Numbers 16:1-25

Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and On turned against Moses. (Korah was the son of Izhar. Izhar was the son of Kohath, and Kohath was 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 descendants of Reuben.) These four men gathered 250 other men from Israel together and came against Moses. They were leaders who had been chosen by the people. All the people knew them. They came as a group to speak against Moses and Aaron and said, “You have gone too far—you are wrong! All the Israelites are holy—the LORD still lives among them. You are making yourselves more important than the rest of the still lives among them. You are making yourselves more important than the rest of the LORD’s people.” When Moses heard this, he bowed his face to the ground to show he was not being proud. Then Moses said to Korah and all his followers, “Tomorrow morning the LORD will show who belongs to him. He will show who is holy, and he will bring that man near to him. He will choose him and bring that man near to him. So Korah, you and all your followers should do this: Tomorrow put fire and incense in some special pans. Then bring those pans before the LORD. He will choose the man who is holy. You Levites have gone too far—you are wrong!” Moses also said to Korah, “You Levites, listen to me. You should be happy that the God of Israel chose you to be different from the rest of the Israelites. He lets you come near to him to do the special work in the LORD’s Holy Tent to help the Israelites worship him. Isn’t that enough? He brought you Levites near to him to help the priests, but now you are trying to become priests also. You and your followers have joined together and turned against the LORD! Did Aaron do anything wrong? No, so why are you complaining against Aaron?” Then Moses called Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab. But the two men said, “We will not come! You have brought us out of a land filled with many good things. You brought us to the desert to kill us. And now you want to show that you have even more power over us. Why should we follow you? You did not bring us into the new land filled with many good things. You did not give us the land God promised. You did not give us the fields or the vineyards. Will you make these men your slaves? No! We will not come.” So Moses became very angry. He said to the LORD, “I never did anything wrong to these people. I never took anything from them—not even a donkey! Don’t accept their gifts!” Then Moses said to Korah, “You and all your followers will stand before the LORD tomorrow. Aaron will also be there with you and your followers. Each of you must bring a pan, put incense in it, and present it to the LORD. There will be 250 pans for the leaders and one pan for you and one pan for Aaron.” So each man got a pan and put burning incense in it. Then they stood at the entrance of the Meeting Tent. Moses and Aaron also stood there. Korah also gathered all the people together at the entrance of the Meeting Tent. Then the Glory of the LORD appeared to everyone there. The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Move away from these men! I want to destroy them now!” But Moses and Aaron bowed to the ground and cried out, “God, you know what people are thinking. Please don’t be angry with all these people. Only one man really sinned.” Then the LORD said to Moses, “Tell the people to move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.” Moses stood and went to Dathan and Abiram. All the elders of Israel followed him.