1And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, 2Speak unto Elazar the son of Aaron the priest, that he lift up the censers out of the burning, and throw out the fire far away; for they have been hallowed: 3The censers of these sinners against their own lives; and they shall make of them broad plates for a covering for the altar; for they brought them near before the Lord, and they have thus become hallowed; and they shall serve for a sign unto the children of Israel. 4And Elazar the priest took the copper censers, which they that were burnt had brought near; and they beat them out for a covering unto the altar: 5As a memorial unto the children of Israel, in order that no stranger, who is not of the seed of Aaron, should come near to burn incense before the Lord; that he become not as Korach, and as his company; as the Lord had spoken to him by the hand of Moses. 6And all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron, on the morrow, saying, It is you who have caused the people of the Lord to die. 7And it came to pass, when the congregation assembled against Moses and against Aaron, that they looked toward the tabernacle of the congregation, and, behold, the cloud covered it; and the glory of the Lord appeared. 8And Moses came with Aaron before the tabernacle of the congregation. 9And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, 10Remove yourselves from the midst of this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment. And they fell upon their faces. 11And Moses said unto Aaron, Take the censer, and put therein fire from off the altar, and put on incense, and carry it quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement for them; for the wrath is gone forth from the Lord; the plague hath begun. 12And Aaron took as Moses had commanded, and he ran into the midst of the assembly; and, behold, the plague had begun among the people: and he put on the incense, and made an atonement for the people. 13And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed. And those who died in the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, besides those that had died about the matter of Korach. And Aaron returned unto Moses, to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, after the plague had been stayed. And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and take from them one staff each for a family division, from all their princes, according to their family divisions, twelve staves: the name of each man shalt thou write upon his staff. And the name of Aaron shalt thou write upon the staff of Levi; for there shall be but one staff for the head of their family division. And thou shalt lay them down in the tabernacle of the congregation before the testimony, where I usually meet with you. And it shall come to pass, that the staff of the man whom I shall choose, shall blossom: and I will allay from around me the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against you. And Moses spoke unto the children of Israel, and all their princes gave him each a staff, one for every prince, according to their family divisions, twelve staves: and the staff of Aaron was among their staves. And Moses laid down the staves before the Lord in the tabernacle of the testimony. And it came to pass on the morrow, that as Moses went into the tabernacle of the testimony, behold, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had budded; and it brought forth buds, and produced blossoms, and yielded ripe almonds. And Moses brought out all the staves from before the Lord unto all the children of Israel; and they looked at them, and took away every one his staff. And the Lord said unto Moses, Carry back the staff of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept as a token against the children of rebellion, that there may be an end of their murmurings from around me, and they die not. And Moses did so; as the Lord had commanded him, so did he. And the children of Israel said unto Moses, thus, Behold, we perish, we are lost, we are all lost. Every one that cometh near at all unto the tabernacle of the Lord must die: shall we totally perish?