Numbers 16–19

Korah Incites Rebellion

16Now Korah son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, ^ywith Dathan and Abiram, ^zsons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took ²250 prominent Israelite men who were leaders of the community and representatives in the assembly, and they rebelled against Moses. ³They came together against Moses and Aaron and told them, “You have gone too far! ^aEveryone in the entire community is holy, and the Lord is among them. ^bWhy then do you exalt yourselves above the Lord’s assembly?”

⁴When Moses heard this, he fell facedown. ⁵Then he said to Korah and all his followers, “Tomorrow morning the Lord will reveal who belongs to Him, who is set apart, and the one He will let come near ^cHim. He will let the one He chooses ^dcome near Him. ⁶Korah, you and all your followers are to do this: take firepans, ^eand tomorrow ⁷place fire in them and put incense on them before the Lord. ^fThen the man the Lord chooses will be the one who is set apart. ^gIt is you Levites who have gone too far!” ^h

⁸Moses also told Korah, “Now listen, Levites! ⁹Isn’t it enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the Israelite community to bring you near to Himself, ⁱto perform the work at the Lord’s tabernacle, and to stand before the community to minister to them? ^j10He has brought you near, and all your fellow Levites who are with you, but you are seeking the priesthood ^kas well. ¹¹Therefore, it is you and all your followers who have conspired against the Lord! ^lAs for Aaron, who is he ^mthat you should complain about him?”

¹²Moses sent for Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come! ¹³Is it not enough that you brought us up from a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? ⁿDo you also have to appoint yourself as ruler over us? ¹⁴Furthermore, you didn’t bring us to a land flowing with milk and honey or give us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you gouge out the eyes of these men? ^oWe will not come!”

¹⁵Then Moses became angry and said to the Lord, “Don’t respect their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them or mistreated a single one of them.” ¹⁶So Moses told Korah, “You and all your followers are to appear before the Lord tomorrow—you, they, and Aaron. ¹⁷Each of you is to take his firepan, place incense on it, and present his firepan before the Lord—250 firepans. You and Aaron are each to present your firepan also.”

¹⁸Each man took his firepan, placed fire in it, put incense on it, and stood at the entrance to the tent of meeting along with Moses and Aaron. ¹⁹After Korah assembled the whole community against them at the entrance to the tent of meeting, the glory of the Lord ^pappeared to the whole community. ²⁰The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, ²¹“Separate yourselves from this community so I may consume them instantly.” ^q

²²But Moses and Aaron fell facedown ^rand said, “God, God of the spirits ^stof all flesh, when one man sins, will You vent Your wrath on the whole community?” ^u

²³The Lord replied to Moses, ²⁴“Tell the community: Get away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”

²⁵Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. ²⁶He warned the community, “Get away now from the tents of these wicked men. Don’t touch anything that belongs to them, ^vor you will be swept away because of all their sins.” ^w27So they got away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Meanwhile, Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the entrance of their tents with their wives, children, and infants.

²⁸Then Moses said, “This is how you will know that the Lord sent me ^xto do all these things and that it was not of my own will: ²⁹If these men die naturally as all people would, and suffer the fate of all, then the Lord has not sent me. ³⁰But if the Lord brings about something unprecedented, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them along with all that belongs to them so that they go down alive into Sheol, ^ythen you will know that these men have despised the Lord.”

³¹Just as he finished speaking all these words, the ground beneath them split open. ³²The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households, all Korah’s people, ^zand all their possessions. ³³They went down alive into Sheol with all that belonged to them. The earth closed over them, and they vanished from the assembly. ³⁴At their cries, all the people of Israel who were around them fled because they thought, “The earth may swallow us too!” ³⁵Fire also came out from the Lord and consumed the 250 men who were presenting the incense. ^a

^36bThen the Lord spoke to Moses: ³⁷“Tell Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to remove the firepans from the burning debris, because they are holy, and scatter the fire far away. ³⁸As for the firepans of those who sinned at the cost of their own lives, make them into hammered sheets as plating for the altar, for they presented them before the Lord, and the firepans are holy. They will be a sign to the Israelites.”

³⁹So Eleazar the priest took the bronze firepans that those who were burned had presented, and they were hammered into plating for the altar, ⁴⁰just as the Lord commanded him through Moses. It was to be a reminder for the Israelites that no unauthorized person outside the lineage of Aaron should approach to offer incense before the Lord ^cand become like Korah and his followers.

⁴¹The next day the entire Israelite community complained about Moses and Aaron, ^dsaying, “You have killed the Lord’s people!” ⁴²When the community assembled against them, Moses and Aaron turned toward the tent of meeting, and suddenly the cloud covered it, and the Lord’s glory appeared.

⁴³Moses and Aaron went to the front of the tent of meeting, ⁴⁴and the Lord said to Moses, ⁴⁵“Get away from this community so that I may consume them instantly.” ^eBut they fell facedown.

⁴⁶Then Moses told Aaron, “Take your firepan, place fire from the altar in it, and add incense. Go quickly to the community and make atonement for them, because wrath has come from the Lord; the plague has begun.” ⁴⁷So Aaron took his firepan as Moses had ordered, ran into the middle of the assembly, and saw that the plague had begun among the people. After he added incense, he made atonement for the people. ⁴⁸He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was halted. ⁴⁹But those who died from the plague numbered 14,700, in addition to those who died because of the Korah incident. ⁵⁰Aaron then returned to Moses at the entrance to the tent of meeting, since the plague had been halted. ^f

Aaron’s Staff Chosen

17^gThe Lord instructed Moses: ²“Speak to the Israelites and take one staff from them for each ancestral house, 12 staffs from all the leaders of their ancestral houses. Write each man’s name on his staff. ³Write Aaron’s name on Levi’s staff, because there must be one staff for the head of each ancestral house. ⁴Then place them in the tent of meeting in front of the testimony where I meet with you. ⁵The staff of the man I choose will sprout, and I will rid Myself of the Israelites’ complaints that they have been making about you.”

⁶So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and each of their leaders gave him a staff, one for each of the leaders of their ancestral houses, 12 staffs in all. Aaron’s staff was among them. ^h7Moses placed the staffs before the Lord in the tent of the testimony.

⁸The next day Moses entered the tent of the testimony and saw that Aaron’s staff, representing the house of Levi, had sprouted, formed buds, blossomed, and produced almonds! ⁹Moses then brought out all the staffs from the Lord’s presence to all the Israelites. They saw them, and each man took his own staff. ¹⁰The Lord told Moses, “Put Aaron’s staff back in front of the testimony to be kept as a sign ⁱfor the rebels, so that you may put an end to their complaints before Me, or else they will die.” ^j11So Moses did as the Lord commanded him.

¹²Then the Israelites declared to Moses, “Look, we’re perishing! We’re lost; we’re all lost! ¹³Anyone who comes near the Lord’s tabernacle will die. ^kWill we all perish?”

Provision for the Priesthood

18The Lord said to Aaron, “You, your sons, and your ancestral house ^lwill be responsible for sin against the sanctuary. You and your sons will be responsible for sin involving your priesthood. ²But also bring your relatives with you from the tribe of Levi, your ancestral tribe, so they may join you and assist you and your sons in front of the tent of the testimony. ^m3They are to perform duties for you and for the whole tent. They must not come near the sanctuary equipment or the altar; otherwise, both they and you will die. ⁴They are to join you and guard the tent of meeting, doing all the work at the tent, but no unauthorized person may come near you.

⁵“You are to guard the sanctuary and the altar so that wrath may not fall on the Israelites again. ⁿ⁶Look, I have selected your fellow Levites from the Israelites as a gift for you, ^oassigned by the Lord to work at the tent of meeting. ⁷But you and your sons will carry out your priestly responsibilities ^pfor everything concerning the altar and for what is inside the veil, and you will do that work. I am giving you the work of the priesthood as a gift, ^qbut an unauthorized person who comes near the sanctuary will be put to death.” ^r

Support for the Priests and Levites

⁸Then the Lord spoke to Aaron, “Look, I have put you in charge of the contributions ^sbrought to Me. As for all the holy offerings ^tof the Israelites, I have given them to you and your sons as a portion and a permanent statute. ^u9A portion of the holiest offerings kept from the fire will be yours; every one of their offerings that they give Me, whether the grain offering, sin offering, or restitution offering will be most holy for you and your sons. ¹⁰You are to eat it as a most holy offering. ^vEvery male may eat it; it is to be holy to you.

¹¹“The contribution of their gifts also…