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.
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Numbers 16: DARBY
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First published in 1890. This edition is maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.
Numbers 16
16
1Korah, #16:1. Korah was a cousin of Moses and Aaron, and jealousy of their position may have been behind his rebellion. son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi tried to take over leadership, along with Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On, son of Peleth, who were from the tribe of Reuben. 2They rebelled against Moses, and were joined by 250 well-respected Israelite leaders and members of the assembly. 3They joined together in opposition to Moses and Aaron, telling them, “You've taken too much power for yourselves! Every one of the Israelites is holy, and the Lord is among them. So why do you set yourselves above the Lord's assembly?”
4When Moses heard what they were saying, he fell facedown on the ground. 5Then he told Korah and all those with him, “In the morning the Lord is going to make it clear who is his and who is holy, and allow that person to approach him. He will only allow whoever he chooses to approach him. 6This is what you, Korah, and everyone with you are going to do. Take some incense burners, 7and tomorrow put incense in them and set it on fire in the presence of the Lord. Then the man the Lord chooses is the one who is holy. It is you Levites who are taking too much power for yourselves!”
8Moses also told Korah, “Listen, you Levites! 9Do you think it's something insignificant that the God of Israel chose you from all the other Israelites and allowed you to approach him and carry out the work in the Lord's Tabernacle, to stand before the Israelites and serve them? 10He has allowed you the privilege of approaching him, Korah, you and all the other Levites, but now you want to have the priesthood as well! 11So in reality you and those who have joined you are fighting against the Lord—because who is Aaron that you should complain about him?”
12Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they replied, “We're not going to appear before you!#16:12. In other words they refused to acknowledge Moses' authority to require them to appear before him to be judged. 13Haven't you done enough by taking us away from a land flowing with milk and honey in order to kill us out here in the desert? Do you have to make yourself a dictator as well, someone to rule us? 14On top of that you haven't taken us to a land flowing with milk and honey or given us fields and vineyards to own. Do you really think you can fool everyone?#16:14. The expression used here “Will you gouge out the eyes of these men?” is taken to mean something like “Are you going to pull the wool over their eyes?” No, we will not attend!”
15Moses got really angry and said to the Lord, “Don't accept their offerings. I have never taken even a donkey from them or treated any of them badly.”
16Moses told Korah, “You and all those who have joined you must appear before the Lord tomorrow—all of you and Aaron too. 17Each one will take his incense burner, put incense in it, and offer it before the Lord. All 250 of you will use your incense burners and Aaron will as well.”
18So each one took his incense burner, put incense in it, set it on fire, and stood together with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. 19When Korah had gathered all his rebellious group at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, the Lord's glory appeared before the whole congregation.
20The Lord told Moses and Aaron, 21“Step away from these Israelites and I will destroy them right away.”
22But Moses and Aaron fell facedown on the ground said, “God—God of everything that lives—when it's only one man who sins, must you be angry with everybody?”
23Then the Lord told Moses, 24“Tell the people to move away from the homes of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”
25So Moses went over to Dathan and Abiram, and the Israelite elders of Israel followed him. 26He ordered the people, “Move away from the tents of these wicked men and don't touch anything that belongs to them, otherwise you will be destroyed along with them in all their sins.”
27The people moved away from the homes of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the entrances to their tents along with their wives, children and little ones.
28Moses said, “This is how you will know that the Lord did send me to carry out everything I've done, for it wasn't anything I thought up.#16:28. “It wasn't anything I thought up”: literally, “not from my heart,” because it was believed that the heart was the place where thinking occurred. 29If these men die a natural death, experiencing the destiny of every human being, then the Lord didn't send me. 30But if the Lord does something totally different, and the earth opens up and swallows them down along with everything that belongs to them so that they go down alive into Sheol, then you will know that these men have acted with contempt to the Lord.”
31Immediately after Moses had finished saying all this, the ground under the rebels split apart, 32and the earth opened up and swallowed them and their households down, as well as everyone who was there with Korah and everything that belonged to them. 33They went down alive into Sheol with all that they had. The earth closed over them, and they were no more.
34When they heard their cries, all the Israelites nearby ran away, shouting, “Watch out! The earth could swallow us too!” 35Fire burst out from the Lord and burned up the 250 men who were offering incense.
36Then the Lord said to Moses, 37“Tell Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, to collect the holy incense burners from among those who have been burned up, and scatter the coals used for the incense well away from the camp. 38Have the incense burners of those who sinned at the expense of their own lives hammered into metal sheets as a covering for the altar, because they were offered before the Lord, and so have become holy. They will be a reminder to Israelites of what happened.”
39So Eleazar the priest collected the bronze incense burners used by those who had been burned up, and had them hammered out as a covering for the altar, 40following the instructions given to him from the Lord through Moses. This was to remind the Israelites that no one who is not a descendant of Aaron should come and offer incense before the Lord, otherwise they could end up like Korah and those with him.
41The next day all the Israelites complained to Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the Lord's people!” 42But as the people gathered to confront them, Moses and Aaron went over to the Tent of Meeting, and suddenly the cloud covered it and the Lord's glory appeared. 43Moses and Aaron went and stood at the front of the Tent of Meeting, 44and the Lord said to Moses, 45“Get away from these people and I will finish them off immediately.” Moses and Aaron fell facedown on the ground.
46Moses told Aaron, “Put some coals from the altar and some incense in your incense burner. Then run to the people and make them right before the Lord, for the Lord is angry with them and a plague has started.”
47Aaron took the incense burner just as Moses had told him and ran into the middle of the assembly. He saw that the plague had started to affect the people so he offered the incense and made the people right with the Lord. 48He stood between those who had died and those who were still alive, and the plague was stopped. 49However, 14,700 died from the plague in addition to those who'd died because of Korah.
50Then Aaron went back to Moses at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting because the plague had been stopped.
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com