Numbers 16–19

Korah, Dathan, and Abiram Rebel

16Now Korah son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth, the descendants^a of Reuben, ²took two hundred and fifty men from the Israelites,^b leaders of the community summoned from the assembly, renowned men,^c and they confronted^d Moses. ³They were assembled in front of Moses and Aaron, and they said to them, “You take too much upon yourselves!^e All of the community is holy, every one of them, and Yahweh is in their midst, so why do you raise yourselves over the assembly of Yahweh?”

⁴When Moses heard this, he fell on his face. ⁵And he said to Korah and to his entire company, saying, “Tomorrow morning Yahweh will make known who is his and who is holy, and he will bring him near to him, whomever he chooses he will bring near to him. ⁶Do this: take for yourselves censers, Korah and all of your company;^{f 7}tomorrow put fire in them and place incense on them before^g Yahweh; the man whom Yahweh chooses will be the holy one. You take too much upon yourselves, sons of Levi!”

⁸And Moses said to Korah, “Please listen, sons of Levi! ⁹Is it too little for you that the God of Israel set you apart from the community of Israel to allow you to approach him^h to do the work of the tabernacle of Yahweh, to stand beforeⁱ the community to serve them? ¹⁰He has allowed you to approach him,^j you with all your brothers, the descendants^k of Levi, but yet you also seek the priesthood. ¹¹Therefore you and your company have banded together against Yahweh. What is Aaron that you grumble against him?”

¹²Moses sent to call for Dathan and Abiram son of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come!^{l 13}Is it too little that you have brought us from a land that flows with milk and honey to kill us in the desert, and that you also appoint yourself as a ruler over us? ¹⁴Surely, you have not brought us to a land that flows with milk and honey, and you have not given us the inheritance of fields and a vineyard. Will you gouge out the eyes of these men? We will not come!”^m

¹⁵Then Moses became angry, and he said to Yahweh, “Do not notice their grain offering. I have not offered one donkey from them, and I have not mistreated one of them.” ¹⁶And Moses said to Korah, “You and your entire company will be beforeⁿ Yahweh tomorrow, you and they and Aaron. ¹⁷Each one take his censer, and put incense on it^o and you will present it before^p Yahweh, and each of you bring his censer, two hundred and fifty censers, you and Aaron, each his censer.” ¹⁸So each of them took his censer, and they put fire on them, and they placed incense on them; they stood at the doorway of the tent of the assembly of Moses and Aaron. ¹⁹And Korah summoned them, the entire community, by the doorway of the tent of assembly, and the glory of Yahweh appeared to all the community.

²⁰And Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ²¹“Separate yourselves from the midst of this community, that I can destroy them in a moment.” ²²And they fell on their faces, and they said, “God, God of the spirits of all flesh, will one man sin and you become angry toward the entire community?”

²³Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁴“Speak to the community, saying, ‘Move away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.’ ” ²⁵So Moses stood up and went to Dathan and Abiram; the elders of Israel followed after him. ²⁶He said to the community, saying, “Please turn away from the tents of these wicked men, and do not touch anything that belongs to them,^q or you will be destroyed with all their sins.” ²⁷And so they moved away from around the dwellings^r of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram; and Dathan and Abiram came out standing at the doorway of their tents, with their wives, sons, and little children. ²⁸And Moses said, “In this you will know that Yahweh has sent me to do all these works; it is not from my heart. ²⁹If they die a natural death^s or if a natural fate is visited upon them,^t Yahweh has not sent me. ³⁰But if Yahweh creates something new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up and all that belongs to them,^u and they go down alive to Sheol, and you will know that these men have despised Yahweh.”

³¹And it happened, as soon as he finished speaking^v all these words, the ground that was under them split open. ³²The land opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their houses and every person that belonged to Korah^w and all the property. ³³They went down alive to Sheol, they and all that belonged to them, and the land covered over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly. ³⁴All Israel who were around them fled at their cry, because they said, “Lest the land swallow us up!” ³⁵And fire went out from Yahweh, and it consumed the two hundred and fifty men presenting the incense.

^36x And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ³⁷“Say to Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, ‘Take out^y the censers from among the place of burning because they are sacred, and scatter the fire outside. ³⁸The censers of these who have sinned^z at the cost of their lives, let them be made into gilded leafing plating for the altar; because they presented them before Yahweh,^a they are holy; and they will be a sign for the Israelites.’ ”^{b 39}Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers that the ones who were burned presented, and they hammered them out thinly as plating for the altar; ⁴⁰it was a memorial for the Israelites,^c so that no strange man^d who is not from the offspring^e of Aaron should approach the presence of Yahweh to burn a smoke offering;^f he will not be like Korah and his company, just as Yahweh had spoken to him by the hand of Moses.^g

The Israelites Grumble

⁴¹The next day all the community of the Israelites^h grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the people of Yahweh!” ⁴²Then, when the community had gathered against Moses and Aaron, they turned to the tent of assembly, and behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of Yahweh appeared. ⁴³And Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of assembly, ⁴⁴and Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ⁴⁵“Get away from the midst of this community, and I will finish them in an instant,”ⁱ but they fell on their faces. ⁴⁶And Moses and Aaron said, “Take the censer, and put fire on it from the altar. Place incense on it, and bring it quickly to the community, and make atonement for them, because wrath went out from the presence of Yahweh, and a plague has begun.” ⁴⁷And so Aaron took it just as Moses had spoken, and he ran into the midst of the assembly, for behold, the plague had begun among the people; so he gave the incense and made atonement for the people. ⁴⁸He stood between the dead and between the living, and the plague was stopped. ⁴⁹Those who died by the plague were fourteen thousand seven hundred, besides those who died on account of Korah. ⁵⁰Then Aaron returned to Moses at the doorway of the tent of assembly, and the plague was stopped.

Aaron’s Staff Is Chosen

17Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Speak to the Israelites,^a and take from among them twelve staffs, a staff from each family^b from among all their leaders according to their families’ households. Write the name of each man on his staff, ³and the name of Aaron on the staff of Levi, because one staff is for the head of each of their families.^{c 4}You must then put them in the tent of assembly before^d the testimony^e where I meet with you. ⁵And it will happen, the man whom I will choose, his staff will blossom, and so I will rid from upon myself the grumblings of the Israelites,^f who are grumbling against you.” ⁶Moses spoke to the Israelites,^g and all their leaders gave him a staff for each leader, one from each of their families,^h twelve staffs, and the staff of Aaron was in the midst of their tribes. ⁷And Moses put the staffs before Yahweh in the tent of testimony.

⁸Then the next day, Moses went into the tent of the testimony, and behold the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi blossomed and put forth a flower and produced blossoms, and it produced almonds. ⁹Then Moses brought out to all the Israelitesⁱ all the staffs before the presence of Yahweh, and they saw, and each man took his staff. ¹⁰And Yahweh said to Moses, “Bring back the staff of Aaron before the testimony^j as a guard and sign for the children of rebellion, and let them finish their grumblings before me and not die.” ¹¹So Moses did; just as Yahweh commanded him, so he did.

¹²And the Israelites^k said to Moses, saying, “Look! We will die! We will be destroyed! All of us will perish! ¹³Anyone who approaches the tabernacle of Yahweh will die. Will we all die?”^l

The Duties of the Priests and Levites

18Yahweh said to Aaron, “You, your sons, and your family with you will bear the guilt of the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you will bear the guilt of your priesthood. ²Moreover, bring your brothers with you, the tribe of Levi the tribe of your father, that they may be joined to you and minister to you, you and your sons with you before the tent of testimony. ³They will keep your responsibility and the responsibility of all the tent, only they may not come near the vessels of the sanctuary and the altar, so both you and they will not die. ⁴They will be joined to you, and they will keep the responsibility of the tent of assembly for the entire service of the tent; a stranger may not come near you. ⁵You will keep the responsibility of the sanctuary and the responsibility of the altar, and there will no longer be wrath on the Israelites.^{a 6}Look, I myself have chosen your brothers the Levites from the midst of the children. They are a gift to you given from Yahweh to perform the work of the tent of assembly. ⁷But you with your sons will keep your priesthood to perform your priestly duties for everything at the altar^b and for the area behind the curtain.^c I give you the priesthood as a gift, but the stranger who approaches will be put to death.”

Portions for the Priests

⁸Yahweh spoke to Aaron, “Behold, I myself have given…