Numbers 16:1–35

Korah’s Rebellion

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 action,

²and they rose up before Moses, ¹together with some of the sons of Israel, two hundred and fifty leaders of the congregation, ^2achosen in the assembly, men of renown.

³They 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 ^cthe Lord is in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?”

⁴When Moses heard this, ^ahe fell on his face;

⁵and he spoke to Korah and all his company, saying, “Tomorrow morning the Lord 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 company,

⁷and put fire in them, and lay incense upon them in the presence of the Lord tomorrow; and the man whom the Lord 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 do the service of the tabernacle of the Lord, 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 company are gathered together ^aagainst the Lord; 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 have us die 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 the Lord, “^aDo not regard their offering! ^bI have not taken a single donkey from them, nor have I done harm to any of them.”

¹⁶Moses said to Korah, “You and all your company be present before the Lord tomorrow, both you and they along with Aaron.

¹⁷“Each of you take his firepan and put incense on ¹it, and each of you bring his censer before the Lord, two hundred and fifty 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 it; 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 the Lord appeared to all the congregation.

²⁰Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,

²¹“^aSeparate yourselves from among this congregation, ^bthat I may consume them instantly.”

²²But they fell on their faces and said, “O God, ^aGod of the spirits of all flesh, ^bwhen one man sins, will You be angry with the entire congregation?”

²³Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

²⁴“Speak to the congregation, saying, ‘^aGet back from around the dwellings of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.’ ”

²⁵Then Moses arose and went to Dathan and Abiram, with the elders of Israel following him,

²⁶and he spoke to the congregation, saying, “^aDepart now from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing that belongs to them, ^bor you will be swept away in all their sin.”

²⁷So they got back from around the dwellings of Korah, Dathan and Abiram; and Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the doorway of their tents, along with their wives and ^atheir sons and their little ones.

²⁸Moses said, “By this you shall know that ^athe Lord has sent me to do all these deeds; for this is not ¹my doing.

²⁹“If these men die ¹the death of all men or ²if they suffer the ^afate of all men, then the Lord has not sent me.

³⁰“But ^aif the Lord ¹brings about an entirely new thing and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that is theirs, and they ^bdescend alive into ²Sheol, then you will understand that these men have spurned the Lord.”

³¹As he finished speaking all these words, the ground that was under them split open;

³²and ^athe earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and ^ball the men who belonged to Korah with their possessions.

³³So they and all that belonged to them went down alive to ¹Sheol; and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly.

³⁴All Israel who were around them fled at their ¹outcry, for they said, “The earth may swallow us up!”

^35aFire also came forth from the Lord and consumed the ^btwo hundred and fifty men who were offering the incense.