Numbers 16
1 And Core the son of Isaar the son of Caath the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiron, sons of Eliab, and Aun the son of Phaleth the son of Ruben, spoke;
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, and two hundred and fifty men of the sons of Israel, chiefs of the assembly, chosen councillors, and 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 They rose up against Moses and Aaron, and said, Let it be enough for you that all the congregation [are] holy, and the Lord [is] among them; and why do you set up yourselves against the congregation of the Lord?
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 on his face.
When Moses/I heard what they were saying, he/I prostrated himself/myself on the ground.
5 And he spoke to Core and all his assembly, saying, God has visited and known those that are his and who are holy, and has brought them to himself; and whom he has chosen for himself, he has brought to 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 you: take to yourselves censers, Core and all his company;
So Korah, tomorrow you and those who are with you must prepare your pans to burn incense.
7 and put fire on them, and put incense on them before the Lord to-morrow; and it shall come to pass that the man whom the Lord has chosen, he shall be holy: let it be enough for you, you 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 to Core, Listen to me, you 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 a little thing for you, that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, and brought you near to himself to minister in the services of the tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before the tabernacle to minister for 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 And he has brought you near and all your brethren the sons of Levi with you, and do you seek to be priests also?
Yahweh has brought you, [Korah], and your fellow descendants of Levi, near to himself. Now are you demanding to become priests also?
11 Thus [it is with] you and all your congregation which is gathered together against God: and who is Aaron, that you 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 And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiron sons of Eliab; and they said, We will not go 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 Is it a little thing that you have brought us up to a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, [and] that you altogether rule 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 You are a prince, and have you brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, and have you given us an inheritance of land and vineyards? would you have put out the eyes of those men? we will not go 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 And Moses was exceeding indignant, and said to the Lord, Do you take no heed to their sacrifice: I have not taken away the desire of any one of them, neither have I hurt any 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 to Core, Sanctify your company, and be ready before the Lord, you and Aaron and they, 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 each man his censer, and you shall put incense upon them, and shall bring each one his censer before the Lord, two hundred and fifty censers, and you and Aaron shall bring each 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 And each man took his censer, and they put on them fire, and laid incense on them; and Moses and Aaron stood by the doors of the tabernacle of witness.
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 Core raised up against them all his company by the door of the tabernacle of witness; and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the congregation.
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 And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,
and Yahweh said to Aaron and Moses/me,
21 Separate your selves from the midst of this congregation, and I will consume them at once.
“Get away from all these people, in order that I can get rid of them immediately!”
22 And they fell on their faces, and said, O God, the God of spirits and of all flesh, if one man has sinned, [shall] the wrath of the Lord [be] upon the whole congregation?
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 the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
Yahweh said to Moses/me,
24 Speak to the congregation, saying, Depart from the company of Core round about.
“[Okay], but tell all the people to get away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”
25 And Moses rose up and went to Dathan and Abiron, and all the elders of Israel went with him.
So Moses/I stood up and went to the tents of Dathan and Abiram. The Israeli leaders followed him/me.
26 And he spoke to the congregation, saying, Separate yourselves from the tents of these stubborn men, and touch nothing that belongs to them, lest you be consumed with them in all their sin.
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 And they stood aloof from the tent of Core round about; and Dathan and Abiron went forth and stood by the doors of their tents, and their wives and their children and their store.
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 And Moses said, Hereby shall you know that the Lord has sent me to perform all these works, that [I have] not [done them] of myself.
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 these men shall die according to the death of all men, if also their visitation shall be according to the visitation of all men, then the Lord has 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 the Lord shall show by a wonder, and the earth shall open her mouth and swallow them up, and their houses, and their tents, and all that belongs to them, and they shall go down alive into Hades, then you shall know that these men have provoked the Lord. (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 when he ceased speaking all these words, the ground clave asunder beneath them.
As soon as Moses/I said this, the ground split open beneath those men.
32 And the ground opened, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that were with Core, and their cattle.
It swallowed them and their families and all those who were standing there with Korah and all of their possessions.
33 And they went down and all that they had, alive into Hades; and the ground covered them, and they perished from the midst of the congregation. (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 round about them fled from the sound of them, for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up [also].
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 And fire went forth from the Lord, and devoured the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.
And then a fire from Yahweh came down [from the sky] and burned up the 250 men who were burning the incense!
36 And the Lord said to Moses,
Then Yahweh said to Moses/me,
37 and to Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, Take up the brazen censers out of the midst of the men that have been burnt, and scatter the strange fire yonder, for they have sanctified the censers
“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 of these sinners against their own souls, and do you make them beaten plates a covering to the altar, because they were brought before the Lord and hallowed; and they became a sign to the children 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 son of Aaron the priest took the brazen censers, which the men who had been burnt brought near, and they put them as a covering on 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 to the children of Israel that no stranger might draw near, who is not of the seed of Aaron, to offer incense before the Lord; so he shall not be as Core and as they that conspired with him, as the Lord spoke to him by the hand of Moses.
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 the children of Israel murmured the next day against Moses and Aaron, saying, You have killed the people of the Lord.
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 congregation combined against Moses and Aaron, that they ran impetuously to the tabernacle of witness; and the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord 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 went in, in front of the tabernacle of witness.
Aaron and Moses/I went and stood in front of the Sacred Tent.
44 And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,
Then Yahweh said to Moses/me,
45 Depart out of the midst of this congregation, and I will consume them at once: 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 And Moses said to Aaron, Take a censer, and put on it fire from the altar, and put incense on it, and carry it away quickly into the camp, and make atonement for them; for wrath is gone forth from the presence of the Lord, it has begun to destroy the people.
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 And Aaron took as Moses spoke to him, and ran among the congregation, for already the plague had begun among the people; and he put on incense, and made an atonement for 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 And he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague ceased.
He stood between the people who had already died and those who were still alive, and then the plague stopped.
49 And they that died in the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, besides those that died on account of Core.
But 14,700 people had already died from that plague/sickness, in addition to the people who died with Korah.
50 And Aaron returned to Moses to the door of the tabernacle of witness, and the plague ceased.
Then after the plague had ended, Aaron and Moses/I returned to the entrance of the Sacred Tent.
