Numbers 16:1–19

Korah Rises Up Against Moses

¹Now ^aKorah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with ^bDathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took others,

²and they rose up before Moses, ¹together with some of the sons of Israel, 250 leaders of the congregation, ^2athose called upon by the assembly, men of renown.

³Then they assembled together ^aagainst Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “^1bYou have gone far enough, for all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and ^cYahweh is in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of Yahweh?”

⁴And Moses heard this and ^afell on his face;

⁵and he spoke to Korah and all his congregation, saying, “Tomorrow morning Yahweh will show who is His, and ^awho is holy, and will bring him near to Himself; even ^bthe one whom He will choose, He will bring near to Himself.

⁶“Do this: take censers for yourselves, Korah and all ¹your congregation,

⁷and put fire in them, and lay incense upon them in the presence of Yahweh tomorrow; and the man whom Yahweh chooses shall be the one who is holy. ^1aYou have gone far enough, you sons of Levi!”

⁸Then Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you sons of Levi,

^9ais it ¹not enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the rest of the congregation of Israel, ^bto bring you near to Himself, to perform the service of the tabernacle of Yahweh, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them;

¹⁰and that He has brought you near, Korah, and all your brothers, sons of Levi, with you? And are you ^aseeking for the priesthood also?

¹¹“Therefore you and all your congregation are gathered together ^aagainst Yahweh; but as for Aaron, ¹who is he that ^byou grumble against him?”

¹²Then Moses sent ¹a summons to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab; but they said, “We will not come up.

¹³“Is it ¹not enough that you have brought us up out of a ^aland flowing with milk and honey ^bto put us to death in the wilderness, but you would also lord it over us?

¹⁴“Indeed, you have not brought us ^ainto a land flowing with milk and honey, nor have you given us an inheritance of ^bfields and vineyards. Would you ^1cput out the eyes of ²these men? We will not come up!”

¹⁵Then Moses became very angry and said to Yahweh, “^aDo not regard their offering! ^bI have not taken a single donkey from them, nor have I done harm to any of them.”

¹⁶And Moses said to Korah, “You and all your congregation be present before Yahweh tomorrow, both you and they along with Aaron.

¹⁷“And each of you take his firepan and put incense on ¹it, and each of you bring his censer near before Yahweh, 250 firepans; also you and Aaron shall each bring his firepan.”

¹⁸So they each took his own censer and put fire on ¹it, and laid incense on ²it; and they stood at the doorway of the tent of meeting, with Moses and Aaron.

¹⁹Thus Korah assembled all the congregation against them at the doorway of the tent of meeting. And ^athe glory of Yahweh appeared to all the congregation.