Numbers 16
1 And Korah, son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, takes both Dathan and Abiram sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth, sons of Reuben,
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 they rise up before Moses with men of the sons of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the congregation, called of the convention, men of renown,
a rebellion against Moses, along with 250 men of Israel renowned as leaders of the congregation and representatives in the assembly.
3 and they are assembled against Moses and against Aaron, and say to them, “Enough of you! For all the congregation—all of them [are] holy, and YHWH [is] in their midst; and why do you lift yourselves up above the assembly of YHWH?”
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 hears, and falls on his face,
When Moses heard this, he fell facedown.
5 and he speaks to Korah and to all his congregation, saying, “Indeed, [in the] morning YHWH may cause [you] to know those who are His and him who is holy, and has brought [him] near to Him; even him whom He fixes on He brings near to 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 Do this: take censers for yourselves—Korah and all his company—
You, Korah, and all your followers are to do as follows: Take censers,
7 and put fire in them and put incense on them before YHWH tomorrow, and it has been, the man whom YHWH chooses, he [is] the holy one—enough of 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 says to Korah, “Now hear, sons of Levi;
Moses also said to Korah, “Now listen, you sons of Levi!
9 is it little to you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel to bring you near to Himself, to do the service of the Dwelling Place of YHWH, and to stand before the congregation to serve 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 Indeed, He brings you near, and all your brothers, the sons of Levi, with you—and you have also sought the priesthood!
He has brought you near, you and all your fellow Levites, but you are seeking the priesthood as well.
11 Therefore, you and all your congregation are meeting against YHWH; and Aaron, what [is] he, that you murmur 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 And Moses sends to call for Dathan and for Abiram, sons of Eliab, and they say, “We do not come up!
Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come!
13 Is it little that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to put us to death in a wilderness, that you also certainly make yourself prince 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 Indeed, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor do you give an inheritance of field and vineyard to us; do you pick out the eyes of these men? We do 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 And it is very displeasing to Moses, and he says to YHWH, “Do not turn to their present; I have not taken one donkey from them, nor have I afflicted one 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 says to Korah, “You and all your congregation, be [present] before YHWH—you, and they, and Aaron—tomorrow;
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 each take his censer and you have put incense on them, and each has brought his censer near before YHWH—two hundred and fifty censers; indeed, you and Aaron, each [with] his censer.”
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 And they each take his censer, and put fire on them, and lay incense on them, and they stand at the opening 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 assembles all the congregation against them at the opening of the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of YHWH is seen by all the congregation.
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 YHWH speaks to Moses and to Aaron, saying,
And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,
21 “Be separated from the midst of this congregation, and I consume them in a moment”;
“Separate yourselves from this congregation so that I may consume them in an instant.”
22 and they fall on their faces, and say, “God, God of the spirits of all flesh—one man sins, and are You angry against all the congregation?”
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 YHWH speaks to Moses, saying,
Then the LORD said to Moses,
24 “Speak to the congregation, saying, Go up from around the dwelling place of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”
“Tell the congregation to move away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”
25 And Moses rises, and goes to Dathan and Abiram, and [the] elderly of Israel go after him,
So Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him.
26 and he speaks to the congregation, saying, “Now turn aside from the tents of these wicked men, and do not come against anything that they have, lest you are consumed in all 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 And they go up from the dwelling place of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, from all around, and Dathan and Abiram have come out, standing at the opening of their tents, with their wives, and their sons, and their infants.
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 says, “By this you know that YHWH has sent me to do all these works, that [they are] not from my own heart;
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 die according to the death of all men, or the charge of all men is charged on them, YHWH 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 YHWH does a strange thing, and the ground has opened her mouth and swallowed them and all that they have, and they have gone down alive to Sheol, then you have known that these men have despised YHWH.” (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 it comes to pass at his finishing speaking all these words, that the ground which [is] under them cleaves,
As soon as Moses had finished saying all this, the ground beneath them split open,
32 and the earth opens her mouth and swallows them, and their houses, and all the men who [are] for Korah, and all the goods,
and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households—all Korah’s men and all their possessions.
33 and they go down—they and all that they have—alive to Sheol, and the earth closes over them, and they perish from the midst of the assembly; (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 who [are] around them have fled at their voice, for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us”;
At their cries, all the people of Israel who were around them fled, saying, “The earth may swallow us too!”
35 and fire has come out from YHWH and consumes the two hundred and fifty men bringing the incense near.
And fire came forth from the LORD and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense.
36 And YHWH speaks to Moses, saying,
Then the LORD said to Moses,
37 “Say to Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to lift up the censers from the midst of the burning and scatter the fire away, for they have been hallowed.
“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 [As for] the censers of these sinners against their own souls, indeed, they have made them [into] spread-out plates [for] a covering for the altar, for they have brought them near before YHWH, and they are hallowed; and they become a sign to the sons 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 And Eleazar the priest takes the bronze censers which they who are burned had brought near, and they spread them out [for] a covering 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 a memorial to the sons of Israel, so that a stranger who is not of the seed of Aaron does not draw near to make incense before YHWH, and is not as Korah and as his congregation, as YHWH has spoken by the hand of Moses to him.
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 And on the next day all the congregation of the sons of Israel murmurs against Moses and against Aaron, saying, “You have put the people of YHWH to death.”
The next day the whole congregation of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the LORD’s people!”
42 And it comes to pass, in the congregation being assembled against Moses and against Aaron, that they turn toward the Tent of Meeting, and behold, the cloud has covered it and the glory of YHWH is seen;
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 and Moses comes—Aaron also—to the front of the Tent of Meeting.
Then Moses and Aaron went to the front of the Tent of Meeting,
44 And YHWH speaks to Moses, saying,
and the LORD said to Moses,
45 “Get up from the midst of this congregation, and I consume them in a moment”; and they fall 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 says to Aaron, “Take the censer and put fire on it from off the altar, and place incense, and go quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, for the wrath has gone out from the presence of YHWH—the plague has begun.”
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 Aaron takes [it] as Moses has spoken, and runs to the midst of the assembly, and behold, the plague has begun among the people; and he gives the incense, and makes atonement for 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 stands between the dead and the living, and the plague is restrained;
He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague was halted.
49 and those who die by the plague are fourteen thousand and seven hundred, apart from those who die for the matter of Korah;
But those who died from the plague numbered 14,700, in addition to those who had died on account of Korah.
50 and Aaron turns back to Moses, to the opening of the Tent of Meeting, and the plague has been restrained.
Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, since the plague had been halted.
