Numbers 16
16
Korah Incites Rebellion
1Now Korah son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, # 16:1 Ex 6:16–21 with Dathan and Abiram, # 16:1 Nm 26:9; Dt 11:6; Ps 106:16–18 sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took 2two hundred fifty prominent Israelite men who were leaders of the community and representatives in the assembly, and they rebelled against Moses. 3They came together against Moses and Aaron and told them, “You have gone too far! Everyone in the entire community is holy, and the Lord is among them. # 16:3 Nm 14:14; Ezk 37:26–28 Why then do you exalt yourselves above the Lord’s assembly? ”
4When Moses heard this, he fell facedown. 5Then he said to Korah and all his followers, “Tomorrow morning the Lord will reveal who belongs to him, who is set apart, and the one he will let come near # 16:5 Ex 40:12–15 him. He will let the one he chooses # 16:5 Nm 17:5; Jdg 10:14; 1Sm 10:24; 2Sm 6:21; 1Kg 8:44; 11:32; Ps 105:26 come near him. 6Korah, you and all your followers are to do this: take firepans, # 16:6 Ex 27:3; 38:3; Nm 4:9,14; 16:17,37–39 and tomorrow 7place fire in them and put incense on them before the Lord. # 16:7 Lv 10:1–2; 16:12 Then the man the Lord chooses will be the one who is set apart. # 16:7 Nm 17:5 It is you Levites who have gone too far! ”
8Moses also told Korah, “Now listen, Levites! 9Isn’t it enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the Israelite community to bring you near to himself, # 16:9 Gn 8:9; Ex 19:4 to perform the work at the Lord’s tabernacle, and to stand before the community to minister to them? # 16:9 Dt 10:8; 21:5; 2Ch 29:11; Ezk 40:46; 44:11,15–16 10He has brought you near, and all your fellow Levites who are with you, but you are pursuing the priesthood # 16:10 Ex 29:9; Nm 18:7; 25:13; Neh 7:64; 13:29 as well. 11Therefore, it is you and all your followers who have conspired against the Lord! # 16:11 Nm 14:35; 27:3; Ps 2:1–3 As for Aaron, who is he # 16:11 Or Aaron, what has he done that you should complain about him? ”
12Moses sent for Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come! 13Is it not enough that you brought us up from a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? # 16:13 Ex 3:8,17 Do you also have to appoint yourself as ruler over us? 14Furthermore, you didn’t bring us to a land flowing with milk and honey or give us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you gouge out the eyes of these men? # 16:14 1Sm 11:2 We will not come! ”
15Then Moses became angry and said to the Lord, “Don’t respect their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them or mistreated a single one of them.” 16So Moses told Korah, “You and all your followers are to appear before the Lord tomorrow — you, they, and Aaron. 17Each of you is to take his firepan, place incense on it, and present his firepan before the Lord — 250 firepans. You and Aaron are each to present your firepan also.”
18Each man took his firepan, placed fire in it, put incense on it, and stood at the entrance to the tent of meeting along with Moses and Aaron. 19After Korah assembled the whole community against them at the entrance to the tent of meeting, the glory of the Lord # 16:19 Ex 16:7,10 appeared to the whole community. 20The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, 21“Separate yourselves from this community so I may consume them instantly.” # 16:21 Nm 16:45; Jos 24:20; Jr 14:12; Ezk 43:8
22But Moses and Aaron fell facedown # 16:22 Gn 17:3; Lv 9:24; Nm 16:4,45 and said, “God, God who gives breath to all, # 16:22 Or God of the spirits of all flesh,# 16:22 Nm 27:16 when one man sins, will you vent your wrath on the whole community? ” # 16:22 Gn 18:24–26
23The Lord replied to Moses, 24“Tell the community: Get away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”
25Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. 26He warned the community, “Get away now from the tents of these wicked men. Don’t touch anything that belongs to them, # 16:26 Is 52:11 or you will be swept away because of all their sins.” # 16:26 Gn 19:15,17 27So they got away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Meanwhile, Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the entrance of their tents with their wives, children, and infants.
28Then Moses said, “This is how you will know that the Lord sent me # 16:28 Ex 3:10–12; Zch 2:9,11; 4:9; 6:15 to do all these things and that it was not of my own will: 29If these men die naturally as all people would, and suffer the fate of all, then the Lord has not sent me. 30But if the Lord brings about something unprecedented, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them along with all that belongs to them so that they go down alive into Sheol, # 16:30 Is 5:14 then you will know that these men have despised the Lord.”
31Just as he finished speaking all these words, the ground beneath them split open. 32The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households, all Korah’s people, # 16:32 Ex 15:12; Nm 26:10 and all their possessions. 33They went down alive into Sheol with all that belonged to them. The earth closed over them, and they vanished from the assembly. 34At their cries, all the people of Israel who were around them fled because they thought, “The earth may swallow us too! ” 35Fire also came out from the Lord and consumed the 250 men who were presenting the incense. # 16:35 Gn 19:24; Lv 10:1–2; Nm 11:1; 2Kg 1:10
36Then the Lord spoke to Moses: 37“Tell Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to remove the firepans from the burning debris, because they are holy, and scatter the fire far away. 38As for the firepans of those who sinned at the cost of their own lives, make them into hammered sheets as plating for the altar, for they presented them before the Lord, and the firepans are holy. They will be a sign to the Israelites.”
39So the priest Eleazar took the bronze firepans that those who were burned had presented, and they were hammered into plating for the altar, 40just as the Lord commanded him through Moses. It was to be a reminder for the Israelites that no unauthorized person outside the lineage of Aaron should approach to offer incense before the Lord # 16:40 Ex 28:1; Nm 3:10,38; 18:4,7 and become like Korah and his followers.
41The next day the entire Israelite community complained about Moses and Aaron, # 16:41 Ex 16:2,7–8; 17:3; Nm 14:2,27; 16:3; 17:6; 20:2; 26:9; 1Co 10:10 saying, “You have killed the Lord’s people! ” 42When the community assembled against them, Moses and Aaron turned toward the tent of meeting, and suddenly the cloud covered it, and the Lord’s glory appeared.
43Moses and Aaron went to the front of the tent of meeting, 44and the Lord said to Moses, 45“Get away from this community so that I may consume them instantly.” # 16:45 Nm 16:21 But they fell facedown.
46Then Moses told Aaron, “Take your firepan, place fire from the altar in it, and add incense. Go quickly to the community and make atonement for them, because wrath has come from the Lord; the plague has begun.” 47So Aaron took his firepan as Moses had ordered, ran into the middle of the assembly, and saw that the plague had begun among the people. After he added incense, he made atonement for the people. 48He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was halted. 49But those who died from the plague numbered 14,700, in addition to those who died because of the Korah incident. 50Aaron then returned to Moses at the entrance to the tent of meeting, since the plague had been halted. # 16:47–50 Nm 25:1–9; 2Sm 24:15–25
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Numbers 16: CSB
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
Numbers 16
16
The people rebel
Korah, Dathan, and Abiram lead a rebellion
1-2Korah son of Izhar was a Levite from the Kohathite clan. One day he called together Dathan, Abiram, and On#16.1,2 Dathan, Abiram, and On: Hebrew “Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth”. from the Reuben tribe, and the four of them decided to rebel against Moses. So they asked two hundred and fifty respected Israelite leaders for their support, and together they went to Moses#Jd 11. 3and Aaron and said, “Why do you think you're so much better than anyone else? We're part of the LORD's holy people, and he's with all of us. What makes you think you're the only ones in charge?”
4When Moses heard this, he knelt down to pray.#16.4 he knelt down to pray: Or “he fell to his knees in sorrow”. 5Then he said to Korah and his followers:
Tomorrow morning the LORD will show us the person he has chosen to be his priest, and that man will faithfully serve him.
6-7Korah, now here is what you and your followers must do: get some fire pans, fill them with coals and incense, and place them near the sacred tent. And the man the LORD chooses will be his priest.#16.6,7 get some fire pans…his priest: Only priests could offer incense at the sacred altar; anyone else who tried would be killed. In this case, the man who lived would be the one the LORD had chosen. Korah, this time you Levites have gone too far!
8-9You know that the God of Israel has chosen you Levites from all Israel to serve him by being in charge of the sacred tent and by helping the community to worship in the proper way. What more do you want? 10The LORD has given you a special responsibility, and now, Korah, you think you should also be his priest. 11You and your followers have rebelled against the LORD, not against Aaron.
12Then Moses sent for Dathan and Abiram, but they sent back this message: “We won't come! 13It's bad enough that you took us from our rich farmland in Egypt to let us die here in the desert. Now you also want to boss us around! 14You keep promising us rich farmlands with fertile fields and vineyards—but where are they? Stop trying to trick these people. No, we won't come to see you.”
15Moses was very angry and said to the LORD, “Don't listen to these men! I haven't done anything wrong to them. I haven't taken as much as a donkey.”
16Then he said to Korah, “Tomorrow you and your followers must go with Aaron to the LORD's sacred tent. 17Each of you take along your fire pan with incense in it and offer the incense to the LORD.”
18The next day the men placed incense and coals in their fire pans and stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the sacred tent. 19Meanwhile, Korah had convinced the rest of the Israelites to rebel against their two leaders.
When that happened, the LORD appeared in all his glory 20and said to Moses and Aaron, 21“Get away from the rest of the Israelites so I can kill them at once!”
22But the two men bowed down and prayed, “Our God, you gave these people life. Why would you punish everyone here when only one man has sinned?”
23The LORD answered Moses, 24“Tell the people to stay away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”
25Moses walked over to Dathan and Abiram, and the other leaders of Israel followed. 26Then Moses warned the people, “Get away from the tents of these sinful men! Don't touch anything that belongs to them or you'll be wiped out.” 27So everyone moved away from those tents, except Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and their families.
28Moses said to the crowd, “The LORD has chosen me and told me to do these things—it wasn't my idea. And here's how you will know: 29if these men die a natural death, it means the LORD hasn't chosen me. 30But suppose the LORD does something that has never been done before. For example, what if a huge crack appears in the ground, and these men and their families fall into it and are buried alive, together with everything they own? Then you will know they have turned their backs on the LORD!”
31As soon as Moses said this, the ground under the men opened up 32-33and swallowed them alive, together with their families and everything they owned. Then the ground closed back up, and they were gone.
34The rest of the Israelites heard their screams, so they ran off, shouting, “We don't want that to happen to us!”
35Suddenly the LORD sent a fire that burnt up the two hundred and fifty men who had offered incense to him.
36Then the LORD said to Moses, 37“Tell Aaron's son Eleazar to take the fire pans from the smouldering fire and scatter the coals. The pans are now sacred, 38because they were used for offering incense to me. Have them hammered into a thin layer of bronze as a covering for the altar. Those men died because of their sin, and now their fire pans will become a warning for the rest of the community.”
39Eleazar collected the pans and had them hammered into a thin layer of bronze as a covering for the altar, 40just as the LORD had told Moses. The pans were a warning to the Israelites that only Aaron's descendants would be allowed to offer incense to the LORD. Anyone else who tried would be punished like Korah and his followers.
The Israelites rebel and are punished
41The next day the people of Israel again complained against Moses and Aaron, “The two of you killed some of the LORD's people!”
42As the people crowded around them, Moses and Aaron turned towards the sacred tent, and the LORD appeared in his glory in the cloud covering the tent. 43So Moses and Aaron walked to the front of the tent, 44where the LORD said to them, 45“Stand back! I am going to wipe out these Israelites once and for all.”
They immediately bowed down and prayed. 46Then Moses told Aaron, “Grab your fire pan and fill it with hot coals from the altar. Put incense in it, then quickly take it to where the people are and offer it to the LORD, so they can be forgiven. The LORD is very angry, and people have already started dying!”
47-48Aaron did exactly what he had been told. He ran over to the crowd of people and stood between the dead bodies and the people who were still alive. He placed the incense on the pan, then offered it to the LORD and asked him to forgive the people's sin. The disease immediately stopped spreading, and no one else died from it. 49But fourteen thousand seven hundred Israelites were dead, not counting those who had died with Korah and his followers.
50Aaron walked back and stood with Moses at the sacred tent.
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012