Numbers 16

Chapter 16

Korah’s Rebellion

1 One day Korah son of Izhar, a descendant of Kohath son of Levi, conspired with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth, from the tribe of Reuben.2 They incited a rebellion against Moses, along with 250 other leaders of the community, all prominent members of the assembly.

3 They united against Moses and Aaron and said, “You have gone too far! The whole community of Israel has been set apart by the LORD, and he is with all of us. What right do you have to act as though you are greater than the rest of the LORD’s people?”
4 When Moses heard what they were saying, he fell face down on the ground.5 Then he said to Korah and his followers, “Tomorrow morning the LORD will show us who belongs to himt and who is holy. The LORD will allow only those whom he selects to enter his own presence.6 Korah, you and all your followers must prepare your incense burners.

7 Light fires in them tomorrow, and burn incense before the LORD. Then we will see whom the LORD chooses as his holy one. You Levites are the ones who have gone too far!”
8 Then Moses spoke again to Korah: “Now listen, you Levites!9 Does it seem insignificant to you that the God of Israel has chosen you from among all the community of Israel to be near him so you can serve in the LORD’s Tabernacle and stand before the people to minister to them?10 Korah, he has already given this special ministry to you and your fellow Levites. Are you now demanding the priesthood as well?

11 The LORD is the one you and your followers are really revolting against! For who is Aaron that you are complaining about him?”
12 Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they replied, “We refuse to come before you!13 Isn’t it enough that you brought us out of Egypt, a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us here in this wilderness, and that you now treat us like your subjects?

14 What’s more, you haven’t brought us into another land flowing with milk and honey. You haven’t given us a new homeland with fields and vineyards. Are you trying to fool these men?t We will not come.”
15 Then Moses became very angry and said to the LORD, “Do not accept their grain offerings! I have not taken so much as a donkey from them, and I have never hurt a single one of them.”16 And Moses said to Korah, “You and all your followers must come here tomorrow and present yourselves before the LORD. Aaron will also be here.

17 You and each of your 250 followers must prepare an incense burner and put incense on it, so you can all present them before the LORD. Aaron will also bring his incense burner.”
18 So each of these men prepared an incense burner, lit the fire, and placed incense on it. Then they all stood at the entrance of the Tabernaclet with Moses and Aaron.19 Meanwhile, Korah had stirred up the entire community against Moses and Aaron, and they all gathered at the Tabernacle entrance. Then the glorious presence of the LORD appeared to the whole community,20 and the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

21 “Get away from all these people so that I may instantly destroy them!”

22 But Moses and Aaron fell face down on the ground. “O God,” they pleaded, “you are the God who gives breath to all creatures. Must you be angry with all the people when only one man sins?”
23 And the LORD said to Moses,

24 “Then tell all the people to get away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”
25 So Moses got up and rushed over to the tents of Dathan and Abiram, followed by the elders of Israel.26 “Quick!” he told the people. “Get away from the tents of these wicked men, and don’t touch anything that belongs to them. If you do, you will be destroyed for their sins.”

27 So all the people stood back from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Then Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the entrances of their tents, together with their wives and children and little ones.
28 And Moses said, “This is how you will know that the LORD has sent me to do all these things that I have done—for I have not done them on my own.29 If these men die a natural death, or if nothing unusual happens, then the LORD has not sent me.

30 But if the LORD does something entirely new and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them and all their belongings, and they go down alive into the grave,t then you will know that these men have shown contempt for the LORD.”
31 He had hardly finished speaking the words when the ground suddenly split open beneath them.32 The earth opened its mouth and swallowed the men, along with their households and all their followers who were standing with them, and everything they owned.33 So they went down alive into the grave, along with all their belongings. The earth closed over them, and they all vanished from among the people of Israel.34 All the people around them fled when they heard their screams. “The earth will swallow us, too!” they cried.

35 Then fire blazed forth from the LORD and burned up the 250 men who were offering incense.
36 tAnd the LORD said to Moses,37 “Tell Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to pull all the incense burners from the fire, for they are holy. Also tell him to scatter the burning coals.

38 Take the incense burners of these men who have sinned at the cost of their lives, and hammer the metal into a thin sheet to overlay the altar. Since these burners were used in the LORD’s presence, they have become holy. Let them serve as a warning to the people of Israel.”
39 So Eleazar the priest collected the 250 bronze incense burners that had been used by the men who died in the fire, and he hammered them into a thin sheet to overlay the altar.

40 This would warn the Israelites that no unauthorized person—no one who was not a descendant of Aaron—should ever enter the LORD’s presence to burn incense. If anyone did, the same thing would happen to him as happened to Korah and his followers. So the LORD’s instructions to Moses were carried out.
41 But the very next morning the whole community of Israel began muttering again against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the LORD’s people!”

42 As the community gathered to protest against Moses and Aaron, they turned toward the Tabernacle and saw that the cloud had covered it, and the glorious presence of the LORD appeared.
43 Moses and Aaron came and stood in front of the Tabernacle,44 and the LORD said to Moses,

45 “Get away from all these people so that I can instantly destroy them!” But Moses and Aaron fell face down on the ground.

46 And Moses said to Aaron, “Quick, take an incense burner and place burning coals on it from the altar. Lay incense on it, and carry it out among the people to purify them and make them right with the LORD.t The LORD’s anger is blazing against them—the plague has already begun.”
47 Aaron did as Moses told him and ran out among the people. The plague had already begun to strike down the people, but Aaron burned the incense and purifiedt the people.48 He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague stopped.49 But 14,700 people died in that plague, in addition to those who had died in the affair involving Korah.

50 Then because the plague had stopped, Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the Tabernacle.

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.