Numbers 16
1 And Korah, son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, takes both Dathan and Abiram sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth, sons of Reuben,
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 they rise up before Moses with men of the sons of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the congregation, called of the convention, 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 and they are assembled against Moses and against Aaron, and say to them, “Enough of you! For all the congregation—all of them [are] holy, and YHWH [is] in their midst; and why do you lift yourselves up above the assembly of YHWH?”
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 Moses hears, and falls on his face,
When Moses heard that, he lay facedown.
5 and he speaks to Korah and to all his congregation, saying, “Indeed, [in the] morning YHWH may cause [you] to know those who are His and him who is holy, and has brought [him] near to Him; even him whom He fixes on He brings near to Him.
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 Do this: take censers for yourselves—Korah and all his company—
Do this, Korah and all your group. Take censers
7 and put fire in them and put incense on them before YHWH tomorrow, and it has been, the man whom YHWH chooses, he [is] the holy one—enough of you, 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 says to Korah, “Now hear, sons of Levi;
Again, Moses said to Korah, “Now listen, you descendants of Levi:
9 is it little to you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel to bring you near to Himself, to do the service of the Dwelling Place of YHWH, and to stand before the congregation to serve 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 Indeed, He brings you near, and all your brothers, the sons of Levi, with you—and you have also sought the priesthood!
He has brought you near, and all your kinfolk, the descendants of Levi, with you, yet you are seeking the priesthood also!
11 Therefore, you and all your congregation are meeting against YHWH; and Aaron, what [is] he, that you 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 sends to call for Dathan and for Abiram, sons of Eliab, and they say, “We do not come up!
Then Moses called for Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come up.
13 Is it little that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to put us to death in a wilderness, that you also certainly make yourself prince 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 Indeed, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor do you give an inheritance of field and vineyard to us; do you pick out the eyes of these men? We do not come 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 it is very displeasing to Moses, and he says to YHWH, “Do not turn to their present; I have not taken one donkey from them, nor have I afflicted 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 says to Korah, “You and all your congregation, be [present] before YHWH—you, and they, and Aaron—tomorrow;
Then Moses said to Korah, “Tomorrow you and all your company must go before Yahweh—you and they, and Aaron.
17 and let each take his censer and you have put incense on them, and each has brought his censer near before YHWH—two hundred and fifty censers; indeed, you and Aaron, each [with] 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 they each take his censer, and put fire on them, and lay incense on them, and they stand at the opening of the Tent of Meeting with Moses and Aaron.
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 Korah assembles all the congregation against them at the opening of the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of YHWH is seen by 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 YHWH speaks to Moses and to Aaron, saying,
Then Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron:
21 “Be separated from the midst of this congregation, and I consume them in a moment”;
“Separate yourselves from among this community that I may consume them immediately.”
22 and they fall on their faces, and say, “God, God of the spirits of all flesh—one man sins, and are You angry against all the 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 YHWH speaks to Moses, saying,
Yahweh replied to Moses. He said,
24 “Speak to the congregation, saying, Go up from around the dwelling place of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”
“Speak to the community. Say, 'Get away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.'”
25 And Moses rises, and goes to Dathan and Abiram, and [the] elderly of Israel go after him,
Then Moses rose up and went to Dathan and Abiram; the elders of Israel followed him.
26 and he speaks to the congregation, saying, “Now turn aside from the tents of these wicked men, and do not come against anything that they have, lest you are consumed in all their sins.”
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 go up from the dwelling place of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, from all around, and Dathan and Abiram have come out, standing at the opening of their tents, with their wives, and their sons, and their infants.
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 says, “By this you know that YHWH has sent me to do all these works, that [they are] not from my own heart;
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 die according to the death of all men, or the charge of all men is charged on them, YHWH has not sent me;
If these men die a natural death such as normally happens, then Yahweh has not sent me.
30 but if YHWH does a strange thing, and the ground has opened her mouth and swallowed them and all that they have, and they have gone down alive to Sheol, then you have known that these men have despised YHWH.” (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 it comes to pass at his finishing speaking all these words, that the ground which [is] under them cleaves,
As soon as Moses finished speaking all these words, the ground opened under those men.
32 and the earth opens her mouth and swallows them, and their houses, and all the men who [are] for Korah, and all the goods,
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 go down—they and all that they have—alive to Sheol, and the earth closes over them, and they perish from the midst of the assembly; (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 who [are] around them have fled at their voice, for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us”;
All Israel around them fled from their cries. They exclaimed, “The earth may swallow us up also!”
35 and fire has come out from YHWH and consumes the two hundred and fifty men bringing the incense near.
Then fire flashed out from Yahweh and devoured the 250 men who had offered incense.
36 And YHWH speaks to Moses, saying,
Again Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,
37 “Say to Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to lift up the censers from the midst of the burning and scatter the fire away, for they have been hallowed.
“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 [As for] the censers of these sinners against their own souls, indeed, they have made them [into] spread-out plates [for] a covering for the altar, for they have brought them near before YHWH, and they are hallowed; and they become a sign to the sons 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 priest takes the bronze censers which they who are burned had brought near, and they spread them out [for] a covering for 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 sons of Israel, so that a stranger who is not of the seed of Aaron does not draw near to make incense before YHWH, and is not as Korah and as his congregation, as YHWH has spoken by the hand of Moses to him.
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 on the next day all the congregation of the sons of Israel murmurs against Moses and against Aaron, saying, “You have put the people of YHWH to death.”
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 comes to pass, in the congregation being assembled against Moses and against Aaron, that they turn toward the Tent of Meeting, and behold, the cloud has covered it and the glory of YHWH is seen;
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 comes—Aaron also—to the front of the Tent of Meeting.
and Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting.
44 And YHWH speaks to Moses, saying,
Then Yahweh spoke to Moses. He said,
45 “Get up from the midst of this congregation, and I consume them in a moment”; and they fall on 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 says to Aaron, “Take the censer and put fire on it from off the altar, and place incense, and go quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, for the wrath has gone out from the presence of YHWH—the plague has begun.”
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 takes [it] as Moses has spoken, and runs to the midst of the assembly, and behold, the plague has begun among the people; and he gives the incense, and makes 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 stands between the dead and the living, and the plague is restrained;
Aaron stood between the dead and the living; in this way the plague was stopped.
49 and those who die by the plague are fourteen thousand and seven hundred, apart from those who die for the matter of Korah;
Those who died by the plague were 14,700 in number, besides those who had died in the matter of Korah.
50 and Aaron turns back to Moses, to the opening of the Tent of Meeting, and the plague has been restrained.
Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the tent of meeting, and the plague ended.
