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And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
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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.
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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.
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And thou shalt lay them up in the tabernacle of the congregation before the testimony, where I will meet with you.
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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.
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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.
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And Moses laid up the rods before the Lord in the tabernacle of witness.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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And Moses did so; as the Lord commanded him, so did he.
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And the children of Israel spake unto Moses, saying, Behold, we die; we perish; we all perish.
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Whosoever cometh anything near unto the tabernacle of the Lord shall die. Shall we be consumed with dying?