Numbers 16
1 Then took Korah, son of Izhar son of Kohath son of Levi, —and Dathan and Abiram sons of Eliab, and On, son of Peleth sons of Reuben;
One day Korah, who was the son of Izhar and a descendant of Levi’s son Kohath, conspired with Dathan and Abiram, who were the sons of Eliab, and On, who was the son of Peleth. Those three men were from the tribe of Reuben.
2 and rose up before Moses, with certain men of the sons of Israel, two hundred and fifty, —princes of assembly, called to the stated meeting, men of renown;
Korah and those other three men incited 250 other people who were leaders among the Israeli people to join them in rebelling against Moses/me.
3 and gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said unto them Too much for you, when, all the assembly, are, all of them, holy, and in the midst of them, is Yahweh, —Wherefore, then, should ye set yourselves up, above the convocation of Yahweh?
They came together to criticize Aaron and Moses/me. They said to them/us, “You two are using more [authority] than you should! Yahweh has set apart all of us Israeli people, and he is with/helping all of us. So why do you act as though you are more important than the rest of us people who belong to Yahweh [RHQ]?”
4 And, when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face.
When Moses/I heard what they were saying, he/I prostrated himself/myself on the ground.
5 Then spake he unto Korah, and unto all his assembly, saying, In the morning, will Yahweh make known who are his, and who is the holy one and will cause him to come near unto himself, —yea him whom he shall choose, will he cause to come near unto himself.
Then he/I said to Korah and those [Israeli leaders] who were with Korah, “Tomorrow morning Yahweh will show us whom he has chosen to be his [priest], and who is holy and allowed to come near to him. Yahweh will permit [only] those whom he chooses to come into his presence.
6 This do, —Take to you censers, Korah and all his assembly;
So Korah, tomorrow you and those who are with you must prepare your pans to burn incense.
7 and place therein fire, and put thereon incense before Yahweh, to-morrow, So shall it be—that, the man whom Yahweh shall choose, he shall be the holy one. Too much for you ye sons of Levi!
Then you must light a fire in them and burn the incense in the presence of Yahweh. Then we will see which one of us Yahweh has chosen to be his holy servant. It is you men who are descendants of Levi who are trying to use more [authority] than you should!”
8 And Moses said unto Korah, —Hear, I pray you, ye sons of Levi!
Then Moses/I spoke again to Korah. He/I said, “You men who are descendants of Levi, listen to me!
9 Is it too small a thing for you that the God of Israel hath separated you from the assembly of Israel, to bring you near unto himself, —to do the laborious work of the habitation of Yahweh, and to stand before the assembly, to wait upon them?
The God of us Israelis has chosen all of you to be close to him in order that you can work for him at his Sacred Tent and serve the people. (Is that unimportant/Does that mean nothing) to you [RHQ]?
10 But having brought thee near, and all thy brethren the sons of Levi with thee, must ye seek priesthood also?
Yahweh has brought you, [Korah], and your fellow descendants of Levi, near to himself. Now are you demanding to become priests also?
11 Wherefore thou and all thine assembly, are conspiring against Yahweh, —But Aaron, what is he, that ye should murmur against him?
It is really Yahweh against whom you and your fellow descendants of Levi are rebelling. Aaron is not the one about whom you are really complaining [RHQ].”
12 Then sent Moses, to call for Dathan and for Abiram sons of Eliab, —and they said We will not come up:
Then Moses/I summoned Dathan and Abiram, but [they refused to come]. They [sent a message] saying, “We will not come to you!
13 Was it, a small thing, that thou didst bring us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to put us to death in the desert but thou must, continue even to lord it, over us?
You brought us out of Egypt, which was a very fertile [IDM] land, in order to cause us to die here in this desert. That was bad. But now you are also trying to boss us [RHQ], and that is worse.
14 Certainly not into a land flowing with milk and honey, hast thou brought us, nor given unto us an inheritance of field and vineyard, —The eyes of those men, wilt thou dig out? We will not come up.
You have not given us a new land to live in, a land that has good fields and vineyards. You are only trying to [RHQ] trick these people. So we will not come to you.”
15 Then was Moses very angry, and he said unto Yahweh, Do not thou have respect unto their meal-offering. Not one ass, from them, have I taken, neither have I wronged one of them.
Then Moses/I became very angry. He/I said to Yahweh, “Do not accept the grain offerings that they have brought. I have not taken anything from them, not even one donkey, and I have never done anything wrong to them, [so they have no reason to complain about me].”
16 And Moses said unto Korah, Thou, and all thine assembly, come ye before Yahweh, —thou, and they, and Aaron to-morrow.
Then Moses/I said to Korah, “You and all those who are with you must come here tomorrow and stand in front of Yahweh. Aaron will also be here.
17 And take ye each man his censer and put thereon incense, then shall ye bring near before Yahweh, each man his censer, two hundred and fifty Censers, —and, thou and Aaron, each man his censer.
You and all the 250 men who are with you must each take a pan in which to burn incense, and put incense in it, to [burn it to be] an offering to Yahweh. Aaron will do the same thing.”
18 So they took each man his censer and put thereon fire, and placed thereon incense, —and took their stand at the entrance of the tent of meeting with Moses and Aaron.
So [the next day] each of those men got a pan to burn incense. They put in it incense and hot coals to light it, and then they all stood at the entrance of the Sacred Tent with Aaron and Moses/me.
19 And Korah gathered together against them all the assembly, unto the entrance of the tent of meeting, —then appeared the glory of Yahweh, unto all the assembly.
Then Korah summoned all the people who supported him and who were against Moses/me, and they also gathered at the entrance of the tent. Then the glory of Yahweh appeared to all of them/us,
20 Then spake Yahweh unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying:
and Yahweh said to Aaron and Moses/me,
21 Separate yourselves out of the midst of this assembly, —that I may consume them in a moment.
“Get away from all these people, in order that I can get rid of them immediately!”
22 And they fell upon their faces and said, O GOD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, —shall, one man, sin, and against all the assembly, wilt thou be wroth.
But Aaron and Moses/I prostrated themselves/ourselves on the ground. We pleaded with Yahweh, saying, “God, you are the one who caused all these people to live [MTY]. Only one of these men has sinned; so, (is it right for you to be angry with all the people?/it is not right for you to be angry with all the people!) [RHQ]”
23 And Yahweh spake unto Moses, saying,
Yahweh said to Moses/me,
24 Speak unto the assembly, saying, —Get ye up from round about the habitation of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.
“[Okay], but tell all the people to get away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”
25 So Moses rose up, and went, unto Dathan and Abiram, —then went, after him the elders of Israel.
So Moses/I stood up and went to the tents of Dathan and Abiram. The Israeli leaders followed him/me.
26 And he spake unto the assembly, saying—Remove I pray you from beside the tents of these lawless men, and do not touch aught that pertaineth unto them, —lest ye be carried off, in all their sins.
He/I told the people, “Get away from the tents of these wicked men, and do not touch anything that belongs to them! If you touch anything, you will die because of their sins!”
27 So they went up from beside the habitation of Korah, Dathan and Abiram on every side, —and, Dathan and Abiram, came out and stationed themselves at the entrance of their tents, with their wives and their sons and their little ones.
So all the people moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram came out of their tents with their wives and children and babies, and stood at the entrances of their tents.
28 Then said Moses, Hereby, shall ye know, that, Yahweh hath sent me, to do all these works, —verily, not out of my own heart:
Then Moses/I said, “I was not the one who decided to do all these things that I have done. It was Yahweh who [chose me and] sent me to do them. And now he will prove that to you.
29 If, as all human beings die, these do die, and the visitation of all human beings, be visited upon them, Yahweh, hath not sent me.
If these men die in a normal way, then it will be clear that Yahweh did not choose me.
30 But, if, a creation, Yahweh create, and the ground open wide her mouth and swallow them up, with all that pertain unto them, and so they go down alive unto hades, then shall ye know, that these men have despised Yahweh. (Sheol h7585)
But if Yahweh does something that has never happened before, if he causes the ground [that is under their feet] to open up and swallow these men [and their families] and all their possessions, and they fall into the opening and are buried while they are still alive, then you will know that these men have insulted Yahweh.” (Sheol h7585)
31 And it came to pass as he made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground which was under them, clave asunder;
As soon as Moses/I said this, the ground split open beneath those men.
32 and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up them, and their households, —and all the human beings who pertained unto Korah, with all their goods:
It swallowed them and their families and all those who were standing there with Korah and all of their possessions.
33 so, they, and all that pertained unto them, went down, alive unto hades, —and the earth, closed upon them, and they perished out of the midst of the convocation. (Sheol h7585)
They fell into the opening in the ground while they were still alive, and all their possessions fell into the opening also. They disappeared, and the ground closed back up again. (Sheol h7585)
34 And, all Israel who were round about them, fled at their cry, —for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up.
They screamed as they fell, and all the people who were standing nearby heard them scream. The people [were terrified and] cried out as they ran away, saying, “[We do not want] the ground to swallow us also!”
35 Fire also came forth, from Yahweh, —and consumed the two hundred and fifty men, who offered the incense.
And then a fire from Yahweh came down [from the sky] and burned up the 250 men who were burning the incense!
36 Then spake Yahweh unto Moses, saying:
Then Yahweh said to Moses/me,
37 Say unto Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, that he take up the censers out of the midst of the burning, and the fire, scatter thou yonder, —for they have been hallowed.
“Tell Aaron’s son Eleazar to take the pans that had incense in them away from the fire and to scatter the burning coals. The pans that those men [were carrying] are (holy/dedicated to me) [because they burned incense to me in them].
38 As for the censers of these sinners against their own persons, they shall be made into beaten-out plates as an overlay for the altar, for they had brought them near before Yahweh and hallowed them, —so shall they become a sign unto the sons of Israel.
Those men have now died because of their sin; so [Eleazar must] take their pans and hammer the metal to make it become very thin. He must make a covering for the altar with that metal. Those pans were used to offer incense to me, so they are (holy/dedicated to me). [What happened to] those pans will now warn the Israeli people.”
39 And Eleazar the priest took the censers of bronze, which the consumed men had brought near, —and beat them out into plates for overlaying the altar:
So Eleazar the priest collected the 250 pans for burning incense that had been used by the men who died in the fire. He hammered the pans very thin to make a covering for the altar, as Yahweh told Moses/me should be done.
40 a memorial unto the sons of Israel, That no stranger, who is not of the seed of Aaron, shall draw near to offer incense before Yahweh, —lest he become like Korah and like his assembly, As spake Yahweh by the hand of Moses with regard thereto.
That warned the Israeli people that only those who were descendants of Aaron were permitted to burn incense for an offering to Yahweh. If anyone else did that, the same thing that happened to Korah and those who were with him would happen to them.
41 And all the assembly of the sons of Israel murmured, on the morrow, against Moses and against, Aaron, saying, —Ye, have caused the death of the people of Yahweh.
But the following morning, all the Israeli people started to complain against Aaron and Moses/me, saying “You have killed many people who belonged to Yahweh!”
42 And it came to pass, when the assembly gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, that they turned towards the tent of meeting, and lo! the cloud had covered it: and the glory of Yahweh, appeared.
When all the people gathered together to protest about what Aaron and Moses/I had done, they looked at the Sacred Tent and saw that the sacred cloud had covered it, and the glory of Yahweh had appeared.
43 And Moses and Aaron came in, before the tent of meeting.
Aaron and Moses/I went and stood in front of the Sacred Tent.
44 Then spake Yahweh unto Moses, saying:
Then Yahweh said to Moses/me,
45 Lift yourselves up out of the midst of this assembly, that I may consume them, as in a moment, —And they fell upon their faces.
“Get away from these people, in order that I can get rid of them immediately [without injuring you two]!” But Aaron and Moses/I prostrated themselves/ourselves on the ground [and prayed].
46 Then said Moses unto Aaron—Take the censer and place thereon fire, from off the altar, and put incense [thereon], and, going quickly into the assembly, put a propitiatory-covering over them, —for wrath hath gone forth from before Yahweh the plague, hath begun.
Moses/I said to Aaron, “Quickly take another pan and put in it some burning/hot coals from the altar. Put incense in the pan, and carry it out among the people to atone for the sins of the people. Yahweh is very angry with them, and [I know that] a (severe plague/bad sickness) has already started among them.”
47 Then took Aaron, as Moses spake, and ran into the midst of the convocation, and lo! the plague had begun among the people, —so he placed the incense, and put a propitiatory-covering over the people:
So Aaron did what Moses/I told him. He took the burning incense out among the people. The plague had already started to strike the people, but Aaron continued to burn the incense so that God would forgive them for the sins they had committed.
48 thus did he take his stand between the dead and the living, —and the plague was restrained.
He stood between the people who had already died and those who were still alive, and then the plague stopped.
49 And so it was that they who died in the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, —besides them who died over the matter of Korah.
But 14,700 people had already died from that plague/sickness, in addition to the people who died with Korah.
50 And Aaron returned unto Moses, unto the entrance of the tent of meeting, —when, the plague, had been restrained.
Then after the plague had ended, Aaron and Moses/I returned to the entrance of the Sacred Tent.
