Numbers 16
16
Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and On
1Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and On turned against Moses. (Korah was the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi; Dathan and Abiram were brothers, the sons of Eliab; and On was the son of Peleth; Dathan, Abiram, and On were from the tribe of Reuben.) 2These men gathered two hundred fifty other Israelite men, well-known leaders chosen by the community, and challenged Moses. 3They came as a group to speak to Moses and Aaron and said, “You have gone too far. All the people are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. So why do you put yourselves above all the people of the Lord?”
4When Moses heard this, he bowed facedown. 5Then he said to Korah and all his followers: “Tomorrow morning the Lord will show who belongs to him. He will bring the one who is holy near to him; he will bring to himself the person he chooses. 6So Korah, you and all your followers do this: Get some pans for burning incense. 7Tomorrow put fire and incense in them and take them before the Lord. He will choose the man who is holy. You Levites have gone too far.”
8Moses also said to Korah, “Listen, you Levites. 9The God of Israel has separated you from the rest of the Israelites. He brought you near to himself to do the work in the Lord’s Holy Tent and to stand before all the Israelites and serve them. Isn’t that enough? 10He has brought you and all your fellow Levites near to himself, yet now you want to be priests. 11You and your followers have joined together against the Lord. Your complaint is not against Aaron.”
12Then Moses called Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come! 13You have brought us out of a fertile land to this desert to kill us, and now you want to order us around. 14You haven’t brought us into a fertile land; you haven’t given us any land with fields and vineyards. Will you put out the eyes of these men? No! We will not come!”
15Then Moses became very angry and said to the Lord, “Don’t accept their gifts. I have not taken anything from them, not even a donkey, and I have not done wrong to any of them.”
16Then Moses said to Korah, “You and all your followers must stand before the Lord tomorrow. And Aaron will stand there with you and them. 17Each of you must take your pan and put incense in it; present these two hundred fifty pans before the Lord. You and Aaron must also present your pans.” 18So each man got his pan and put burning incense in it and stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the Meeting Tent. 19Korah gathered all his followers who were against Moses and Aaron, and they stood at the entrance to the Meeting Tent. Then the glory of the Lord appeared to everyone.
20The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 21“Move away from these men so I can destroy them quickly.”
22But Moses and Aaron bowed facedown and cried out, “God, you are the God over the spirits of all people. Please don’t be angry with this whole group. Only one man has really sinned.”
23Then the Lord said to Moses, 24“Tell everyone to move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”
25Moses stood and went to Dathan and Abiram; the elders of Israel followed him. 26Moses warned the people, “Move away from the tents of these evil men! Don’t touch anything of theirs, or you will be destroyed because of their sins.” 27So they moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram were standing outside their tents with their wives, children, and little babies.
28Then Moses said, “Now you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these things; it was not my idea. 29If these men die a normal death—the way men usually die—then the Lord did not really send me. 30But if the Lord does something new, you will know they have insulted the Lord. The ground will open and swallow them. They will be buried alive and will go to the place of the dead, and everything that belongs to them will go with them.”
31When Moses finished saying these things, the ground under the men split open. 32The earth opened and swallowed them and all their families. All Korah’s men and everything they owned went down. 33They were buried alive, going to the place of the dead, and everything they owned went with them. Then the earth covered them. They died and were gone from the community. 34The people of Israel around them heard their screams and ran away, saying, “The earth will swallow us, too!”
35Then a fire came down from the Lord and destroyed the two hundred fifty men who had presented the incense.
36The Lord said to Moses, 37“Tell Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest, to take all the incense pans out of the fire. Have him scatter the coals a long distance away. But the incense pans are still holy. 38Take the pans of these men who sinned and lost their lives, and hammer them into flat sheets that will be used to cover the altar. They are holy, because they were presented to the Lord, and they will be a sign to the Israelites.”
39So Eleazar the priest gathered all the bronze pans that had been brought by the men who were burned up. He had the pans hammered into flat sheets to put on the altar, 40as the Lord had commanded him through Moses. These sheets were to remind the Israelites that only descendants of Aaron should burn incense before the Lord. Anyone else would die like Korah and his followers.
Aaron Saves the People
41The next day all the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron and said, “You have killed the Lord’s people.”
42When the people gathered to complain against Moses and Aaron, they turned toward the Meeting Tent, and the cloud covered it. The glory of the Lord appeared. 43Then Moses and Aaron went in front of the Meeting Tent.
44The Lord said to Moses, 45“Move away from these people so I can destroy them quickly.” So Moses and Aaron bowed facedown.
46Then Moses said to Aaron, “Get your pan, and put fire from the altar and incense in it. Hurry to the people and remove their sin. The Lord is angry with them; the sickness has already started.” 47So Aaron did as Moses said. He ran to the middle of the people, where the sickness had already started among them. So Aaron offered the incense to remove their sin. 48He stood between the dead and the living, and the sickness stopped there. 49But 14,700 people died from that sickness, in addition to those who died because of Korah. 50Then Aaron went back to Moses at the entrance to the Meeting Tent. The terrible sickness had been stopped.
Currently Selected:
Numbers 16: NCV
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.