^16:41But on the next day the whole community of Israelites murmured against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the Lord’s people!”⁵⁷^16:42When the community assembled⁵⁸ against Moses and Aaron, they turned toward the tent of meeting—and⁵⁹ the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared. ^16:43Then Moses and Aaron stood before the tent of meeting.

^16:44The Lord spoke to Moses: ^16:45“Get away from this community, so that I can consume them in an instant!” But they threw themselves down with their faces to the ground.⁶⁰^16:46Then Moses said to Aaron, “Take the censer, put burning coals from the altar in it, place incense on it, and go quickly into the assembly and make atonement for them, for wrath has gone out from the Lord—the plague has begun!” ^16:47So Aaron did⁶¹ as Moses commanded⁶² and ran into the middle of the assembly, where the plague was just beginning among the people. So he placed incense on the coals and made atonement for the people. ^16:48He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped. ^16:49Now 14,700 people died in the plague, in addition to those who died in the event with Korah. ^16:50Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and the plague was stopped.

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Footnotes

57 The whole congregation here is trying to project its guilt on Moses and Aaron. It was they and their rebellion that brought about the deaths, not Moses and Aaron. The Lord had punished the sinners. The fact that the leaders had organized a rebellion against the Lord was forgotten by these people. The point here is that the Israelites had learned nothing of spiritual value from the event.
58 The temporal clause is constructed with the temporal indicator (“and it was”) followed by the Niphal infinitive construct and preposition.
59 The verse uses וְהִנֵּה (véhinneh, “and behold”). This is the deictic particle—it is used to point things out, suddenly calling attention to them, as if the reader were there. The people turned to look toward the tent—and there is the cloud!
60 Heb “they fell on their faces.”
61 Heb “took.”
62 Or “had spoken” (); “had ordered.”