² “Speak to the Israelites, and get twelve staffs from them, one for each ancestral house, from all the leaders of their ancestral houses. Write each man’s name on his staff,

¹⁶ Mortal, take a stick and write on it, “For Judah and the Israelites associated with it”; then take another stick and write on it, “For Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with it”;^{(A) 17} and join them together into one stick, so that they may become one in your hand. ¹⁸ And when your people say to you, “Will you not show us what you mean by these?” ¹⁹ say to them, “Thus says the Lord God: I am about to take the stick of Joseph (which is in the hand of Ephraim) and the tribes of Israel associated with it, and I will put the stick of Judah upon it^[a] and make them one stick, in order that they may be one in my hand.”^{(B) 20} When the sticks on which you write are in your hand before their eyes,

¹³ For consider: What! If you despise the rod, will it not happen?^[a] says the Lord God.

This is a lamentation, and it is used as a lamentation.^(A)

¹⁴ The standard of the camp of Judah set out first, company by company, and over the whole company was Nahshon son of Amminadab.^{(A) 15} Over the company of the tribe of Issachar was Nethanel son of Zuar, ¹⁶ and over the company of the tribe of Zebulun was Eliab son of Helon.

¹⁷ Then the tabernacle was taken down, and the Gershonites and the Merarites, who carried the tabernacle, set out.^{(B) 18} Next the standard of the camp of Reuben set out, company by company, and over the whole company was Elizur son of Shedeur.^{(C) 19} Over the company of the tribe of Simeon was Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai, ²⁰ and over the company of the tribe of Gad was Eliasaph son of Deuel.

²¹ Then the Kohathites, who carried the holy things, set out, and the tabernacle was set up before their arrival.^{(D) 22} Next the standard of the camp of Ephraim set out, company by company, and over the whole company was Elishama son of Ammihud.^{(E) 23} Over the company of the tribe of Manasseh was Gamaliel son of Pedahzur, ²⁴ and over the company of the tribe of Benjamin was Abidan son of Gideoni.

²⁵ Then the standard of the camp of Dan, acting as the rear guard of all the camps, set out, company by company, and over the whole company was Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai.^{(F) 26} Over the company of the tribe of Asher was Pagiel son of Ochran, ²⁷ and over the company of the tribe of Naphtali was Ahira son of Enan.