NUMBERS 16

Now Korah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, the sons of Reuben, took men; 2 and they rebelled against Moses, with two hundred and fifty of the sons of Israel, princes of the congregation chosen from the assembly, men of renown. 3 And they massed against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, You take too much upon yourselves, for all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and Yehowah is among them; why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of Yehowah? 4 When Moses heard this, he fell on his face; 5 and he spoke to Korah and all his company, and said, In the morning Yehowah will show who is his and who is holy, and will bring him near him; only the one whom he chooses will he bring near him. 6 Do this: take censers, Korah and all his company, 7 and put fire in them, and tomorrow put incense on them before Yehowah; and the man whom Yehowah chooses shall be holy. You take too much upon yourselves, you sons of Levi! 8 And Moses said to Korah, Hear then, you sons of Levi. 9 Is it too little a thing for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel to bring you near to himself, to perform the service of the tabernacle of Yehowah, and to stand before the congregation and minister to them? 10 Has he not brought you near, and all your brothers the sons of Levi with you? Then do you seek the priesthood also? 11 Therefore you and all your company have come together against Yehowah; and what has Aaron done, that you complain against him?

12 And Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, but they said, We will not come. 13 Is it a little thing that you have led us out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the desert, that you must also make yourself a prince over us? 14 Moreover, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards! Would you blind these men's eyes? We will not come.

15 Then Moses was very angry, and said to Yehowah, Pay no respect to their offering; I have not taken one ass from them, nor have I wronged any of them. 16 And Moses said to Korah, Be present before Yehowah with all your company, you and they, and Aaron, tomorrow. 17 And let every man take his censer and put incense on it, and let every man bring his censer before Yehowah, two hundred and fifty censers; you also, and Aaron, each man with his censer. 18 So every man took his censer, and put fire in it, and laid incense on it, and stood with Moses and Aaron at the door of the tent of meeting. 19 And Korah called all the congregation together against them at the door of the tent of meeting; and the glory of Yehowah appeared to all the congregation.

20 And Yehowah spoke to Moses and Aaron, and said, 21 Separate yourselves from this congregation, so that I may consume them in a moment. 22 And they fell on their faces, and said, O God, God of the life* of all flesh, one man has sinned, and wilt thou be angry with all the congregation? 23 And Yehowah spoke to Moses, and said, 24 Speak to the congregation, and say, Get away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. * Heb ruah

25 Then Moses stood up and went towards Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. 26 And he spoke to the congregation, and said, Depart, I beg you, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, or else you will be caught up in all their sins. 27 So they got away on all sides from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram; and Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the door of their tents with their wives and their sons and their little ones. 28 And Moses said, By this you shall know that Yehowah has sent me to do all these things, for they are not from my own heart. 29 If these men die the common death of all men, and if they suffer the fate of all men, Yehowah has not sent me. 30 But if Yehowah does something new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them with all that is theirs, and they go down to Sheol alive, then you will know that these men have despised Yehowah.

31 Then as he finished speaking all these words, the ground was split open under them; 32 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, with their households, and all the men who belonged to Korah, and all their goods. 33 So they and all that was theirs went down to Sheol alive; and the earth closed over them, and they perished in the middle of the assembly. 34 And all the people of Israel who stood around them fled at their cry; for they said, The earth will swallow us up! 35 And fire went out from Yehowah, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men offering the incense.

36 Then Yehowah spoke to Moses, and said, 37 Tell Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest to take the censers out of the blaze, then scatter the fire away; for the censers are holy. 38 Let them make the censers of those who have sinned at the cost of their lives into hammered sheets as a covering for the altar; they are holy because they offered them before Yehowah. So they shall be a warning to the sons of Israel.

39 Then Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers with which those who were burned had offered, and they were hammered out as a covering for the altar, 40 to be a reminder to the sons of Israel that no outsider who was not of the descendants of Aaron should go near to burn incense before Yehowah, in case he should become like Korah and his company-as Yehowah said to Eleazar through Moses.

41 But on the next day all the congregation of the sons of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and said, You have killed Yehowah's people. 42 And when the congregation had gathered against Moses and Aaron, they looked towards the tent of meeting, and saw that the cloud had covered it and that the glory of Yehowah had appeared. 43 Then Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting; 44 and Yehowah spoke to Moses, and said, 45 Get away from this congregation, so that I may consume them in a moment. And they fell on their faces. 46 And Moses said to Aaron, Take a censer and put fire in it from the altar, and place incense on it, and go quickly into the congregation, and make a reconciliation for them; for anger has gone out from Yehowah: a plague has begun. 47 And Aaron took it, as Moses told him, and ran in among the assembly; for the plague had begun among the people. And he placed the incense on it, and made a reconciliation for the people. 48 And he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped. 49 Now those who died from the plague were fourteen thousand seven hundred, besides those who had died in the affair of Korah. 50 And Aaron returned to Moses at the door of the tent of meeting when the plague had been stopped.