Numbers 16

1Now Korah son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, gathered men to his side, together with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth, who were Reubenites, 2and they rose up against Moses. With them were 250 men from among the Israelites, leaders of the congregation, chosen members of the council, men of renown. 3They came together against Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You claim too much! Every member of the congregation is holy, all of them, and the LORD is among them. What right have you to raise yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?” 4When Moses heard this, he fell facedown. 5Then he said to Korah and all his company, “In the morning the LORD will show who belongs to him and who is holy, and he will let that man come near to him. The one he chooses, he will bring near to himself. 6Do this, Korah, you and all your company: take censers, 7and tomorrow put fire in them and lay incense on them before the LORD. The man the LORD chooses will be the one who is holy. It is you Levites who claim too much!” 8Moses also said to Korah, “Listen, you Levites! 9Does it mean so little to you that the God of Israel has set you apart from the congregation of Israel, bringing you near to himself to do the work of the LORD’s tabernacle and to stand before the congregation and serve them? 10He has brought you near, you and all your fellow Levites with you, and now you want the priesthood as well? 11So it is against the LORD that you and all your company have banded together. Who is Aaron, that you grumble against him?” 12Then Moses sent for Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab. But they said, “We will not come up! 13Was it a small thing to bring us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey only to kill us in the wilderness? Must you now also lord it over us, and lord it completely? 14Besides, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us fields and vineyards to own. Do you mean to gouge out the eyes of these men? We will not come up!” 15Moses was furious, and he said to the LORD, “Pay no regard to their offering. I have not taken so much as one donkey from them, and I have done none of them any wrong.” 16Moses said to Korah, “Tomorrow you and all your company must appear before the LORD: you, they, and Aaron. 17Each man is to take his censer and put incense on it, and each is to bring his censer before the LORD, 250 censers. You and Aaron are also to bring your censers.” 18So each man took his censer, put fire in it, and laid incense on it. Then they stood at the entrance of the tent of meeting with Moses and Aaron. 19Korah gathered the whole congregation against Moses and Aaron at the entrance of the tent of meeting. Then the glory of the LORD appeared to the whole congregation.

20The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron. He said, 21“Get away from this congregation, so that I can destroy them in an instant.” 22But they fell facedown and said, “God, God of the spirits of all humankind, when one man sins, will you be angry with the whole congregation?”

23The LORD spoke to Moses. He said, 24“Tell the congregation, ‘Move away from around the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.’” 25Then Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. 26He told the congregation, “Move away now from the tents of these wicked men! Do not touch anything that belongs to them, or you will be swept away when they are punished for all their sins.” 27So the people moved away from all around the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram had come out and were standing at the entrances of their tents, together with their wives, their children, and their little ones. 28Then Moses said, “This is how you will know that the LORD sent me to do all these things, and that they were not my own idea. 29If these men die the way all people die, and only what comes to everyone comes to them, then the LORD has not sent me. 30But if the LORD does something entirely new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them along with everything they have, so that they go down alive into Sheol, then you will know that these men have treated the LORD with contempt.” 31The moment he finished saying all this, the ground beneath them split open. 32The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, together with their households, all Korah’s people, and all their possessions. 33They went down alive into Sheol, they and all that was theirs. The earth closed over them, and they perished, gone from among the assembly. 34All Israel around them fled at their cries, for they said, “The earth may swallow us too!” 35Then fire came out from the LORD and devoured the 250 men who were offering incense.

36Then the LORD spoke to Moses. He said, 37“Tell Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to take the censers out of the burned remains and to scatter the coals far and wide, because the censers are holy. 38These men sinned at the cost of their own lives. Have their censers hammered into thin sheets to cover the altar. They were presented before the LORD, and so they became holy. Let them be a sign to the Israelites.” 39So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers that had been presented by the men who were burned, and they were hammered out to cover the altar, 40as a reminder to the Israelites that no outsider, no one who is not a descendant of Aaron, should come near to burn incense before the LORD, or he would become like Korah and his company. This was done as the LORD had told Eleazar through Moses. 41The very next day the whole congregation of the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron. “You have killed the people of the LORD!” they said. 42But when the congregation gathered against Moses and Aaron and they turned toward the tent of meeting, they saw that the cloud covered it, and the glory of the LORD appeared. 43Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting,

44and the LORD spoke to Moses. He said, 45“Get away from this congregation, and I will wipe them out in a moment.” But they fell face down. 46Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, put fire in it from the altar, and lay incense on it. Then take it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, because wrath has gone out from the LORD. The plague has begun!” 47So Aaron took it as Moses had said and ran into the middle of the assembly. The plague had already begun among the people, but he put the incense on and made atonement for them. 48He took his stand between the dead and the living, and the plague was held back. 49Those who died in the plague were 14,700, not counting those who died because of Korah. 50Then Aaron went back to Moses at the entrance to the tent of meeting, for the plague had been stopped.