Numbers 16–19

Korah’s Rebellion

16Now ⁱKorah the son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, and ^jDathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men. ²And they rose up before Moses, with a number of the people of Israel, 250 chiefs of the congregation, chosen from the assembly, well-known men. ^3kThey assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said to them, ^l“You have gone too far! For ^mall in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?” ⁴When Moses heard it, ⁿhe fell on his face, ⁵and he said to Korah and all his company, “In the morning the Lord will show ^owho is his,¹ and who is ^pholy, and will bring him near to him. The one ^qwhom he chooses he will ^rbring near to him. ⁶Do this: take ^scensers, Korah and all his company; ⁷put fire in them and put incense on them before the Lord tomorrow, and the man whom the Lord chooses shall be the holy one. ^tYou have gone too far, sons of Levi!” ⁸And Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you sons of Levi: ⁹is it ^utoo small a thing for you that the God of Israel has ^vseparated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do service in the tabernacle of the Lord and to stand before the congregation to minister to them, ¹⁰and that he has brought you near him, and all your brothers the sons of Levi with you? And would you seek the priesthood also? ¹¹Therefore it is against the Lord that you and all your company have gathered together. What is ^wAaron that you grumble against him?”

¹²And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and they said, “We will not come up. ¹³Is it ^xa small thing that you have brought us up out of ^ya land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, that you must also ^zmake yourself a prince over us? ¹⁴Moreover, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up.” ¹⁵And Moses was very angry and said to the Lord, ^a“Do not respect their offering. ^bI have not taken one donkey from them, and I have not harmed one of them.”

¹⁶And Moses said to Korah, “Be present, you and all your company, ^cbefore the Lord, you and they, and Aaron, tomorrow. ¹⁷And ^dlet every one of you take his censer and put incense on it, and every one of you bring before the Lord his censer, ^e250 censers; you also, and Aaron, each his censer.” ¹⁸So every man took his censer and put fire in them and laid incense on them and stood at the entrance of the tent of meeting with Moses and Aaron. ¹⁹Then Korah assembled all the congregation against them at the entrance of the tent of meeting. ^fAnd the glory of the Lord appeared to all the congregation.

²⁰And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ^21g“Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them ^hin a moment.” ²²And they ⁱfell on their faces and said, “O God, ^jthe God of the spirits of all flesh, ^kshall one man sin, and will you be angry with all the congregation?” ²³And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁴“Say to the congregation, Get away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”

²⁵Then Moses rose and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. ²⁶And he spoke to the congregation, saying, ^l“Depart, please, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be swept away with all their sins.” ²⁷So they got away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. And Dathan and Abiram came out and stood ^mat the door of their tents, together with their wives, their sons, and their little ones. ²⁸And Moses said, “Hereby you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, and that it has not been ⁿof my own accord. ²⁹If these men die as all men die, or if they are visited by the fate of all mankind, ^othen the Lord has not sent me. ³⁰But if the Lord creates something new, and ^pthe ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they ^qgo down alive into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised the Lord.”

^31rAnd as soon as he had finished speaking all these words, the ground under them split apart. ³²And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and ^sall the people who belonged to Korah and all their goods. ³³So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed over them, and ^tthey perished from the midst of the assembly. ³⁴And all Israel who were around them fled at their cry, for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us up!” ³⁵And ^ufire came out from the Lord and consumed ^vthe 250 men offering the incense.

³⁶² Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ³⁷“Tell Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest to take up the censers out of the blaze. Then scatter the fire far and wide, for they have become holy. ³⁸As for the censers of ^wthese men who have sinned at the cost of their lives, let them be made into hammered plates as a covering for the altar, for they offered them before the Lord, and they became holy. ^xThus they shall be a sign to the people of Israel.” ³⁹So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers, which those who were burned had offered, and they were hammered out as a covering for the altar, ⁴⁰to be a reminder to the people of Israel, so ^ythat no outsider, who is not of the descendants of Aaron, should draw near to burn incense before the Lord, lest he become like Korah and his company—as the Lord said to him through Moses.

⁴¹But on the next day all the congregation of the people of Israel ^zgrumbled against Moses and against Aaron, saying, “You have killed the people of the Lord.” ⁴²And when the congregation had assembled against Moses and against Aaron, they turned toward the tent of meeting. And behold, ^athe cloud covered it, and ^bthe glory of the Lord appeared. ⁴³And Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting, ⁴⁴and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ^45c“Get away from the midst of this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.” ^dAnd they fell on their faces. ⁴⁶And Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, and put fire on it from off the altar and lay incense on it and carry it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, for ^ewrath has gone out from the Lord; the plague has begun.” ⁴⁷So Aaron took it as Moses said and ran into the midst of the assembly. And behold, the plague had already begun among the people. And he put on the incense and made atonement for the people. ⁴⁸And he stood between the dead and the living, and ^fthe plague was stopped. ⁴⁹Now those who died in the plague were 14,700, ^gbesides those who died in the affair of Korah. ⁵⁰And Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the tent of meeting, when the plague was stopped.

Aaron’s Staff Buds

17¹ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ^2h“Speak to the people of Israel, and get from them staffs, one for each fathers’ house, from all their chiefs according to their fathers’ houses, twelve staffs. Write each man’s name on his staff, ³and write Aaron’s name on the staff of Levi. For there shall be one staff for the head of each fathers’ house. ⁴Then you shall deposit them in the tent of meeting before the testimony, ⁱwhere I meet with you. ⁵And the staff of the man ^jwhom I choose shall sprout. Thus I will make to cease from me ^kthe grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against you.” ⁶Moses spoke to the people of Israel. And all their chiefs gave him staffs, one for each chief, according to their fathers’ houses, twelve staffs. And the staff of Aaron was among their staffs. ⁷And Moses deposited the staffs before the Lord in ^lthe tent of the testimony.

⁸On the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony, and behold, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds. ⁹Then Moses brought out all the staffs from before the Lord to all the people of Israel. And they looked, and each man took his staff. ¹⁰And the Lord said to Moses, “Put back ^mthe staff of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept ⁿas a sign for the rebels, ^othat you may make an end of their grumblings against me, lest they die.” ¹¹Thus did Moses; as the Lord commanded him, so he did.

¹²And the people of Israel said to Moses, “Behold, we perish, we are undone, we are all undone. ^13pEveryone who comes near, who comes near to the tabernacle of the Lord, shall die. Are we all to perish?”

Duties of Priests and Levites

18So the Lord said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your father’s house with you shall ^qbear iniquity connected with the sanctuary, ^rand you and your sons with you shall bear iniquity connected with your priesthood. ²And with you bring your brothers also, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may ^sjoin you and ^tminister to you while you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony. ³They shall keep guard over you and ^uover the whole tent, ^vbut shall not come near to the vessels of the sanctuary or to the altar ^wlest they, and you, die. ⁴They shall join you and keep guard over the tent of meeting for all the service of the tent, ^xand no outsider shall come near you. ⁵And you shall ^ykeep guard over the sanctuary and over the altar, ^zthat there may never again be wrath on the people of Israel. ^6aAnd behold, I have taken your brothers the Levites from among the people of Israel. ^bThey are a gift to you, given to the Lord, to do the service of the tent of meeting. ⁷And ^cyou and your sons with you shall guard your priesthood for all that concerns the altar and ^dthat is within the veil; and you shall serve. I give your priesthood as a gift,¹ and ^eany outsider who comes near shall be put to death.”

⁸Then the Lord spoke to Aaron, “Behold, ^fI have given you charge of the contributions made to me, all the consecrated…