This edition follows the Hebrew versification; the traditional number is given in brackets.
The Bronze Censers
1Yahweh spoke to Moses. He said, 2“Say to Eleazar son of Aaron the priest that he take up the censers from among the burning remains and scatter the fire far away, for they have become holy — 3the censers of these men who sinned at the cost of their own lives. Let them be hammered into plates to cover the altar, for they presented them before Yahweh and they became holy; they shall serve as a sign to the Israelites.” 4So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers that had been presented by the men who were burned, and they hammered them into a covering for the altar, 5as a reminder to the Israelites, so that no outsider — anyone who is not a descendant of Aaron — should come near to burn incense before Yahweh and become like Korah and his company, just as Yahweh had spoken to him through Moses.
The Plague Stopped
6The next day the whole congregation of the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the people of Yahweh.” 7Now when the congregation had assembled against Moses and Aaron, they turned toward the tent of meeting, and there — the cloud covered it, and the glory of Yahweh appeared. 8Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting. 9Yahweh spoke to Moses. He said, 10“Get away from this congregation, so that I may consume them in an instant.” And they fell on their faces. 11Then Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, put fire on it from the altar, and add incense. Carry it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, for wrath has gone out from Yahweh — the plague has begun.” 12So Aaron took it, just as Moses had said, and ran into the midst of the assembly, and there — the plague had already begun among the people. He put on the incense and made atonement for the people. 13He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped. 14[—]Those who died in the plague numbered fourteen thousand seven hundred, besides those who died because of Korah. 15[—]Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the tent of meeting, for the plague had been stopped.
The Budding Staff of Aaron
16[—]Yahweh spoke to Moses. He said, 17[—]“Speak to the Israelites and take from them a staff from each ancestral house, from all their leaders by their ancestral houses — twelve staffs. Write each man’s name on his staff. 18[—]Write Aaron’s name on the staff of Levi, for there shall be one staff for the head of each ancestral house. 19[—]Place them in the tent of meeting, before the testimony, where I meet with you. 20[—]The staff of the man I choose will sprout, and I will rid myself of the constant grumbling of the Israelites against you.” 21[—]So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and all their leaders gave him a staff each — one staff for each leader, according to their ancestral houses, twelve staffs — and Aaron’s staff was among their staffs. 22[—]Moses placed the staffs before Yahweh in the tent of the testimony. 23[—]The next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony, and there — Aaron’s staff, for the house of Levi, had sprouted. It had put out buds, produced blossoms, and yielded ripe almonds. 24[—]Moses brought out all the staffs from before Yahweh to all the Israelites; they looked, and each man took his own staff. 25[—]Yahweh said to Moses, “Put back Aaron’s staff before the testimony, to be kept as a sign to the rebels, so that you may put an end to their grumbling against me, and they will not die.” 26[—]Moses did just as Yahweh had commanded him; so he did. 27[—]The Israelites said to Moses, “Look, we are perishing! We are lost, all of us are lost! 28[—]Everyone who comes anywhere near the tabernacle of Yahweh dies. Are we all to perish?”
