Numbers 16

The Rebellion of Korah

1 s Now Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth, who were Reubenites,s took ment2 and rebelled against Moses, along with some of the Israelites, 250 leaderst of the community, chosen from the assembly,t famous men.t

3 And they assembled against Moses and Aaron, saying to them, “You take too much upon yourselves,t seeing that the whole community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the community of the Lord?”
4 When Moses heard it he fell down with his face to the ground.t5 Then he said to Korah and to all his company, “In the morning the Lord will make known who are his, and who is holy. He will cause that persont to approach him; the person he has chosen he will cause to approach him.6 Do this, Korah, you and all your company:t Take censers,7 put fire in them, and set incense on them before the Lord tomorrow, and the man whom the Lord chooses will be holy. You take too much upon yourselves, you sons of Levi!”8 Moses said to Korah, “Listen now, you sons of Levi!9 Does it seem too small a thing to you that the God of Israel has separated you from the community of Israel to bring you near to himself, to perform the service of the tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before the community to minister to them?10 He has brought you near and all your brothers, the sons of Levi, with you. Do you now seekts the priesthood also?11 Therefore you and all your company have assembled together against the Lord! And Aaron – what is he that you murmur against him?”s12 Then Moses summonedt Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come up.t13 Is it a small thingt that you have brought us up out of the land that flows with milk and honey,t to kill us in the wilderness? Now do you want to make yourself a princet over us?

14 Moreover,t you have not brought us into a land that flows with milk and honey, nor given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Do you think you can blindt these men? We will not come up.”

15 Moses was very angry, and he said to the Lord, “Have no respectt for their offering! I have not taken so much as one donkey from them, nor have I harmed any one of them!”
16 Then Moses said to Korah, “You and all your company present yourselves before the Lord – you and they, and Aaron – tomorrow.17 And each of yout take his censer, putt incense in it, and then each of you present his censer before the Lord: 250 censers, along with you, and Aaron – each of you with his censer.”18 So everyone took his censer, put fire in it, and set incense on it, and stood at the entrance of the tent of meeting, with Moses and Aaron.

19 Whent Korah assembled the whole community against them at the entrance of the tent of meeting, then the glory of the Lord appeared to the whole community.

The Judgment on the Rebels

20 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron:21 “Separate yourselvest from among this community,s that I may consume them in an instant.”

22 Then they threw themselves down with their faces to the grounds and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all people,t will you be angry with the whole community when only one man sins?”t
23 So the Lord spoke to Moses:24 “Tell the community: ‘Get awayt from around the homes of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.’”25 Then Moses got upt and went to Dathan and Abiram; and the elders of Israel went after him.26 And he said to the community, “Move away from the tents of these wickedt men, and do not touch anything they have, lest you be destroyed becauset of all their sins.”s27 So they got away from the homes of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram on every side, and Dathan and Abiram came out and stationed themselvest in the entrances of their tents with their wives, their children, and their toddlers.28 Then Moses said, “This is howt you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them of my own will.t29 If these men die a natural death,t or if they share the fatet of all men, then the Lord has not sent me.

30 But if the Lord does something entirely new,t and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them upt along with all that they have, and theyt go down alive to the grave,t then you will know that these men have despised the Lord!”
31 When he had finishedt speakingt all these words, the ground that was under them split open,32 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, along with their households, and all Korah’s men, and all their goods.33 They and all that they had went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed over them. So they perished from among the community.34 All the Israelitest who were around them fled at their cry,t for they said, “What ift the earth swallows us too?”

35 Then a firet went out from the Lord and devoured the 250 men who offered incense.

The Atonement for the Rebellion

36 s The Lord spoke to Moses:37 “Tellt Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to pick upt the censers out of the flame, for they are holy, and then scatter the coals of firet at a distance.38 As for the censers of these men who sinned at the cost of their lives,t they must be madet into hammered sheets for covering the altar, because they presented them before the Lord and sanctified them. They will become a sign to the Israelites.”39 So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers presented by those who had been burned up, and they were hammered out as a covering for the altar.40 It was a memorial for the Israelites, that no outsider who is not a descendant oft Aaron should approach to burn incense before the Lord, that he might not become like Korah and his company – just as the Lord had spoken by the authorityt of Moses.41 But on the next day the whole community of Israelites murmured against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the Lord’s people!”s42 When the community assembledt against Moses and Aaron, they turned toward the tent of meeting – andt the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared.

43 Then Moses and Aaron stood before the tent of meeting.
44 The Lord spoke to Moses:45 “Get away from this community, so that I can consume them in an instant!” But they threw themselves down with their faces to the ground.t46 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Take the censer, put burning coals from the altar in it, place incense on it, and go quickly into the assembly and make atonement for them, for wrath has gone out from the Lord – the plague has begun!”47 So Aaron didt as Moses commandedt and ran into the middle of the assembly, where the plague was just beginning among the people. So he placed incense on the coals and made atonement for the people.48 He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped.49 Now 14,700 people died in the plague, in addition to those who died in the event with Korah.

50 Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and the plague was stopped.

NUMBERS 16

Korah, Dathan, and Abiram //Lead a Rebellion

1-2  t t Korah son of Izhar was a Levite from the Kohathite clan. One day he called together Dathan, Abiram, and Ont from the Reuben tribe, and the four of them decided to rebel against Moses. So they asked 250 respected Israelite leaders for their support, and together they went to Moses

3 and Aaron and said, “Why do you think you're so much better than everyone else? We're part of the [Lord]'s holy people, and he's with all of us. What makes you think you're the only ones in charge?”
4 When Moses heard this, he knelt down to pray.t

5 Then he said to Korah and his followers:
Tomorrow morning the [Lord] will show us the person he has chosen to be his priest, and that man will faithfully serve him.

6-7 Korah, here is what you and your followers must do: Get some fire pans, fill them with coals and incense, and place them near the sacred tent. And the man the [Lord] chooses will be his priest.t Korah, this time you Levites have gone too far!
8-9 You know that the God of Israel has chosen you Levites from all Israel to serve him by being in charge of the sacred tent and by helping the community to worship in the proper way. What more do you want? 10 The [Lord] has given you a special responsibility, and now, Korah, you think you should also be his priest.

11 You and your followers have rebelled against the [Lord], not against Aaron.
12 Then Moses sent for Dathan and Abiram, but they sent back this message: “We won't come! 13 It's bad enough that you took us from our rich farmland in Egypt to let us die here in the desert. Now you also want to boss us around!

14 You keep promising us rich farmlands with fertile fields and vineyards—but where are they? Stop trying to trick these people. No, we won't come to see you.”

15 Moses was very angry and said to the [Lord], “Don't listen to these men! I haven't done anything wrong to them. I haven't taken as much as a donkey.”
16 Then he said to Korah, “Tomorrow you and your followers must go with Aaron to the [Lord]'s sacred tent.

17 Each of you take along your fire pan with incense in it and offer the incense to the [Lord].”
18 The next day the men placed incense and coals in their fire pans and stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the sacred tent.

19 Meanwhile, Korah had convinced the rest of the Israelites to rebel against their two leaders.
When that happened, the [Lord] appeared in all his glory 20 and said to Moses and Aaron,

21 “Get away from the rest of the Israelites so I can kill them at once!”

22 But the two men bowed down and prayed, “Our God, you gave these people life. Why would you punish everyone here when only one man has sinned?”
23 The [Lord] answered Moses,

24 “Tell the people to stay away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”
25 Moses walked over to Dathan and Abiram, and the other leaders of Israel followed. 26 Then Moses warned the people, “Get away from the tents of these sinful men! Don't touch anything that belongs to them or you'll be wiped out.”

27 So everyone moved away from those tents, except Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and their families.
28 Moses said to the crowd, “The [Lord] has chosen me and told me to do these things—it wasn't my idea. And here's how you will know: 29 If these men die a natural death, it means the [Lord] hasn't chosen me.

30 But suppose the [Lord] does something that has never been done before. For example, what if a huge crack appears in the ground, and these men and their families fall into it and are buried alive, together with everything they own? Then you will know they have turned their backs on the [Lord]!”
31 As soon as Moses said this, the ground under the men opened up

32-33 and swallowed them alive, together with their families and everything they owned. Then the ground closed back up, and they were gone.

34 The rest of the Israelites heard their screams, so they ran off, shouting, “We don't want that to happen to us!”

35 Suddenly the [Lord] sent a fire that burned up the 250 men who had offered incense to him.
36 Then the [Lord] said to Moses, 37 “Tell Aaron's son Eleazar to take the fire pans from the smoldering fire and scatter the coals. The pans are now sacred,

38 because they were used for offering incense to me. Have them hammered into a thin layer of bronze as a covering for the altar. Those men died because of their sin, and now their fire pans will become a warning for the rest of the community.”
39 Eleazar collected the pans and had them hammered into a thin layer of bronze as a covering for the altar,

40 just as the [Lord] had told Moses. The pans were a warning to the Israelites that only Aaron's descendants would be allowed to offer incense to the [Lord]. Anyone else who tried to would be punished like Korah and his followers.

The Israelites Rebel //and Are Punished

41 The next day the people of Israel again complained against Moses and Aaron, “The two of you killed some of the [Lord]'s people!”
42 As the people crowded around them, Moses and Aaron turned toward the sacred tent, and the [Lord] appeared in his glory in the cloud covering the tent. 43 So Moses and Aaron walked to the front of the tent, 44 t where the [Lord] said to them,

45 “Stand back! I am going to wipe out these Israelites once and for all.”
They immediately bowed down and prayed.

46 Then Moses told Aaron, “Grab your fire pan and fill it with hot coals from the altar. Put incense in it, then quickly take it to where the people are and offer it to the [Lord], so they can be forgiven. The [Lord] is very angry, and people have already started dying!”
47-48 Aaron did exactly what he had been told. He ran over to the crowd of people and stood between the dead bodies and the people who were still alive. He placed the incense on the pan, then offered it to the [Lord] and asked him to forgive the people's sin. The disease immediately stopped spreading, and no one else died from it.

49 But 14,700 Israelites were dead, not counting those who had died with Korah and his followers.
50 Aaron walked back and stood with Moses at the sacred tent.