation before the testimony, where I will meet with you.
5 And 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.
6 And 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.
7 And Moses laid up the rods before the Lord in the tabernacle of witness.
8 And 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.
9 And 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.
10 And 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.
11 And Moses did so: as the Lord commanded him, so did he.
12 And the children of Israel spake unto Moses, saying, Behold, we die, we perish, we all perish.
13 Whosoever cometh any thing near unto the tabernacle of the Lord shall die: shall we be consumed with dying?
Numbers 17
New English Translation
Numbers 17
New English Translation
The Budding of Aaron’s Staff
17 [a] The Lord spoke to Moses: 2 “Speak to the Israelites, and receive from them a staff from each tribe,[b] one from every tribal leader,[c] twelve staffs; you must write each man’s name on his staff. 3 You must write Aaron’s name on the staff of Levi; for one staff is for the head of every tribe.[d] 4 You must place them[e] in the tent of meeting before the ark of the covenant[f] where I meet with you. 5 And the staff of the man whom I choose will blossom; so I will rid myself of the complaints of the Israelites, which they murmur against you.”
6 So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and each of their leaders gave him a staff, one for each leader,[g] according to their tribes[h]—twelve staffs; the staff of Aaron was among their staffs. 7 Then Moses placed the staffs before the Lord in the tent of the testimony.[i]
8 On the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony—and[j] the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted, and brought forth buds, and produced blossoms, and yielded almonds![k] 9 So Moses brought out all the staffs from before the Lord to all the Israelites. They looked at them,[l] and each man took his staff.
The Memorial
10 The Lord said to Moses, “Bring Aaron’s staff back before the testimony to be preserved for a sign to the rebels, so that you may bring their murmurings to an end[m] before me, that they will not die.”[n] 11 So Moses did as the Lord commanded him—this is what he did.
12 The Israelites said to Moses, “We are bound to die![o] We perish, we all perish! 13 (17:28)[p] Anyone who even comes close to the tabernacle of the Lord will die! Are we all to die?”[q]
Footnotes
- Numbers 17:1 sn Num 17:1 in the English Bible is 17:16 in the Hebrew text (BHS). See also the note on 16:36.
- Numbers 17:2 tn Heb “receive from them a rod, a rod from the house of a father.”
- Numbers 17:2 tn Heb “from every leader of them according to their fathers’ house.”
- Numbers 17:3 tn Heb “one rod for the head of their fathers’ house.”
- Numbers 17:4 tn The verb is the Hiphil perfect of נוּחַ (nuakh, “to rest”), and so “to set at rest, lay, place, put.” The form with the vav (ו) consecutive continues the instruction of the previous verse.
- Numbers 17:4 tn The Hebrew text simply reads “the covenant” or “the testimony.”
- Numbers 17:6 tn Heb “a rod for one leader, a rod for one leader.”
- Numbers 17:6 tn Heb “the house of their fathers.”
- Numbers 17:7 tn The name of the tent now attests to the centrality of the ark of the covenant. Instead of the “tent of meeting” (מוֹעֵד, moʿed) we now find the “the tent of the testimony” (הָעֵדֻת, haʿedut).
- Numbers 17:8 tn Here too the deictic particle (“and behold”) is added to draw attention to the sight in a vivid way.
- Numbers 17:8 sn There is no clear answer why the tribe of Levi had used an almond staff. The almond tree is one of the first to bud in the spring, and its white blossoms are a beautiful sign that winter is over. Its name became a name for “watcher”; Jeremiah plays on this name for God’s watching over his people (1:11-12).
- Numbers 17:9 tn The words “at them” are not in the Hebrew text, but they have been added in the translation for clarity.
- Numbers 17:10 tn The verb means “to finish; to complete” and here “to bring to an end.” It is the imperfect following the imperative, and so introduces a purpose clause (as a final imperfect).
- Numbers 17:10 tn This is another final imperfect in a purpose clause.
- Numbers 17:12 tn The use of הֵן (hen) and the perfect tense in the nuance of a prophetic perfect expresses their conviction that they were bound to die—it was certain (see GKC 312-13 §106.n).
- Numbers 17:13 sn Num 17:13 in the English Bible is 17:28 in the Hebrew text (BHS). See also the note on 16:36.
- Numbers 17:13 tn The verse stresses the completeness of their death: “will we be consumed by dying” (הַאִם תַּמְנוּ לִגְוֹעַ, haʾim tamnu ligvoaʿ).
4 Moseboken 17
Svenska Folkbibeln 2015
4 Moseboken 17
Svenska Folkbibeln 2015
Arons stav grönskar
17 Herren talade till Mose. Han sade: 2 ”Tala till Israels barn och ta från dem en stav för varje stam. Från alla deras stamhövdingar ska du ta tolv stavar[a] och skriva vars och ens namn på hans stav. 3 Arons namn ska du skriva på Levis stav, för huvudmannen för denna stams familjer ska ha en stav. 4 Sedan ska du lägga in dem i uppenbarelsetältet framför vittnesbördet där jag möter er. 5 Då ska det ske att den man som jag utväljer, hans stav ska grönska. Så ska jag göra slut på Israels barns klagan, eftersom de ständigt klagar mot er.”
6 Mose talade till Israels barn, och alla stamhövdingarna gav honom var och en sin stav, tolv stavar, och Arons stav var med bland deras stavar. 7 Och Mose lade stavarna inför Herrens ansikte i vittnesbördets tält.
8 (A) Nästa dag gick Mose in i vittnesbördets tält, och se, Arons stav för Levi hus grönskade, och den hade knoppar och utslagna blommor och mogna mandlar[b]. 9 Mose bar ut alla stavarna från Herrens ansikte till alla Israels barn. De såg på dem, och var och en tog sin stav. 10 Och Herren sade till Mose: ”Lägg tillbaka Arons stav[c] framför vittnesbördet. Den ska förvaras som ett tecken för de upproriska. Så ska du göra slut på deras klagande mot mig så att de inte dör.” 11 Mose gjorde det. Så som Herren hade befallt honom, så gjorde han.
12 Israels barn sade till Mose: ”Se, vi dör, vi går under, vi går under allihop! 13 Alla som kommer i närheten av Herrens tabernakel kommer att dö. Ska vi dö allihop?”
Footnotes
- 17:2 stavar Tecken på auktoritet (jfr 1 Mos 38:18). Hebr. shévet betyder både ”stav” och ”stam”.
- 17:8 mandlar Hebr. shakéd, som också kan betyda ”vaka över” (jfr Jer 1:11 med not).
- 17:10 Arons stav Hade gjort under i Egypten (2 Mos 7:9f). Den förvarades sedan i arken (Heb 9:4).
English Standard Version Anglicised (ESVUK)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.
New English Translation (NET)
NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.
Svenska Folkbibeln 2015 (SFB15)
Svenska Folkbibeln 2015, Copyright © 2015 by Svenska Folkbibeln Foundation