Numbers 16
1 Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Pallu, the son of Reuben, made themselves ready,
Now Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath son of Levi, along with some Reubenites—Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—conducted
2 And came before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty chiefs of the people, men of good name who had a place in the meeting of the people.
a rebellion against Moses, along with 250 men of Israel renowned as leaders of the congregation and representatives in the assembly.
3 They came together against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them, You take overmuch on yourselves, seeing that all the people are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them; why then have you put yourselves in authority over the people of the Lord?
They came together against Moses and Aaron and told them, “You have taken too much upon yourselves! For everyone in the entire congregation is holy, and the LORD is in their midst. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?”
4 And Moses, hearing this, went down on his face;
When Moses heard this, he fell facedown.
5 And he said to Korah and his band, In the morning the Lord will make clear who are his, and who is holy, and who may come near him: the man of his selection will be caused to come near him.
Then 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.
6 So do this: let Korah and all his band take vessels for burning perfumes;
You, Korah, and all your followers are to do as follows: Take censers,
7 And put spices on the fire in them before the Lord tomorrow; then the man marked out by the Lord will be holy: you take overmuch on yourselves, you sons of Levi.
and tomorrow you are to place fire and incense in them in the presence of the LORD. Then the man the LORD chooses will be the one who is holy. It is you sons of Levi who have taken too much upon yourselves!”
8 And Moses said to Korah, Give ear now, you sons of Levi:
Moses also said to Korah, “Now listen, you sons of Levi!
9 Does it seem only a small thing to you that the God of Israel has made you separate from the rest of Israel, letting you come near himself to do the work of the House of the Lord, and to take your place before the people to do what has to be done for them;
Is it not enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel and brought you near to Himself to perform the work at the LORD’s tabernacle, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them?
10 Letting you, and all your brothers the sons of Levi, come near to him? and would you now be priests?
He has brought you near, you and all your fellow Levites, but you are seeking the priesthood as well.
11 So you and all your band have come together against the Lord; and Aaron, who is he, that you are crying out against him?
Therefore, it is you and all your followers who have conspired against the LORD! As for Aaron, who is he that you should grumble against him?”
12 Then Moses sent for Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab: and they said, We will not come up:
Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come!
13 Is it not enough that you have taken us from a land flowing with milk and honey, to put us to death in the waste land, but now you are desiring to make yourself a chief over us?
Is it not enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? Must you also appoint yourself as ruler over us?
14 And more than this, you have not taken us into a land flowing with milk and honey, or given us a heritage of fields and vine-gardens: will you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up.
Moreover, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you gouge out the eyes of these men? No, we will not come!”
15 Then Moses was very angry, and said to the Lord, Give no attention to their offering: not one of their asses have I taken, or done wrong to any of them.
Then Moses became very angry and said to the LORD, “Do not regard their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them or mistreated a single one of them.”
16 And Moses said to Korah, You and all your band are to come before the Lord tomorrow, you and they and Aaron:
And Moses said to Korah, “You and all your followers are to appear before the LORD tomorrow—you and they and Aaron.
17 And let every man take a vessel for burning perfumes, and put sweet spices in them; let every man take his vessel before the Lord, two hundred and fifty vessels; you and Aaron and everyone with his vessel.
Each man is to take his censer, place incense in it, and present it before the LORD—250 censers. You and Aaron are to present your censers as well.”
18 So every man took his vessel and they put fire in them, with spices, and came to the door of the Tent of meeting with Moses and Aaron.
So each man took his censer, put fire and incense in it, and stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
19 And Korah made all the people come together against them to the door of the Tent of meeting: and the glory of the Lord was seen by all the people.
When Korah had gathered his whole assembly against them at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, the glory of the LORD appeared to the whole congregation.
20 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron,
And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,
21 Come out from among this people, so that I may send sudden destruction on them.
“Separate yourselves from this congregation so that I may consume them in an instant.”
22 Then falling down on their faces they said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, because of one man's sin will your wrath be moved against all the people?
But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, when one man sins, will You be angry with the whole congregation?”
23 And the Lord said to Moses,
Then the LORD said to Moses,
24 Say to the people, Come away from the tent of Korah Dathan, and Abiram.
“Tell the congregation to move away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”
25 So Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the responsible men of Israel went with him.
So Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him.
26 And he said to the people, Come away now from the tents of these evil men, without touching anything of theirs, or you may be taken in the punishment of their sins.
And he warned the congregation, “Move away now from the tents of these wicked men. Do not touch anything that belongs to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins.”
27 So on every side they went away from the tent of Korah Dathan, and Abiram: and Dathan and Abiram came out to the door of their tents, with their wives and their sons and their little ones.
So they moved away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Meanwhile, Dathan and Abiram had come out and stood at the entrances to their tents with their wives and children and infants.
28 And Moses said, Now you will see that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, and I have not done them of myself.
Then Moses said, “This is how you will know that the LORD has sent me to do all these things, for it was not my own doing:
29 If these men have the common death of men, or if the natural fate of all men overtakes them, then the Lord has not sent me.
If these men die a natural death, or if they suffer the fate of all men, then the LORD has not sent me.
30 But if the Lord does something new, opening the earth to take them in, with everything which is theirs, and they go down living into the underworld, then it will be clear to you that the Lord has not been honoured by these men. (Sheol h7585)
But if the LORD brings about something unprecedented, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them and all that belongs to them so that they go down alive into Sheol, then you will know that these men have treated the LORD with contempt.” (Sheol h7585)
31 And while these words were on his lips, the earth under them was parted in two;
As soon as Moses had finished saying all this, the ground beneath them split open,
32 And the earth, opening her mouth, took them in, with their families, and all the men who were joined to Korah, and their goods.
and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households—all Korah’s men and all their possessions.
33 So they and all theirs went down living into the underworld, and the earth was shut over them, and they were cut off from among the meeting of the people. (Sheol h7585)
They went down alive into Sheol with all they owned. The earth closed over them, and they vanished from the assembly. (Sheol h7585)
34 And all Israel round about them went in flight at their cry, For fear, said they, that we go down into the heart of the earth.
At their cries, all the people of Israel who were around them fled, saying, “The earth may swallow us too!”
35 Then fire came out from the Lord, burning up the two hundred and fifty men who were offering the perfume.
And fire came forth from the LORD and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense.
36 And the Lord said to Moses,
Then the LORD said to Moses,
37 Say to Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, that he is to take out of the flames the vessels with the perfumes in them, turning the fire out of them, for they are holy;
“Tell Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to remove the censers from the flames and to scatter the coals far away, because the censers are holy.
38 And let the vessels of those men, who with their lives have made payment for their sin, be hammered out into plates as a cover for the altar; for they have been offered before the Lord and are holy; so that they may be a sign to the children of Israel.
As for the censers of those who sinned at the cost of their own lives, hammer them into sheets to overlay the altar, for these were presented before the LORD, and so have become holy. They will serve as a sign to the Israelites.”
39 So Eleazar the priest took the brass vessels which had been offered by those who were burned up, and they were hammered out to make a cover for the altar:
So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers brought by those who had been burned up, and he had them hammered out to overlay the altar,
40 To be a sign, kept in memory for ever by the children of Israel, that no man who is not of the seed of Aaron has the right of burning spices before the Lord, so that he may not be like Korah and his band: as the Lord said to him by the mouth of Moses.
just as the LORD commanded him through Moses. This was to be a reminder to the Israelites that no outsider who is not a descendant of Aaron should approach to offer incense before the LORD, lest he become like Korah and his followers.
41 But on the day after, all the children of Israel made an outcry against Moses and against Aaron, saying, You have put to death the Lord's people.
The next day the whole congregation of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the LORD’s people!”
42 Now when the people had come together against Moses and Aaron, looking in the direction of the Tent of meeting, they saw the cloud covering it, and the glory of the Lord came before their eyes.
But when the congregation gathered against them, Moses and Aaron turned toward the Tent of Meeting, and suddenly the cloud covered it and the glory of the LORD appeared.
43 Then Moses and Aaron came to the front of the Tent of meeting.
Then Moses and Aaron went to the front of the Tent of Meeting,
44 And the Lord said to Moses,
and the LORD said to Moses,
45 Come out from among this people, so that I may send sudden destruction on them. And they went down on their faces.
“Get away from this congregation so that I may consume them in an instant.” And Moses and Aaron fell facedown.
46 And Moses said to Aaron, Take your vessel and put in it fire from the altar, and sweet spices, and take it quickly into the meeting of the people, and make them free from sin: for wrath has gone out from the Lord, and the disease is starting.
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.”
47 And at the words of Moses, Aaron took his vessel, and went running among the people; and even then the disease had made a start among them; and he put spices in his vessel to take away the sin of the people.
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.
48 And he took his place between the dead and the living: and the disease was stopped.
He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague was halted.
49 Now fourteen thousand, seven hundred deaths were caused by that disease, in addition to those who came to their end because of what Korah had done.
But those who died from the plague numbered 14,700, in addition to those who had died on account of Korah.
50 Then Aaron went back to Moses to the door of the Tent of meeting: and the disease came to a stop.
Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, since the plague had been halted.
