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;
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.
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.
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.
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 ye set up yourselves against the congregation of the Lord?
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?”
4 And when Moses heard it, he fell on his face.
When Moses heard that, he lay facedown.
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.
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.
6 This do ye: take to yourselves censers, Core and all his company;
Do this, Korah and all your group. Take censers
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, ye sons of Levi.
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.”
8 And Moses said to Core, Hearken to me, ye sons of Levi.
Again, Moses said to Korah, “Now listen, you descendants of Levi:
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?
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?
10 And he has brought thee near and all thy brethren the sons of Levi with thee, and do ye seek to be priests also?
He has brought you near, and all your kinfolk, the descendants of Levi, with you, yet you are seeking the priesthood also!
11 Thus [it is with] thee and all thy congregation which is gathered together against God: and who is Aaron, that ye murmur against him?
That is why you and all your group have gathered together against Yahweh. So why are you complaining about Aaron, who obeys Yahweh?”
12 And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiron sons of Eliab; and they said, We will not go up.
Then Moses called for Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come up.
13 Is it a little thing that thou hast brought us up to a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, [and] that thou altogether rulest over us?
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!
14 Thou art a prince, and hast thou brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, and hast thou given us an inheritance of land and vineyards? wouldest thou have put out the eyes of those men? we will not go up.
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.”
15 And Moses was exceeding indignant, and said to the Lord, Do thou 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.
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.”
16 And Moses said to Core, Sanctify thy company, and be ready before the Lord, thou and Aaron and they, to-morrow.
Then Moses said to Korah, “Tomorrow you and all your company must go before Yahweh—you and they, and Aaron.
17 And take each man his censer, and ye shall put incense upon them, and shall bring each one his censer before the Lord, two hundred and fifty censers, and thou and Aaron shall bring each his censer.
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.”
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 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.
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.
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.
20 And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,
Then Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron:
21 Separate your selves from the midst of this congregation, and I will consume them at once.
“Separate yourselves from among this community that I may consume 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?
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?”
23 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
Yahweh replied to Moses. He said,
24 Speak to the congregation, saying, Depart from the company of Core round about.
“Speak to the community. Say, '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.
Then Moses rose up and went to Dathan and Abiram; the elders of Israel followed him.
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 ye be consumed with them in all their sin.
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.”
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 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.
28 And Moses said, Hereby shall ye know that the Lord has sent me to perform all these works, that [I have] not [done them] of myself.
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.
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 a natural death such as normally happens, then Yahweh has not sent me.
30 But if the Lord shall shew 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 ye shall know that these men have provoked the Lord. (Sheol h7585)
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)
31 And when he ceased speaking all these words, the ground clave asunder beneath them.
As soon as Moses finished speaking all these words, the ground opened under 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.
The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their families, and all the people who belonged to Korah, as well as all 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)
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)
34 And all Israel round about them fled from the sound of them, for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up [also].
All Israel around them fled from their cries. They exclaimed, “The earth may swallow us up also!”
35 And fire went forth from the Lord, and devoured the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.
Then fire flashed out from Yahweh and devoured the 250 men who had offered incense.
36 And the Lord said to Moses,
Again Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,
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
“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.
38 of these sinners against their own souls, and do thou 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.
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.”
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:
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,
40 a memorial to the children of Israel that no stranger might draw nigh, 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.
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.
41 And the children of Israel murmured the next day against Moses and Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of the Lord.
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.”
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.
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,
43 And Moses and Aaron went in, in front of the tabernacle of witness.
and Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting.
44 And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,
Then Yahweh spoke to Moses. He said,
45 Depart out of the midst of this congregation, and I will consume them at once: and they fell upon their faces.
“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.
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 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.”
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 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.
48 And he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague ceased.
Aaron stood between the dead and the living; in this way the plague was stopped.
49 And they that died in the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, besides those that died on account of Core.
Those who died by the plague were 14,700 in number, besides those who had died in the matter of Korah.
50 And Aaron returned to Moses to the door of the tabernacle of witness, and the plague ceased.
Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the tent of meeting, and the plague ended.
