Passage
Numbers 17.1-15
1. And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, 2. Speak unto the children of Israel, and take of them rods, one for each fathers' house, of all their princes according to their fathers' houses, twelve rods: write thou every man's name upon his rod. 3. And thou shalt write Aaron's... (ASV)Book: Numbers · NASB95
Immediate context (±2 verses)
ASV
1. And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, 2. Speak unto the children of Israel, and take of them rods, one for each fathers' house, of all their princes according to their fathers' houses, 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 there shall be one rod 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 rod of the man whom I shall choose shall bud: and I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against you. 6. And Moses spake unto the children of Israel; and all their princes gave him rods, 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 Jehovah in the tent of the testimony. 8. And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses went into the tent of the testimony; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and put forth buds, and produced blossoms, and bare ripe almonds. 9. And Moses brought out all the rods from before Jehovah unto all the children of Israel: and they looked, and took every man his rod. 10. And Jehovah said unto Moses, Put back the rod of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept for a token against the children of rebellion; that thou mayest make an end of their murmurings against me, that they die not. 11. Thus did Moses: as Jehovah commanded him, so did he. 12. And the children of Israel spake unto Moses, saying, Behold, we perish, we are undone, we are all undone. 13. Every one that cometh near, that cometh near unto the tabernacle of Jehovah, dieth: shall we perish all of us? (Numbers 17:1-13, ASV)
WEB
1. Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2. “Speak to the children of Israel, and take rods from them, one for each fathers’ house, of all their princes according to their fathers’ houses, twelve rods. Write each man’s name on his rod. 3. You shall write Aaron’s name on the rod of Levi; for there shall be one rod for each head of their fathers’ houses. 4. You shall lay them up in the Tent of Meeting before the testimony, where I meet with you. 5. It shall happen, that the rod of the man whom I shall choose shall bud. I will make the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against you, cease from me.” 6. Moses spoke to the children of Israel; and all their princes gave him rods, for each prince one, according to their fathers’ houses, even twelve rods. Aaron’s rod was among their rods. 7. Moses laid up the rods before Yahweh in the Tent of the Testimony. 8. On the next day, Moses went into the Tent of the Testimony; and behold, Aaron’s rod for the house of Levi had sprouted, budded, produced blossoms, and bore ripe almonds. 9. Moses brought out all the rods from before Yahweh to all the children of Israel. They looked, and each man took his rod. 10. Yahweh said to Moses, “Put back the rod of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept for a token against the children of rebellion; that you may make an end of their murmurings against me, that they not die.” 11. Moses did so. As Yahweh commanded him, so he did. 12. The children of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, “Behold, we perish! We are undone! We are all undone! 13. Everyone who keeps approaching Yahweh’s tabernacle, dies! Will we all perish?” (Numbers 17:1-13, WEB)
KJV
1. 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. a rod: Heb. a rod for one prince, a rod for one prince 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. rebels: Heb. children of rebellion 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 17:1-13, KJV)
YLT
1. And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying, 2. 'Speak unto the sons of Israel, and take from them each a rod, for a father's house, from all their princes, for the house of their fathers, twelve rods; the name of each thou dost write on his rod, 3. and Aaron's name thou dost write on the tribe of Levi; for one rod [is] for the head of their fathers' house: 4. and thou hast placed them in the tent of meeting, before the testimony, where I meet with you. 5. 'And it hath come to pass, the man's rod on whom I fix doth flourish, and I have caused to cease from off me the murmurings of the sons of Israel, which they are murmuring against you.' 6. And Moses speaketh unto the sons of Israel, and all their princes give unto him one rod for a prince, one rod for a prince, for their fathers' house, twelve rods, and the rod of Aaron [is] in the midst of their rods; 7. and Moses placeth the rods before Jehovah, in the tent of the testimony. 8. And it cometh to pass, on the morrow, that Moses goeth in unto the tent of the testimony, and lo, the rod of Aaron hath flourished for the house of Levi, and is bringing out flourishing, and doth blossom blossoms, and doth produce almonds; 9. and Moses bringeth out all the rods from before Jehovah, unto all the sons of Israel, and they look, and take each his rod. 10. And Jehovah saith unto Moses, 'Put back the rod of Aaron, before the testimony, for a charge, for a sign to the sons of rebellion, and thou dost remove their murmurings from off me, and they do not die;' 11. and Moses doth as Jehovah hath commanded him; so he hath done. 12. And the sons of Israel speak unto Moses, saying, 'Lo, we have expired; we have perished; we have all of us perished; 13. any who is at all drawing near unto the tabernacle of Jehovah dieth; have we not been consumed, to expire?' (Numbers 17:1-13, YLT)
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Setting
- Speaker: TBD
- Audience: TBD
- Location: TBD
- Time period: TBD
Theological reading
Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.
Key words
Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.
- None of the words in this verse has its own lexicon entry yet.
Notes
Your annotations.
Why these four translations
ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.
The four:
- ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
- WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
- KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
- YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.
See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.