Numbers · 13 verses
Numbers 17
Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.
The chapter
What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
By morning, Aaron’s staff has sprouted, budded, blossomed, and produced almonds—an impressively compressed bit of gardening inside the Tent of the Testimony.
Twelve staffs before the LORDvv. 1–7
The LORD orders Moses to collect twelve staffs, one from each tribal leader, with Aaron’s name written on Levi’s. They are placed in the Tent of Meeting, in front of the Testimony, where the LORD meets with Moses. The chosen staff will sprout, and the arrangement is meant to quiet the Israelites’ constant grumbling. The leaders hand over their staffs, Aaron’s among them, and Moses sets them before the LORD.
The staff and the alarmvv. 8–13
The next day, Aaron’s staff has managed the full botanical sequence: sprouting, putting forth buds, blossoming, and producing almonds. Moses brings all the staffs out, and each leader takes his own back, which is a pleasantly practical ending for a sacred demonstration. The LORD then orders Aaron’s staff returned before the Testimony as a sign for the rebellious. Instead of settling the matter, the Israelites look at the tabernacle and conclude that everyone is about to perish.
The text
Read it
Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
Num 17:2“Speak to the Israelites and take from them twelve staffs, one from the leader of each tribe. Write each man’s name on his staff,
Num 17:3and write Aaron’s name on the staff of Levi, because there must be one staff for the head of each tribe.
Num 17:4Place the staffs in the Tent of Meeting in front of the Testimony, where I meet with you.
Num 17:5The staff belonging to the man I choose will sprout, and I will rid Myself of the constant grumbling of the Israelites against you.”
Num 17:6So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and each of their leaders gave him a staff—one for each of the leaders of their tribes, twelve staffs in all. And Aaron’s staff was among them.
Num 17:7Then Moses placed the staffs before the LORD in the Tent of the Testimony.
Num 17:8The next day Moses entered the Tent of the Testimony and saw that Aaron’s staff, representing the house of Levi, had sprouted, put forth buds, blossomed, and produced almonds.
Num 17:9Then Moses brought out all the staffs from the LORD’s presence to all the Israelites. They saw them, and each man took his own staff.
Num 17:10The LORD said to Moses, “Put Aaron’s staff back in front of the Testimony, to be kept as a sign for the rebellious, so that you may put an end to their grumbling against Me, lest they die.”
Num 17:12Then the Israelites declared to Moses, “Look, we are perishing! We are lost; we are all lost!
Num 17:13Anyone who comes near the tabernacle of the LORD will die. Are we all going to perish?”
01 — Also here
Who else the chapter reaches
Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.
Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.
Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 86 passages were voted onto 9 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 8Ezekiel 17:24Then all the trees of the field will know that I am the LORD. I bring the tall tree down and make the low tree tall. I dry up the green tree and make the withered tree flourish. I, the LORD, have spoken, and I have done it.’”
- 5Numbers 16:5Then he said to Korah and all his followers, “Tomorrow morning the LORD will reveal who belongs to Him and who is holy, and He will bring that person near to Himself. The one He chooses He will bring near to Himself.
- 8John 15:1–6“I am the true vine, and My Father is the keeper of the vineyard.
- 8Psalms 132:17–18There I will make a horn grow for David; I have prepared a lamp for My anointed one.
- 8Numbers 17:5The staff belonging to the man I choose will sprout, and I will rid Myself of the constant grumbling of the Israelites against you.”
- 8Isaiah 4:2On that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of Israel’s survivors.
- 10Hebrews 9:4containing the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. Inside the ark were the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant.
- 10Ephesians 5:6Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience.
- 4Exodus 30:36Grind some of it into fine powder and place it in front of the Testimony in the Tent of Meeting, where I will meet with you. It shall be most holy to you.
- 7Exodus 38:21This is the inventory for the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the Testimony, as recorded at Moses’ command by the Levites under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.
- 7Acts 7:44Our fathers had the tabernacle of the Testimony with them in the wilderness. It was constructed exactly as God had directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen.
- 10Isaiah 1:2Listen, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the LORD has spoken: “I have raised children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against Me.
- 5Ezekiel 16:41Then they will burn down your houses and execute judgment against you in the sight of many women. I will put an end to your prostitution, and you will never again pay your lovers.
- 5Isaiah 35:1–2The wilderness and the dry land will be glad; the desert will rejoice and blossom like a rose.
- 5Hosea 14:5I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like the lily and take root like the cedars of Lebanon.
- 5Numbers 17:8The next day Moses entered the Tent of the Testimony and saw that Aaron’s staff, representing the house of Levi, had sprouted, put forth buds, blossomed, and produced almonds.
Onward