NumbersChapter 16

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¹Now Korah was the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi. He joined with some men from the tribe of Reuben. They were Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth. Together they led ²a rebellion against Moses. With them were 250 men of Israel. These men were well-known leaders of the community, chosen to speak for the people. ³They came together against Moses and Aaron. They said to them, "You have gone too far! Everyone in the whole community is holy, and the LORD is with them. So why do you put yourselves above the LORD's people?" ⁴When Moses heard this, he fell facedown. ⁵Then he said to Korah and all his followers, "Tomorrow morning the LORD will show who belongs to him and who is holy. He will bring that person near to himself. He will bring near the one he chooses. ⁶Korah, here is what you and all your followers must do. Take censers. ⁷Tomorrow put fire and incense in them before the LORD. Then the man the LORD chooses will be the one who is holy. You sons of Levi are the ones who have gone too far!"a ⁸Moses also said to Korah, "Now listen, you sons of Levi! ⁹Isn't it enough for you that the God of Israel has set you apart from the rest of Israel? He has brought you near to himself. You do the work at the LORD's tabernacle. You stand before the people and serve them. ¹⁰He has brought you near, you and all your fellow Levites. But now you want to be priests too! ¹¹So it is you and all your followers who have joined together against the LORD! And who is Aaron, that you grumble against him?" ¹²Then Moses sent for Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab. But they said, "We won't come! ¹³You brought us out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness. Isn't that enough? Now do you also want to make yourself our ruler? ¹⁴And you haven't brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey. You haven't given us fields and vineyards to own. Will you gouge out the eyes of these men? No, we won't come!" ¹⁵Then Moses became very angry. He said to the LORD, "Don't accept their offering. I haven't taken even one donkey from them. I haven't done wrong to any of them." ¹⁶Moses said to Korah, "Tomorrow you and all your followers must come before the LORD. You and they and Aaron must all be there. ¹⁷Each man must take his censer and put incense in it. Then bring it before the LORD. There will be 250 censers. You and Aaron must bring your censers too." ¹⁸So each man took his censer and put fire and incense in it. They stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. ¹⁹Korah gathered all his followers against Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. Then the glory of the LORD appeared to the whole community. ²⁰And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, ²¹"Get away from this community. Then I will destroy them in a moment." ²²But Moses and Aaron fell facedown. They said, "God, you are the God who gives breath to every living thing. When one man sins, will you be angry with the whole community?"b ²³Then the LORD said to Moses, ²⁴"Tell the community to move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram." ²⁵So Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram. The elders of Israel followed him. ²⁶He warned the community, "Get away from the tents of these wicked men now! Don't touch anything that belongs to them. If you do, you will be swept away because of all their sins." ²⁷So the people moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram had come out. They were standing at the doors of their tents with their wives, children, and babies. ²⁸Then Moses said, "Here is how you will know that the LORD sent me to do all these things. It was not my own idea. ²⁹If these men die a normal death, or if the same thing happens to them that happens to everyone, then the LORD has not sent me. ³⁰But suppose the LORD does something brand new. Suppose the earth opens its mouth and swallows them and everything they own, and they go down alive into the grave. Then you will know that these men have treated the LORD with scorn.c ³¹As soon as Moses finished saying all this, the ground under them split open. ³²The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their families. It swallowed all Korah's men and everything they owned. ³³They went down alive into the grave with everything they owned. The earth closed over them. They were gone from the community.d ³⁴All the Israelites around them heard their screams and ran away. They shouted, "The earth might swallow us too!" ³⁵Then fire came out from the LORD. It burned up the 250 men who were offering the incense. ³⁶Then the LORD said to Moses, ³⁷"Tell Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to take the censers out of the fire. Tell him to scatter the coals far away. The censers are holy. ³⁸Those men sinned, and it cost them their lives. Take their censers and hammer them into thin sheets to cover the altar. They were brought before the LORD, so they have become holy. They will be a sign to the Israelites." ³⁹So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers. They had been brought by the men who were burned up. He had them hammered out to cover the altar, ⁴⁰just as the LORD told him through Moses. This was to remind the Israelites of something. No outsider who is not from Aaron's family should come near to burn incense before the LORD. If he does, he will end up like Korah and his followers. ⁴¹The next day the whole community of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. They said, "You have killed the LORD's people!" ⁴²When the community gathered against Moses and Aaron, the two men turned toward the Tent of Meeting. Suddenly the cloud covered it, and the glory of the LORD appeared. ⁴³Then Moses and Aaron went to the front of the Tent of Meeting. ⁴⁴And the LORD said to Moses, ⁴⁵"Get away from this community. Then I will destroy them in a moment." And Moses and Aaron fell facedown. ⁴⁶Moses said to Aaron, "Take your censer. Put fire from the altar in it, and add incense. Hurry to the community and make atonement for them, because the LORD's anger has come out. The plague has started." ⁴⁷So Aaron took the censer as Moses had said. He ran into the middle of the crowd. He saw that the plague had already started among the people. So he offered the incense and made atonement for the people. ⁴⁸He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague stopped. ⁴⁹But 14,700 people died from the plague. That was besides those who had died because of Korah. ⁵⁰The plague had stopped. So Aaron went back to Moses at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.