Numbers 17:3

17:3 You must write Aaron’s name on the staff of Levi; for one staff is for the head of every tribe. ¹ 

Numbers 17:7

17:7 Then Moses placed the staffs before the Lord in the tent of the testimony. ² 

Numbers 17:13

17:13 (17:28) ³  Anyone who even comes close to the tabernacle of the Lord will die! Are we all to die?” ⁴ 

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¹ tn Heb “one rod for the head of their fathers’ house.”

² tn The name of the tent now attests to the centrality of the ark of the covenant. Instead of the “tent of meeting” (מוֹעֵד, mo’ed) we now find the “the tent of the testimony” (הָעֵדֻת, ha’edut).

³ sn Num 17:13 in the English Bible is 17:28 in the Hebrew text (BHS). See also the note on 16:36.

⁴ tn The verse stresses the completeness of their death: “will we be consumed by dying” (הַאִם תַּמְנוּ לִגְוֹעַ, ha’im tamnu ligvoa’).