Numbers 16:41-17:13

Names of God Bible

⁴¹ The next day the whole community of Israel complained to Moses and Aaron. They said, “You have killed Yahweh’s people.” ⁴² The community came together to confront Moses and Aaron. When they turned toward the tent of meeting, they saw the smoke covering it, and the glory of Yahweh appeared.

⁴³ Then Moses and Aaron went to the front of the tent of meeting. ⁴⁴ Yahweh said to Moses, ⁴⁵ “Get away from these people, and let me destroy them in an instant!” Immediately, they bowed with their faces touching the ground.

⁴⁶ Moses said to Aaron, “Take your incense burner, put burning coals from the altar and incense in it, and go quickly into the community to make peace with the Lord for the people. Yahweh is showing his anger; a plague has started.”

⁴⁷ Aaron took his incense burner, as Moses told him, and ran into the middle of the assembly, because the plague had already begun among the people. He put incense on the incense burner to make peace with the Lord for the people. ⁴⁸ He stood between those who had died and those who were still alive, and the plague stopped. ⁴⁹ Still, 14,700 died from the plague in addition to those who had died because of Korah. ⁵⁰ By the time Aaron came back to Moses at the entrance to the tent of meeting, the plague had stopped.

Aaron’s Staff Grows

17 ^[a]Yahweh said to Moses, ² “Speak to the Israelites, and get 12 staffs from them, one from the leader of each of their tribes.^[b] Write each man’s name on his staff. ³ Write Aaron’s name on the staff for Levi because there must be one staff for the head of each tribe. ⁴ Put them in the tent of meeting where I meet with you, in front of the words of my promise. ⁵ The staff from the man I choose will begin to grow. In this way I will silence the frequent complaints the Israelites make against you and Aaron.”

⁶ So Moses spoke to the Israelites. Their leaders gave him 12 staffs, one from the leader of each of their tribes. Aaron’s staff was among them. ⁷ Moses put the staffs in Yahweh’s presence in the tent of the words of God’s promise.

⁸ The next day Moses went into the tent. He found that Aaron’s staff for the tribe of Levi had not only begun to grow, but it had also blossomed and produced ripe almonds. ⁹ Moses brought out the staffs fromYahweh’s presence and showed them to all the Israelites. They looked at them, and each man took his staff.

¹⁰ Yahweh said to Moses, “Put Aaron’s staff back in front of the words of my promise, and keep it there as a sign to warn any other rebels. Then you will stop their complaints about me, and they won’t die.”

¹¹ Moses did exactly what Yahweh commanded him to do.

¹² The Israelites said to Moses, “Now we’re going to die! We’re lost! We’re all lost! ¹³ Anyone who comes near Yahweh’s tent will die! Are we all going to die?”