Numbers 17

And the Lord said to Moses:

and to Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest: Take up the bronze censers from the midst of those who have been burned up, and scatter that strange fire yonder, for they have consecrated —

the censers of these sinners at the cost of their own souls. And make them into beaten plates, a covering for the altar, because they were offered before the Lord and were consecrated; and they became a sign to the sons of Israel.

And Eleazar son of Aaron the priest took the bronze censers, as many as those who had been burned up had offered, and they put them on as a covering for the altar,

a memorial to the sons of Israel, so that no man of another race who is not of the seed of Aaron may draw near to put incense before the Lord, and that he may not be like Kore and his company, just as the Lord spoke by the hand of Moses.

And on the next day the sons of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron, saying: You have killed the people of the Lord.

And it happened, when the congregation gathered together against Moses and Aaron, that they rushed toward the tent of witness; and behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared.

And Moses and Aaron went in before the tent of witness.

And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying:

Withdraw from the midst of this congregation, and I will consume them at one stroke. And they fell on their face.

And Moses said to Aaron: Take the censer and put fire on it from the altar, and lay incense on it, and carry it quickly into the camp and make atonement for them; for wrath has gone out from the presence of the Lord, it has begun to strike the people.

And Aaron took it just as Moses had said to him, and ran into the congregation; and the plague had already begun among the people. And he laid on the incense and made atonement for the people.

And he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague ceased.

And those who died in the plague were fourteen thousand seven hundred, apart from those who died because of Kore.

And Aaron returned to Moses at the door of the tent of witness, and the plague ceased.

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

Speak to the sons of Israel and take from them a rod, a rod for each ancestral house, from all their rulers according to their ancestral houses, twelve rods; and inscribe each man's name upon his rod.

And inscribe Aaron's name upon the rod of Levi; for there is one rod per tribe; according to their ancestral houses they shall give them.

And you shall place them in the tent of witness, opposite the testimony, where I make myself known to you there.

And it shall be that the man whom I choose, his rod shall sprout; and I will remove from myself the murmuring of the sons of Israel, which they murmur against you.

And Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, and all their rulers gave him a rod, one rod for each ruler, according to their ancestral houses, twelve rods; and Aaron's rod was among their rods.

And Moses laid up the rods before the Lord in the tent of witness.

And it happened on the next day that Moses and Aaron went into the tent of witness; and behold, the rod of Aaron, for the house of Levi, had sprouted, and it put forth a bud and blossomed with flowers and produced nuts.

And Moses brought out all the rods from before the Lord to all the sons of Israel; and they looked, and each one took his own rod.

And the Lord said to Moses: Put back Aaron's rod before the testimonies, to be kept as a sign to the sons of the disobedient; and let their murmuring cease from me, so that they may not die.

And Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord ordered Moses; so they did.

And the sons of Israel spoke to Moses, saying: Behold, we are consumed, we have perished, we are utterly destroyed.

Everyone who touches the tent of the Lord dies. Are we to die utterly?