¹⁰ So you shall appoint Aaron and his sons, ^(A)and they shall attend to their priesthood; ^(B)but the outsider who comes near shall be put to death.”

The Budding of Aaron’s Rod

17 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ² “Speak to the children of Israel, and get from them a rod from each father’s house, all their leaders according to their fathers’ houses—twelve rods. Write each man’s name on his rod. ³ And you shall write Aaron’s name on the rod of Levi. For there shall be one rod for the head of each father’s house. ⁴ Then you shall place them in the tabernacle of meeting before ^(A)the Testimony, ^(B)where I meet with you. ⁵ And it shall be that the rod of the man ^(C)whom I choose will blossom; thus I will rid Myself of the complaints of the children of Israel, ^(D)which they make against you.”

⁶ So Moses spoke to the children of Israel, and each of their leaders gave him a rod apiece, for each leader according to their fathers’ houses, twelve rods; and the rod of Aaron was among their rods. ⁷ And Moses placed the rods before the Lord in ^(E)the tabernacle of witness.

⁸ Now it came to pass on the next day that Moses went into the tabernacle of witness, and behold, the ^(F)rod of Aaron, of the house of Levi, had sprouted and put forth buds, had produced blossoms and yielded ripe almonds. ⁹ Then Moses brought out all the rods from before the Lord to all the children of Israel; and they looked, and each man took his rod.

¹⁰ And the Lord said to Moses, “Bring ^(G)Aaron’s rod back before the Testimony, to be kept ^(H)as a sign against the rebels, ^(I)that you may put their complaints away from Me, lest they die.” ¹¹ Thus did Moses; just as the Lord had commanded him, so he did.

⁵ The man Micah had a ^(A)shrine, and made an ^(B)ephod and ^(C)household^[a] idols; and he consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.

^33 (A)After this event Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but again he made priests from every class of people for the high places; whoever wished, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places.

³² So they feared the Lord, ^(A)and from every class they appointed for themselves priests of the ^[a]high places, who sacrificed for them in the shrines of the high places.

¹⁴ For the Levites left ^(A)their common-lands and their possessions and came to Judah and Jerusalem, for ^(B)Jeroboam and his sons had rejected them from serving as priests to the Lord.

^15 (A)Then he appointed for himself priests for the ^[a]high places, for ^(B)the demons, and ^(C)the calf idols which he had made.