Numbers 16
1 And behold Core the son of Isaar, the son of Caath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiron the sons of Eliab, and Hon the son of Pheleth of the children of Ruben,
Now Korah son of Izhar son of Kohath son of Levi, along with Dathan and Abiram sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth, descendants of Reuben, gathered some men.
2 Rose up against Moses, and with them two hundred and fifty others of the children of Israel, leading men of the synagogue, and who in the time of assembly were called by name.
They rose up against Moses, along with other men from the people of Israel, two hundred and fifty leaders of the community who were well-known members in the community.
3 And when they had stood up against Moses and Aaron, they said: Let it be enough for you, that all the multitude consisteth of holy ones, and the Lord is among them: Why lift you up yourselves above the people of the Lord?
They assembled themselves together to confront Moses and Aaron. They said to them, “You have gone too far! All the community is set apart, every one of them, and Yahweh is among them. Why do you lift up yourselves above the rest of Yahweh's community?”
4 When Moses heard this, he fell flat on his face:
When Moses heard that, he lay facedown.
5 And speaking to Core and all the multitude, he said: In the morning the Lord will make known who belong to him, and the holy he will join to himself: and whom he shall choose, they shall approach to him.
He spoke to Korah and to all those with him, “In the morning Yahweh will make known who belongs to him and who is set apart to him. He will bring that person near to him. The one he chooses he will bring near to himself.
6 Do this therefore: Take every man of you your censers, thou Core, and all thy company.
Do this, Korah and all your group. Take censers
7 And putting fire in them tomorrow, put incense upon it before the Lord: and whomsoever he shall choose, the same shall be holy: you take too much upon you, ye sons of Levi.
tomorrow and put fire and incense in them before Yahweh. The one whom Yahweh chooses, that man will be set apart to Yahweh. You have gone too far, you descendants of Levi.”
8 And he said again to Core: Hear ye sons of Levi.
Again, Moses said to Korah, “Now listen, you descendants of Levi:
9 Is it a small thing unto you, that the God of Israel hath spared you from all the people, and joined you to himself, that you should serve him in the service of the tabernacle, and should stand before the congregation of the people, and should minister to him?
is it a small thing for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the community of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do work in Yahweh's tabernacle, and to stand before the community to serve them?
10 Did he therefore make thee and all thy brethren the sons of Levi to approach unto him, that you should challenge to yourselves the priesthood also,
He has brought you near, and all your kinfolk, the descendants of Levi, with you, yet you are seeking the priesthood also!
11 And that all thy company should stand against the Lord? for what is Aaron that you murmur against him?
That is why you and all your group have gathered together against Yahweh. So why are you complaining about Aaron, who obeys Yahweh?”
12 Then Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiron the sons of Eliab. But they answered: We will not come.
Then Moses called for Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come up.
13 Is it a small matter to thee, that thou hast brought us out of a land that flowed with milk and honey, to kill us in the desert, except thou rule also like a lord over us?
Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness? Now you want to make yourself ruler over us!
14 Thou best brought us indeed into a land that floweth with rivers of milk and honey, and hast given us possessions of fields and vineyards; wilt thou also pull out our eyes? We will not come.
In addition, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, or given us the fields and vineyards as an inheritance. Now do you want to blind us with empty promises? We will not come to you.”
15 Moses therefore being very angry, raid to the Lord: Respect not their sacrifices: thou knowest that I have not taken of them so much as a young ass at any time, nor have injured any of them.
Moses was very angry and said to Yahweh, “Do not respect their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them, and I have not harmed any of them.”
16 And he said to Core: Do thou and thy congregation stand apart before the Lord tomorrow, and Aaron apart.
Then Moses said to Korah, “Tomorrow you and all your company must go before Yahweh—you and they, and Aaron.
17 Take every one of you censers, and put incense upon them, offering to the Lord two hundred and fifty censers: let Aaron also hold his censer.
Each of you must take his censer and put incense in it. Then each man must bring before Yahweh his censer, two hundred and fifty censers. You and Aaron, also, must each bring your censer.”
18 When they had done this, Moses and Aaron standing,
So every man took his censer, put fire in it, laid incense in it, and stood at the entrance to the tent of meeting with Moses and Aaron.
19 And had drawn up all the multitude against them to the door of the tabernacle, the glory of the Lord appeared to them all.
Korah assembled all the community against Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the tent of meeting, and Yahweh's glory appeared to all the community.
20 And the Lord speaking to Moses and Aaron, said:
Then Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron:
21 Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may presently destroy them.
“Separate yourselves from among this community that I may consume them immediately.”
22 They fell flat on their face, and said: O most mighty, the God of the spirits of all flesh, for one man’s sin shall thy wrath rage against all?
Moses and Aaron lay facedown and said, “God, the God of the spirits of all humanity, if one man sins, must you be angry with all the community?”
23 And the Lord said to Moses:
Yahweh replied to Moses. He said,
24 Command the whole people to separate themselves from the tents of Core and Dathan and Abiron.
“Speak to the community. Say, 'Get away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.'”
25 And Moses arose, and went to Dathan and Abiron: and the ancients of Israel following him,
Then Moses rose up and went to Dathan and Abiram; the elders of Israel followed him.
26 He said to the multitude: Depart from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be involved in their sins.
He spoke to the community and said, “Now leave the tents of these wicked men and touch nothing of theirs, or you will be consumed by all their sins.”
27 And when they were departed from their tents round about, Dathan and Abiron coming out stood in the entry of their pavilions with their wives and children, and all the people.
So the community on every side of the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram left them. Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the entrance to their tents, with their wives, sons, and their little ones.
28 And Moses said: By this you shall know that the Lord hath sent me to do all things that you see, and that I have not forged them of my own head:
Then Moses said, “By this you will know that Yahweh has sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them of my own accord.
29 If these men die the common death of men, and if they be visited with a plague, wherewith others also are wont to be visited, the Lord did not send me.
If these men die a natural death such as normally happens, then Yahweh has not sent me.
30 But if the Lord do a new thing, and the earth opening her mouth swallow them down, and all things that belong to them, and they go down alive into hell, you shall know that they have blasphemed the Lord. (Sheol h7585)
But if Yahweh creates something new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them, with everything that they possess, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you must understand that these men have despised Yahweh.” (Sheol h7585)
31 And immediately as he had made an end of speaking, the earth broke asunder under their feet:
As soon as Moses finished speaking all these words, the ground opened under those men.
32 And opening her mouth, devoured them with their tents and all their substance.
The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their families, and all the people who belonged to Korah, as well as all their possessions.
33 And they went down alive into hell the ground closing upon them, and they perished from among the people. (Sheol h7585)
So they and all that they possessed went down alive into Sheol. The earth closed over them, and they perished from among the community. (Sheol h7585)
34 But all Israel, that was standing round about, fled at the cry of them that were perishing: saying: Lest perhaps the earth swallow us up also.
All Israel around them fled from their cries. They exclaimed, “The earth may swallow us up also!”
35 And a fire coming out from the Lord, destroyed the two hundred and fifty men that offered the incense.
Then fire flashed out from Yahweh and devoured the 250 men who had offered incense.
36 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
Again Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,
37 Command Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest to take up the censers that lie in the burning, and to scatter the fire of one side and the other: because they are sanctified
“Speak to Eleazar son of Aaron the priest and let him take up the censers out of the flames, for the censers are set apart to me. Then let him scatter the burning coals at a distance.
38 In the deaths of the sinners: and let him beat them into plates, and fasten them to the altar, because incense hath been offered in them to the Lord, and they are sanctified, that the children of Israel may see them for a sign and a memorial.
Take the censers of those who lost their lives because of their sin. Let them be made into hammered plates as a covering over the altar. Those men did offer them before me, so they are set apart to me. They will be a sign of my presence to the people of Israel.”
39 Then Eleazar the priest took the brazen censers, wherein they had offered, whom the burning fire had devoured, and beat them into plates, fastening them to the altar:
Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers that had been used by the men who were burned up, and they were hammered out into a covering for the altar,
40 That the children of Israel might have for the time to come wherewith they should be admonished, that no stranger or any one that is not of seed of Aaron should come near to offer incense to the Lord, lest he should suffer as Core suffered, and all his congregation, according as the Lord spoke to Moses.
to be a reminder to the people of Israel, so that no outsider who was not descended from Aaron should come up to burn incense before Yahweh, so they might not become like Korah and his group—just as Yahweh had commanded through Moses.
41 The following day all the multitude of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron, saying: You have killed the people of the Lord.
But the next morning all the community of the people of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron. They said, “You have killed Yahweh's people.”
42 And when there arose a sedition, and the tumult increased,
Then it happened, when the community had assembled against Moses and Aaron, that they looked toward the tent of meeting and, behold, the cloud was covering it. Yahweh's glory appeared,
43 Moses and Aaron fled to the tabernacle of the covenant. And when the were gone into it, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared.
and Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting.
44 And the Lord said to Moses:
Then Yahweh spoke to Moses. He said,
45 Get you out from the midst of this multitude, this moment will I destroy them. And as they were lying on the ground,
“Go away from in front of this community so that I may consume them immediately.” Then Moses and Aaron lay down with their faces to the ground.
46 Moses said to Aaron: Take the censer, and putting fire in it from the altar, put incense upon it, and go quickly to the people to pray for them: for already wrath is gone out from the Lord, and the plague rageth.
Moses said to Aaron, “Take the censer, put fire in it from off the altar, put incense in it, carry it quickly to the community, and make atonement for them, because anger is coming from Yahweh. The plague has begun.”
47 When Aaron had done this, and had run to the midst of the multitude which the burning fire was now destroying, he offered the incense:
So Aaron did as Moses directed. He ran into the middle of the community. The plague had quickly started to spread among the people, so he put in the incense and made atonement for the people.
48 And standing between the dead and the living, he prayed for the people, and the plague ceased.
Aaron stood between the dead and the living; in this way the plague was stopped.
49 And the number of them that were slain was fourteen thousand and seven hundred men, besides them that had perished in the sedition of Core.
Those who died by the plague were 14,700 in number, besides those who had died in the matter of Korah.
50 And Aaron returned to Moses to the door of the tabernacle of the covenant after the destruction was over.
Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the tent of meeting, and the plague ended.
