Numbers 17 - Douy-Rheims Bible Challoner Revision

¹ And Moses spoke to the children of Israel: and all the princes gave him rods one for every tribe: and there were twelve rods besides the rod of Aaron.

² And when Moses had laid them up before the Lord in the tabernacle of the testimony:

³ He returned on the following day, and found that the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi, was budded: and that the buds swelling it had bloomed blossoms, which spreading the leaves, were formed into almonds.

⁴ Moses therefore brought out all the rods from before the Lord to all the children of Israel: and they saw, and every one received their rods.

⁵ 0 And the Lord said to Moses: Carry back the rod of Aaron into the tabernacle of the testimony, that it may be kept there for a token of the rebellious children of Israel, and that their complaints may cease from me lest they die.

⁶ 1 And Moses did as the Lord had commanded.

⁷ 2 And the children of Israel said to Moses: Behold we are consumed, we all perish.

⁸ 3 Whosoever approacheth to the tabernacle of the Lord, he dieth. Are we all to a man to be utterly destroyed?

⁹ And the Lord said to Aaron: Thou, and thy sons, and thy father's house with thee shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary: and thou and thy sons with thee shall bear the sins of your priesthood.

¹⁰ And take with thee thy brethren also of the tribe of Levi, and the sceptre of thy father, and let them be ready in hand, and minister to thee: but thou and thy sons shall minister in the tabernacle of the testimony.

¹¹ And the Levites shall watch to do thy commands, and about all the works of the tabernacle: only they shall not come nigh the vessels of the sanctuary nor the altar, lest both they die, and you also perish with them.

¹² But let them be with thee, and watch in the charge of the tabernacle, and in all the ceremonies thereof. A stranger shall not join himself with you.

¹³ Watch ye in the charge of the sanctuary, and in the ministry of the altar: lest indignation rise upon the children of Israel.