Rebellion Against Moses and Aaron
1 NowKorah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, withDathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, tookmen;
2 and they rose up before Moses with some of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty leaders of the congregation,representatives of the congregation, men of renown.
3 They gathered together against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “Youtake too much upon yourselves, forall the congregationisholy, every one of them,and theLordisamong them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of theLord?”
4 So when Moses heardit,hefell on his face;
5 and he spoke to Korah and all his company, saying, “Tomorrow morning theLordwill show whoisHis andwhoisholy, and will causehimtocome near to Him. That one whom He chooses He will cause to come near to Him.
6 Do this: Take censers, Korah and all your company;
7 put fire in them and put incense in them before theLordtomorrow, and it shall bethatthe man whom theLordchoosesisthe holy one.Youtaketoo much upon yourselves, you sons of Levi!”
8 Then Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you sons of Levi:
9 Isita small thing to you that the God of Israel hasseparated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to Himself, to do the work of the tabernacle of theLord, and to stand before the congregation to serve them;
10 and that He has brought you neartoHimself,you and all your brethren, the sons of Levi, with you? And are you seeking the priesthood also?
11 Therefore you and all your companyaregathered together against theLord.And whatisAaron that you complain against him?”
12 And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come up!
13 Isita small thing that you have brought us up out ofa land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, that you shouldkeep acting like a prince over us?
14 Moreoveryou have not brought us intoa land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up!”
15 Then Moses was very angry, and said to theLord,“Do not respect their offering.I have not taken one donkey from them, nor have I hurt one of them.”
16 And Moses said to Korah, “Tomorrow, you and all your company be presentbefore theLord—you and they, as well as Aaron.
17 Let each take his censer and put incense in it, and each of you bring his censer before theLord, two hundred and fifty censers; both you and Aaron, eachwithhis censer.”
18 So every man took his censer, put fire in it, laid incense on it, and stood at the door of the tabernacle of meeting with Moses and Aaron.
19 And Korah gathered all the congregation against them at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. Thenthe glory of theLordappeared to all the congregation.
20 And theLordspoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,
21 “Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I mayconsume them in a moment.”
22 Then theyfell on their faces, and said, “O God,the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and You be angry with all thecongregation?”
23 So theLordspoke to Moses, saying,
24 “Speak to the congregation, saying, ‘Get away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.’ ”
25 Then Moses rose and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him.
26 And he spoke to the congregation, saying,“Depart now from the tents of these wicked men! Touch nothing of theirs, lest you be consumed in all their sins.”
27 So they got away from around the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram; and Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the door of their tents, with their wives, their sons, and their littlechildren.
28 And Moses said:“By this you shall know that theLordhas sent me to do all these works, forIhavenotdonethemof my own will.
29 If these men die naturally like all men, or if they arevisited by the common fate of all men,thentheLordhas not sent me.
30 But if theLordcreatesa new thing, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and theygo down alive into the pit, then you will understand that these men have rejected theLord.”
31 Now it came to pass, as he finished speaking all these words, that the ground split apart under them,
32 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households andall the men with Korah, with alltheirgoods.
33 So they and all those with them went down alive into the pit; the earth closed over them, and they perished from among the assembly.
34 Then all Israel whowerearound them fled at their cry, for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us upalso!”
35 Anda fire came out from theLordand consumed the two hundred and fifty men who were offering incense.
36 Then theLordspoke to Moses, saying:
37 “Tell Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, to pick up the censers out of the blaze, forthey are holy, and scatter the fire some distance away.
38 The censers ofthese men who sinned against their own souls, let them be made into hammered plates as a covering for the altar. Because they presented them before theLord, therefore they are holy;and they shall be a sign to the children of Israel.”
39 So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers, which those who were burned up had presented, and they were hammered out as a covering on the altar,
40 tobea memorial to the children of Israelthat no outsider, whoisnot a descendant of Aaron, should come near to offer incense before theLord, that he might not become like Korah and his companions, just as theLordhad said to him through Moses.
Complaints of the People
41 On the next dayall the congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the people of theLord.”
42 Now it happened, when the congregation had gathered against Moses and Aaron, that they turned toward the tabernacle of meeting; and suddenlythe cloud covered it, and the glory of theLordappeared.
43 Then Moses and Aaron came before the tabernacle of meeting.
44 And theLordspoke to Moses, saying,
45 “Get away from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.”
And they fell on their faces.
46 So Moses said to Aaron, “Take a censer and put fire in it from the altar, put incenseonit,and take it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them;for wrath has gone out from theLord. The plague has begun.”
47 Then Aaron tookitas Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the assembly; and already the plague had begun 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;so the plague was stopped.
49 Now those who died in the plague were fourteen thousand seven hundred, besides those who died in the Korah incident.
50 So Aaron returned to Moses at the door of the tabernacle of meeting, for the plague had stopped.