Numbers 16
1 Now Korach, the son of Yizhar, the son of Kehath, the son of Levi, was presumptuous, together with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben:
Korah, son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi tried to take over leadership, along with Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On, son of Peleth, who were from the tribe of Reuben.
2 So that they rose up before Moses, with certain men of the children of Israel, in number two hundred and fifty; [who were] princes of the congregation, called to the assembly, men of renown.
They rebelled against Moses, and were joined by 250 well-respected Israelite leaders and members of the assembly.
3 And they assembled themselves against Moses, and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye assume too much; for the whole of the congregation are all of them holy, and the Lord is among them; wherefore then will you lift yourselves up above the congregation of the Lord?
They joined together in opposition to Moses and Aaron, telling them, “You've taken too much power for yourselves! Every one of the Israelites is holy, and the Lord is among them. So why do you set yourselves above the Lord's assembly?”
4 And when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face:
When Moses heard what they were saying, he fell facedown on the ground.
5 And he spoke unto Korach and unto all his company, saying, Tomorrow, —then will the Lord make known who is his, and who is holy, that he may cause them to come near unto him; and him whom he shall choose will he cause to come near unto him.
Then he told Korah and all those with him, “In the morning the Lord is going to make it clear who is his and who is holy, and allow that person to approach him. He will only allow whoever he chooses to approach him.
6 This do ye: Take yourselves censers, Korach and all his company;
This is what you, Korah, and everyone with you are going to do. Take some incense burners,
7 And put therein fire, and put upon them incense before the Lord, tomorrow; and it shall be that the man whom the Lord will choose, he shall be the holy one; you assume too much, ye sons of Levi.
and tomorrow put incense in them and set it on fire in the presence of the Lord. Then the man the Lord chooses is the one who is holy. It is you Levites who are taking too much power for yourselves!”
8 And Moses said unto Korach, Hear, I pray you, ye sons of Levi:
Moses also told Korah, “Listen, you Levites!
9 It is too little for you, that the God of Israel hath separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near unto himself, to do the service of the tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before the congregation to minister for them?
Do you think it's something insignificant that the God of Israel chose you from all the other Israelites and allowed you to approach him and carry out the work in the Lord's Tabernacle, to stand before the Israelites and serve them?
10 And he hath brought thee near, and all thy brethren the sons of Levi with thee: and now will ye seek the priesthood also?
He has allowed you the privilege of approaching him, Korah, you and all the other Levites, but now you want to have the priesthood as well!
11 For which cause [beware], thou and all thy company that are gathered together against the Lord; for Aaron, what is he, that ye should murmur against him:
So in reality you and those who have joined you are fighting against the Lord—because who is Aaron that you should complain about him?”
12 And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab; but they said, We will not come up:
Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they replied, “We're not going to appear before you!
13 Is it too little that thou hast brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, that thou wilt assume to make thyself also a prince over us?
Haven't you done enough by taking us away from a land flowing with milk and honey in order to kill us out here in the desert? Do you have to make yourself a dictator as well, someone to rule us?
14 Moreover thou hast not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, and thou hast not given us inheritance of fields and vineyards: wilt thou bore out the eyes of these men? we will not come up.
On top of that you haven't taken us to a land flowing with milk and honey or given us fields and vineyards to own. Do you really think you can fool everyone? No, we will not attend!”
15 And this displeased Moses greatly, and he said unto the Lord, Have no respect unto their offering: I have not taken away an ass of any one of them, nor have I done wrong to any one of them.
Moses got really angry and said to the Lord, “Don't accept their offerings. I have never taken even a donkey from them or treated any of them badly.”
16 And Moses said unto Korach, Thou and all thy company, be ye before the Lord, thou, and they, and Aaron, tomorrow:
Moses told Korah, “You and all those who have joined you must appear before the Lord tomorrow—all of you and Aaron too.
17 And take ye every man his censer, and put incense upon them, and bring ye near before the Lord every man his censer, two hundred and fifty censers; thou also, and Aaron, each his censer.
Each one will take his incense burner, put incense in it, and offer it before the Lord. All 250 of you will use your incense burners and Aaron will as well.”
18 And they took every man his censer, and put fire on them, and laid incense thereupon; and they stood at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation with Moses and Aaron.—
So each one took his incense burner, put incense in it, set it on fire, and stood together with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
19 And Korach assembled against them all the congregation unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation; and the glory of the Lord then appeared unto all the congregation.
When Korah had gathered all his rebellious group at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, the Lord's glory appeared before the whole congregation.
20 And the Lord spoke unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,
The Lord told Moses and Aaron,
21 Separate yourselves from the midst of this congregation, and I will make an end of them in a moment.
“Step away from these Israelites and I will destroy them right away.”
22 And they fell upon their faces, and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, this one man doth sin, and with all the congregation wouldst thou be wroth!
But Moses and Aaron fell facedown on the ground said, “God—God of everything that lives—when it's just one man who sins, do you have to be angry with the everybody?”
23 And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,
Then the Lord told Moses,
24 Speak unto the congregation, saying, Get you away from about the dwelling of Korach, Dathan, and Abiram.
“Tell the people to move away from the homes of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”
25 And Moses rose up and went unto Dathan and Abiram; and there went after him the elders of Israel.
So Moses went over to Dathan and Abiram, and the Israelite elders of Israel followed him.
26 And he spoke unto the congregation, saying, Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing which belongeth to them, lest ye be destroyed through all their sins.
He ordered the people, “Move away from the tents of these wicked men and don't touch anything that belongs to them, otherwise you will be destroyed along with them in all their sins.”
27 So they got away from the dwelling of Korach, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side: and Dathan and Abiram came out, standing [boldly] at the door of their tents, with their wives, and their sons, and their little ones.
The people moved away from the homes of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the entrances to their tents along with their wives, children and little ones.
28 And Moses said, Through this shall ye know that the Lord hath sent me to do all these deeds; that [I have] not done them out of my own heart.
Moses said, “This is how you will know that the Lord did send me to carry out everything I've done, for it wasn't anything I thought up.
29 If these men die as all men die, and if the visitation of all men be visited on them: then hath the Lord not sent me.
If these men die a natural death, experiencing the destiny of every human being, then the Lord didn't sent me.
30 But if the Lord do create a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertaineth unto them, and they go down alive into the pit: then shall ye understand that these men have provoked the Lord. (Sheol h7585)
But if the Lord does something totally different, and the earth opens up and swallows them down along with everything that belongs to them so that they go down alive into Sheol, then you will know that these men have acted with contempt to the Lord.” (Sheol h7585)
31 And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground that was under them was cloven asunder:
Immediately Moses finished saying all this the ground under the rebels split apart,
32 And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korach, and all their goods.
and the earth opened up and swallowed them and their households down, as well as everyone who was there with Korah and everything that belonged to them.
33 And they went down, they, and all they that appertained to them, alive into the pit; and the earth closed over them, and they disappeared from the midst of the congregation. (Sheol h7585)
They went down alive into Sheol with all that they had. The earth closed over them, and they were no more. (Sheol h7585)
34 And all Israel that were round about them fled at their cry; for they said, Perhaps the earth may swallow us up [also].
When they heard their cries, all the Israelites nearby ran away, shouting, “Watch out! The earth could swallow us too!”
35 And there came out a fire from the Lord, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that had offered the incense.
Fire burst out from the Lord and burned up the 250 men who were offering incense.
36 And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,
Then the Lord said to Moses,
37 Speak unto Elazar the son of Aaron the priest, that he lift up the censers out of the burning, and throw out the fire far away; for they have been hallowed:
“Tell Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, to collect the holy incense burners from among those who have been burned up, and scatter the coals used for the incense well away from the camp.
38 The censers of these sinners against their own lives; and they shall make of them broad plates for a covering for the altar; for they brought them near before the Lord, and they have thus become hallowed; and they shall serve for a sign unto the children of Israel.
Have the incense burners of those who sinned at the expense of their own lives hammered into metal sheets as a covering for the altar, because they were offered before the Lord, and so have become holy. They will be a reminder to Israelites of what happened.”
39 And Elazar the priest took the copper censers, which they that were burnt had brought near; and they beat them out for a covering unto the altar:
So Eleazar the priest collected the bronze incense burners used by those who had been burned up, and had them hammered out as a covering for the altar,
40 As a memorial unto the children of Israel, in order that no stranger, who is not of the seed of Aaron, should come near to burn incense before the Lord; that he become not as Korach, and as his company; as the Lord had spoken to him by the hand of Moses.
following the instructions given to him from the Lord through Moses. This was to remind the Israelites that no one who is not a descendant of Aaron should come and offer incense before the Lord, otherwise they could end up like Korah and those with him.
41 And all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron, on the morrow, saying, It is you who have caused the people of the Lord to die.
The next day all the Israelites complained to Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the Lord's people!”
42 And it came to pass, when the congregation assembled against Moses and against Aaron, that they looked toward the tabernacle of the congregation, and, behold, the cloud covered it; and the glory of the Lord appeared.
But as the people gathered to confront them, Moses and Aaron went over to the Tent of Meeting, and suddenly the cloud covered it and the Lord's glory appeared.
43 And Moses came with Aaron before the tabernacle of the congregation.
Moses and Aaron went and stood at the front of the Tent of Meeting,
44 And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,
and the Lord said to Moses,
45 Remove yourselves from the midst of this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment. And they fell upon their faces.
“Get away from these people and I will finish them off immediately.” Moses and Aaron fell facedown on the ground.
46 And Moses said unto Aaron, Take the censer, and put therein fire from off the altar, and put on incense, and carry [it] quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement for them; for the wrath is gone forth from the Lord; the plague hath begun.
Moses told Aaron, “Put some coals from the altar and some incense in your incense burner. Then run to the people and make them right before the Lord, for the Lord is angry with them and a plague has started.”
47 And Aaron took as Moses had commanded, and he ran into the midst of the assembly; and, behold, the plague had begun among the people: and he put on the incense, and made an atonement for the people.
Aaron took the incense burner just as Moses had told him and ran into the middle of the assembly. He saw that the plague had started to affect the people so he offered the incense and made the people right with the Lord.
48 And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed.
He stood between those who had died and those who were still alive, and the plague was stopped.
49 And those who died in the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, besides those that had died about the matter of Korach.
However, 14,700 died from the plague in addition to those who'd died because of Korah.
50 And Aaron returned unto Moses, to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, after the plague had been stayed.
Then Aaron went back to Moses at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting because the plague had been stopped.
