Numbers 16
1 Now Korah son of Izhar son of Kohath son of Levi, along with Dathan and Abiram sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth, descendants of Reuben, gathered some men.
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;
2 They rose up against Moses, along with other men from the people of Israel, two hundred and fifty leaders of the community who were well-known members in the community.
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.
3 They assembled themselves together to confront Moses and Aaron. They said to them, “You have gone too far! All the community is set apart, every one of them, and Yahweh is among them. Why do you lift up yourselves above the rest of Yahweh's community?”
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] amongst them; and why do you set up yourselves against the congregation of the Lord?
4 When Moses heard that, he lay facedown.
And when Moses heard it, he fell on his face.
5 He spoke to Korah and to all those with him, “In the morning Yahweh will make known who belongs to him and who is set apart to him. He will bring that person near to him. The one he chooses he will bring near to himself.
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.
6 Do this, Korah and all your group. Take censers
This do you: take to yourselves censers, Core and all his company;
7 tomorrow and put fire and incense in them before Yahweh. The one whom Yahweh chooses, that man will be set apart to Yahweh. You have gone too far, you descendants of Levi.”
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.
8 Again, Moses said to Korah, “Now listen, you descendants of Levi:
And Moses said to Core, Listen to me, you sons of Levi.
9 is it a small thing for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the community of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do work in Yahweh's tabernacle, and to stand before the community to serve them?
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?
10 He has brought you near, and all your kinfolk, the descendants of Levi, with you, yet you are seeking the priesthood also!
And he has brought you near and all your brethren the sons of Levi with you, and do you seek to be priests also?
11 That is why you and all your group have gathered together against Yahweh. So why are you complaining about Aaron, who obeys Yahweh?”
Thus [it is with] you and all your congregation which is gathered together against God: and who is Aaron, that you murmur against him?
12 Then Moses called for Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come up.
And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiron sons of Eliab; and they said, We will not go up.
13 Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness? Now you want to make yourself ruler over us!
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?
14 In addition, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, or given us the fields and vineyards as an inheritance. Now do you want to blind us with empty promises? We will not come to you.”
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.
15 Moses was very angry and said to Yahweh, “Do not respect their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them, and I have not harmed any of them.”
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.
16 Then Moses said to Korah, “Tomorrow you and all your company must go before Yahweh—you and they, and Aaron.
And Moses said to Core, Sanctify your company, and be ready before the Lord, you and Aaron and they, to-morrow.
17 Each of you must take his censer and put incense in it. Then each man must bring before Yahweh his censer, two hundred and fifty censers. You and Aaron, also, must each bring your censer.”
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.
18 So every man took his censer, put fire in it, laid incense in it, and stood at the entrance to the tent of meeting with Moses and Aaron.
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.
19 Korah assembled all the community against Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the tent of meeting, and Yahweh's glory appeared to all the community.
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.
20 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron:
And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,
21 “Separate yourselves from among this community that I may consume them immediately.”
Separate your selves from the midst of this congregation, and I will consume them at once.
22 Moses and Aaron lay facedown and said, “God, the God of the spirits of all humanity, if one man sins, must you be angry with all the community?”
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?
23 Yahweh replied to Moses. He said,
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
24 “Speak to the community. Say, 'Get away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.'”
Speak to the congregation, saying, Depart from the company of Core round about.
25 Then Moses rose up and went to Dathan and Abiram; the elders of Israel followed him.
And Moses rose up and went to Dathan and Abiron, and all the elders of Israel went with him.
26 He spoke to the community and said, “Now leave the tents of these wicked men and touch nothing of theirs, or you will be consumed by all their sins.”
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.
27 So the community on every side of the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram left them. Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the entrance to their tents, with their wives, sons, and their little ones.
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.
28 Then Moses said, “By this you will know that Yahweh has sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them of my own accord.
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.
29 If these men die a natural death such as normally happens, then Yahweh has not sent me.
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.
30 But if Yahweh creates something new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them, with everything that they possess, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you must understand that these men have despised Yahweh.” (Sheol h7585)
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)
31 As soon as Moses finished speaking all these words, the ground opened under those men.
And when he ceased speaking all these words, the ground clave asunder beneath them.
32 The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their families, and all the people who belonged to Korah, as well as all their possessions.
And the ground opened, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that were with Core, and their cattle.
33 So they and all that they possessed went down alive into Sheol. The earth closed over them, and they perished from among the community. (Sheol h7585)
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)
34 All Israel around them fled from their cries. They exclaimed, “The earth may swallow us up also!”
And all Israel round about them fled from the sound of them, for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up [also].
35 Then fire flashed out from Yahweh and devoured the 250 men who had offered incense.
And fire went forth from the Lord, and devoured the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.
36 Again Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,
And the Lord said to Moses,
37 “Speak to Eleazar son of Aaron the priest and let him take up the censers out of the flames, for the censers are set apart to me. Then let him scatter the burning coals at a distance.
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
38 Take the censers of those who lost their lives because of their sin. Let them be made into hammered plates as a covering over the altar. Those men did offer them before me, so they are set apart to me. They will be a sign of my presence to the people of Israel.”
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.
39 Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers that had been used by the men who were burned up, and they were hammered out into a covering for the altar,
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:
40 to be a reminder to the people of Israel, so that no outsider who was not descended from Aaron should come up to burn incense before Yahweh, so they might not become like Korah and his group—just as Yahweh had commanded through Moses.
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.
41 But the next morning all the community of the people of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron. They said, “You have killed Yahweh's people.”
And the children of Israel murmured the next day against Moses and Aaron, saying, You have killed the people of the Lord.
42 Then it happened, when the community had assembled against Moses and Aaron, that they looked toward the tent of meeting and, behold, the cloud was covering it. Yahweh's glory appeared,
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.
43 and Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting.
And Moses and Aaron went in, in front of the tabernacle of witness.
44 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses. He said,
And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,
45 “Go away from in front of this community so that I may consume them immediately.” Then Moses and Aaron lay down with their faces to the ground.
Depart out of the midst of this congregation, and I will consume them at once: and they fell upon their faces.
46 Moses said to Aaron, “Take the censer, put fire in it from off the altar, put incense in it, carry it quickly to the community, and make atonement for them, because anger is coming from Yahweh. The plague has begun.”
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.
47 So Aaron did as Moses directed. He ran into the middle of the community. The plague had quickly started to spread among the people, so he put in the incense and made atonement for the people.
And Aaron took as Moses spoke to him, and ran amongst the congregation, for already the plague had begun amongst the people; and he put on incense, and made an atonement for the people.
48 Aaron stood between the dead and the living; in this way the plague was stopped.
And he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague ceased.
49 Those who died by the plague were 14,700 in number, besides those who had died in the matter of Korah.
And they that died in the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, besides those that died on account of Core.
50 Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the tent of meeting, and the plague ended.
And Aaron returned to Moses to the door of the tabernacle of witness, and the plague ceased.
