Numbers 16
16
1And Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, made bold, and with him Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, the sons of Reuben; 2and they rose up against Moses, with two hundred and fifty men of the children of Israel, princes of the assembly, summoned to the council, men of renown; 3and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them, It is enough; for all the assembly, all of them are holy, and Jehovah is among them; and why do ye lift up yourselves above the congregation of Jehovah? 4When Moses heard this, he fell on his face. 5And he spoke to Korah and to all his band, saying, Even to-morrow will Jehovah make known who is his, and who is holy; and he will cause him to come near to him; and him whom he has chosen, him will he cause to come near to him. 6This do: take you censers, Korah, and all his band, 7and put fire therein, and lay incense thereon before Jehovah to-morrow; and it shall be that the man whom Jehovah doth choose, he shall be holy. It is enough, ye sons of Levi! 8And Moses said to Korah, Hear, I pray you, ye sons of Levi! 9Is it too little for you, that the God#GodHebrew: Elohim of Israel has separated you from the assembly of Israel, to bring you near to himself to do the work of the tabernacle of Jehovah, and to stand before the assembly to minister to them? 10— that he has brought thee near, and all thy brethren the sons of Levi with thee; and seek ye now the priesthood also? 11For which cause thou and all thy band are banded together against Jehovah; and Aaron, who is he that ye murmur against him?
12And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab; but they said, We will not come up! 13Is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, that thou must make thyself altogether a ruler over us? 14Moreover, thou hast not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, or given us inheritance of fields and vineyards: wilt thou put out the eyes of these men? we will not come up! 15Then Moses was very wroth, and said to Jehovah, Have no regard to their oblation: not one ass have I taken from them, neither have I hurt one of them. 16And Moses said to Korah, Be thou and all thy band before Jehovah, thou, and they, and Aaron, to-morrow. 17And take each his censer, and put incense thereon, and present before Jehovah every man his censer, two hundred and fifty censers; and thou, and Aaron, each his censer. 18And they took each his censer, and put fire on them, and laid incense thereon, and stood before the entrance to the tent of meeting, as well as Moses and Aaron. 19And Korah gathered the whole assembly against them to the entrance of the tent of meeting. And the glory of Jehovah appeared to all the assembly. 20And Jehovah spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 21Separate yourselves from the midst of this assembly, and I will consume them in a moment. 22And they fell on their faces, and said, O ·God#GodHebrew: El the God#GodHebrew: Elohim of the spirits of all flesh! shall one man sin, and wilt thou be wroth with the whole assembly?
23And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, 24Speak unto the assembly, saying, Get you up from about the habitation of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. 25And Moses rose up and went to Dathan and Abiram; and the elders of Israel followed him. 26And he spoke to the assembly, saying, Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest ye perish in all their sins. 27And they got up from the habitation of Koran, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side. And Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood in the entrance of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their little ones. 28And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that Jehovah has sent me to do all these deeds, for they are not out of my own heart: 29if these men die as all men die, and are visited with the visitation of all men, Jehovah has not sent me; 30but if Jehovah make a new thing, and the ground open its mouth, and swallow them up, and all that they have, and they go down alive into Sheol, then ye shall know that these men have despised Jehovah. 31And it came to pass when he had ended speaking all these words, that the ground clave apart that was under them. 32And the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and all the men that belonged to Korah, and all their property. 33And they went down, they and all that they had, alive into Sheol, and the earth covered them; and they perished from among the congregation. 34And all Israel that were round about them fled at their cry; for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up!
35And there came out a fire from Jehovah, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that had presented incense. 36And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, 37Speak to Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, that he take up the censers out of the burning; and scatter the fire afar; for they are hallowed, 38the censers of these sinners who have forfeited their life; and they shall make them into broad plates for the covering of the altar; for they presented them before Jehovah, therefore they are hallowed; and they shall be a sign unto the children of Israel. 39And Eleazar the priest took the copper censers, which they that were burnt had presented; and they were made broad plates for a covering of the altar: 40as a memorial to the children of Israel, that no stranger who is not of the seed of Aaron come near to burn incense before Jehovah, that he be not as Korah, and as his band, — as Jehovah had said to him through Moses.
41And the whole assembly of the children of Israel murmured on the morrow against Moses and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of Jehovah. 42And it came to pass, when the assembly was gathered together against Moses and against Aaron, that they looked toward the tent of meeting, and behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of Jehovah appeared. 43And Moses and Aaron went before the tent of meeting. 44And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, 45Get you up from the midst of this assembly, and I will consume them in a moment. And they fell on their faces. 46And Moses said to Aaron, Take the censer, and put fire thereon from off the altar, and lay on incense, and carry it quickly to the assembly, and make atonement for them; for there is wrath gone out from Jehovah: the plague is begun. 47And Aaron took as Moses had said, and ran into the midst of the congregation; and behold, the plague had begun among the people; and he put on incense, and made atonement for the people. 48And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed. 49Now they that died in the plague were fourteen thousand seven hundred, besides them that had died because of the matter of Korah. 50And Aaron returned to Moses to the entrance of the tent of meeting; and the plague was stayed.
Currently Selected:
Numbers 16: DARBY
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
First published in 1890. This edition is maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.
Numbers 16
16
Korah, Dathan and Abiram
1Korah was the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath. Kohath was the son of Levi. Korah and certain men from the tribe of Reuben turned against Moses. The men from Reuben were Dathan, Abiram and On. Dathan and Abiram were the sons of Eliab. On was the son of Peleth. 2All those men rose up against Moses. And 250 men of Israel joined them. All of them were known as leaders in the community. They had been appointed as members of the ruling body. 3They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron. They said to Moses and Aaron, “You have gone too far! The whole community is holy. Every one in it is holy. And the Lord is with them. So why do you put yourselves above the Lord’s people?”
4When Moses heard what they said, he fell with his face to the ground. 5Then he spoke to Korah and all his followers. He said, “In the morning the Lord will show who belongs to him. He will show who is holy. He’ll bring that person near him. He’ll bring the man he chooses near him. 6Korah, here’s what you and all your followers must do. Get some shallow cups for burning incense. 7Tomorrow put burning coals and incense in them. Offer it to the Lord. The man the Lord chooses will be the one 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 community of Israel. He has brought you near him to work at the Lord’s holy tent. He has given you to the people so that you can serve them. Isn’t all that enough for you? 10He has already brought you and all the other Levites near him. But now you want to be priests too. 11You and all your followers have joined together against the Lord. Why are you telling Aaron you aren’t happy with him?”
12Then Moses sent for Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab. But they said, “We won’t come! 13You have brought us up out of a land that has plenty of milk and honey. You have brought us here to kill us in this desert. Isn’t that enough? Now do you also want to act as if you were ruling over us? 14Besides, you haven’t brought us into a land that has plenty of milk and honey. You haven’t given us fields and vineyards of our own. Do you want to treat these men like slaves? No! We won’t come!”
15Then Moses became very angry. He said to the Lord, “Don’t accept their offering. I haven’t taken even a donkey from them. In fact, I haven’t done anything wrong to any of them.”
16Moses said to Korah, “You and all your followers must stand in front of the Lord tomorrow. You must appear there along with Aaron. 17Each man must get his shallow cup. He must put incense in it. There will be a total of 250 incense cups. Each man must bring his cup to the Lord. You and Aaron must also bring your cups.” 18So each of them got his cup. He put burning coals and incense in it. All the men came with Moses and Aaron. They stood at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 19Korah gathered all his followers together at the entrance to the tent. They opposed Moses and Aaron. Then the glory of the Lord appeared to the whole community. 20The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 21“Separate yourselves from these people. Then I can put an end to all of them at once.”
22But Moses and Aaron fell with their faces to the ground. They cried out, “God, you are the God who gives life and breath to all living things. Will you be angry with the whole community when only one man sins?”
23Then the Lord spoke to Moses. He said, 24“Tell the community, ‘Move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.’ ”
25Moses got up. He went to Dathan and Abiram. The elders of Israel followed him. 26Moses warned the community. He said, “Move away from the tents of these evil men! Don’t touch anything that belongs to them. If you do, the Lord will sweep you away because of all their sins.” 27So they moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram had already come out. They were standing at the entrances to their tents. Their wives, children and little ones were standing there with them.
28Then Moses said, “What is about to happen wasn’t my idea. The Lord has sent me to do everything I’m doing. Here is how you will know I’m telling you the truth. 29These men won’t die a natural death. Something will happen to them that doesn’t usually happen to people. If what I’m telling you doesn’t happen, then you will know that the Lord hasn’t sent me. 30But the Lord will make something totally new happen. The ground will open its mouth and swallow them up. It will swallow up everything that belongs to them. They will be buried alive. When that happens, you will know that these men have disrespected the Lord.”
31As soon as Moses finished saying all these words, what he had said came true. The ground under them broke open. 32It opened its mouth. It swallowed up those men. In fact, it swallowed up everyone who lived in their houses. It swallowed all Korah’s men. And it swallowed up everything they owned. 33They went down into the grave alive. Everything they owned went down with them. The ground closed over them and they died. And so they disappeared from the community. 34All the Israelites around them heard their cries. They ran away from them. They shouted, “The ground is going to swallow us up too!”
35Then the Lord sent down fire. It burned up the 250 men offering the incense.
36The Lord said to Moses, 37“Speak to Eleazar the priest. He is the son of Aaron. Remind him that the shallow cups are holy. He must take them out of the ashes. He must scatter the burning coals away from there. 38The men who sinned used those cups. And it cost them their lives. Hammer the cups into bronze sheets that will cover the altar. The cups were offered to the Lord. They have become holy. Let them serve as a warning to the Israelites.”
39So the priest Eleazar collected the bronze incense cups. They had been brought by the men who had been burned to death. He had them hammered out to cover the altar. 40He did just as the Lord had directed Moses to tell him to do. The covering would be a reminder to the Israelites. It would remind them that no one except a son of Aaron should come and burn incense to the Lord. If people other than priests did that, they would become like Korah and his followers.
41The next day the whole community of Israel told Moses and Aaron they weren’t happy with them. “You have killed the Lord’s people,” they said.
42The community gathered together to oppose Moses and Aaron. The people walked toward the tent of meeting. Suddenly the cloud covered it. The glory of the Lord appeared. 43Then Moses and Aaron went to the front of the tent of meeting. 44The Lord said to Moses, 45“Get away from these people. Then I can put an end to all of them at once.” And Moses and Aaron fell with their faces to the ground.
46Moses said to Aaron, “Take your incense cup. Put incense in it. And put burning coals from the altar in it. Then hurry to the people and pay for their sin. The Lord has begun to show his anger. The plague has started.” 47So Aaron did as Moses said. He ran in among the people. The plague had already started among them. But Aaron offered the incense and paid for their sin. 48He stood between those alive and those dead. And the plague stopped. 49But 14,700 people died from the plague. That doesn’t include those who had died because of what Korah did. 50Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the tent of meeting. The plague had stopped.
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version®, NIrV®
Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998, 2014 by Biblica, Inc.®
Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.