---
title: "Numbers 17 – Catholic Bible (CPDV) & Latin Vulgate · Bless"
url: https://blessbible.app/bible/numbers/17/
description: "The priesthood is confirmed to Aaron by the miracle of the blooming of his rod… Numbers 17 in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin Vulgate."
---

# Numbers 17

Numbers 17 is chapter 17 of 36 in the Book of Numbers. Here are all 13 verses in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin of the Clementine Vulgate beside them.

> The priesthood is confirmed to Aaron by the miracle of the blooming of his rod, which is kept for a monument in the tabernacle.
>
> — Bp. Richard Challoner, chapter summary

## Numbers 17 (Catholic Public Domain Version)

1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
2. “Speak to the sons of Israel, and receive from each of them a rod by their kinships, from all the leaders of the tribes, twelve rods, and write the name of each one on his rod.
3. But the name of Aaron shall be for the tribe of Levi, and one rod separately shall contain all their families.
4. And you shall place these in the tabernacle of the covenant before the testimony, where I will speak to you.
5. Whomever of these I will choose, his rod will germinate, and so shall I restrain the complaints of the sons of Israel before me, by which they murmur against you.”
6. And Moses spoke to the sons of Israel. And all the leaders gave him rods, one for each tribe. And there were twelve rods, aside from the rod of Aaron.
7. And when Moses had placed these before the Lord, in the tabernacle of the testimony,
8. returning on the following day, he found that the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi, had germinated, and that the swelling buds had opened into flowers, which, spreading their petals, were formed into those of an almond tree.
9. Therefore, Moses brought out all the rods, from the sight of the Lord, to all the sons of Israel. And they saw, and each one received their rods.
10. And the Lord said to Moses: “Carry back the rod of Aaron into the tabernacle of the testimony, so that it may be kept there as a sign of the rebellion of the sons of Israel, and so that their complaints may be quieted before me, lest they die.”
11. And Moses did just as the Lord had instructed.
12. Then the sons of Israel said to Moses: “Behold, we have been consumed; we have been ruined.
13. Whoever approaches to the tabernacle of the Lord dies. Will we all be wiped away, even to total annihilation?”

## Numbers 17 in Latin (Clementine Vulgate, 1592)

1. Et locutus est Dominus ad Moysen, dicens:
2. Loquere ad filios Israël, et accipe ab eis virgas singulas per cognationes suas, a cunctis principibus tribuum, virgas duodecim, et uniuscujusque nomen superscribes virgæ suæ.
3. Nomen autem Aaron erit in tribu Levi, et una virga cunctas seorsum familias continebit:
4. ponesque eas in tabernaculo fœderis coram testimonio, ubi loquar ad te.
5. Quem ex his elegero, germinabit virga ejus: et cohibebo a me querimonias filiorum Israël, quibus contra vos murmurant.
6. Locutusque est Moyses ad filios Israël: et dederunt ei omnes principes virgas per singulas tribus: fueruntque virgæ duodecim absque virga Aaron.
7. Quas cum posuisset Moyses coram Domino in tabernaculo testimonii,
8. sequenti die regressus invenit germinasse virgam Aaron in domo Levi: et turgentibus gemmis eruperant flores, qui, foliis dilatatis, in amygdalas deformati sunt.
9. Protulit ergo Moyses omnes virgas de conspectu Domini ad cunctos filios Israël: videruntque, et receperunt singuli virgas suas.
10. Dixitque Dominus ad Moysen: Refer virgam Aaron in tabernaculum testimonii, ut servetur ibi in signum rebellium filiorum Israël, et quiescant querelæ eorum a me, ne moriantur.
11. Fecitque Moyses sicut præceperat Dominus.
12. Dixerunt autem filii Israël ad Moysen: Ecce consumpti sumus, omnes perivimus.
13. Quicumque accedit ad tabernaculum Domini, moritur. Num usque ad internecionem cuncti delendi sumus?

## Bishop Challoner's notes

Bp. Richard Challoner, notes on the Douay-Rheims (1750); they comment on its older wording.
- Verse 8: This rod of Aaron which thus miraculously brought forth fruit, was a figure of the blessed Virgin conceiving and bringing forth her Son without any prejudice to her virginity.

Source: Catholic Public Domain Version (Ronald L. Conte Jr., 2009), public domain; Latin: Clementine Vulgate (1592).