Bible Verses About Journey of Israel Through The Desert

Then Moses and Aaron went to the front of the Tent of Meeting,

and the LORD said to Moses,

“Get away from this congregation so that I may consume them in an instant.” And Moses and Aaron fell facedown.

Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, place fire from the altar in it, and add incense. Go quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, because wrath has come out from the LORD; the plague has begun.”

So Aaron took the censer as Moses had ordered and ran into the midst of the assembly. And seeing that the plague had begun among the people, he offered the incense and made atonement for the people.

He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague was halted.

But those who died from the plague numbered 14,700, in addition to those who had died on account of Korah.

Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, since the plague had been halted.

And the LORD said to Moses,

“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,

and write Aaron’s name on the staff of Levi, because there must be one staff for the head of each tribe.

Place the staffs in the Tent of Meeting in front of the Testimony, where I meet with you.

The staff belonging to the man I choose will sprout, and I will rid Myself of the constant grumbling of the Israelites against you.”

So 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.

Then Moses placed the staffs before the LORD in the Tent of the Testimony.

The 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.

Then 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.

The 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.”

So Moses did as the LORD had commanded him.

Then the Israelites declared to Moses, “Look, we are perishing! We are lost; we are all lost!

Anyone who comes near the tabernacle of the LORD will die. Are we all going to perish?”

Now there was no water for the congregation, so they gathered against Moses and Aaron.

The people quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had perished with our brothers before the LORD!

Why have you brought the LORD’s assembly into this wilderness for us and our livestock to die here?

Why have you led us up out of Egypt to bring us to this wretched place? It is not a place of grain, figs, vines, or pomegranates—and there is no water to drink!”