16Korah was the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath. Kohath was the son of Levi. Korah and certain men from the tribe of Reuben turned against Moses. The men from Reuben were Dathan, Abiram and On. Dathan and Abiram were the sons of Eliab. On was the son of Peleth. ²All of those men rose up against Moses. And 250 men of Israel joined them. All of them were known as leaders in the community. They had been appointed as members of the ruling body.

³They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron. They said to Moses and Aaron, “You have gone too far! The whole community is holy. Every one in it is holy. And the Lord is with them. So why do you put yourselves above the Lord’s people?”

⁴When Moses heard what they said, he fell with his face to the ground. ⁵Then he spoke to Korah and all of his followers. He said, “In the morning the Lord will show who belongs to him. He will show who is holy. He’ll bring that person near him. He’ll bring the man he chooses near him.

⁶“Korah, here’s what you and all of your followers must do. Get some shallow cups for burning incense. ⁷Tomorrow put fire and incense in them. Offer it to the Lord. The man the Lord chooses will be the one who is holy. You Levites have gone too far!”

⁸Moses also said to Korah, “Listen, you Levites! ⁹The God of Israel has separated you from the rest of the community of Israel. He has brought you near him to work at the Lord’s holy tent. He has given you to the people so that you can serve them. Isn’t all of that enough for you? ¹⁰He has already brought you and all of the other Levites near him. But now you want to be priests too. ¹¹You and all of your followers have joined together against the Lord. Why are you telling Aaron you aren’t happy with him?”

¹²Then Moses sent for Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab. But they said, “We won’t come! ¹³You have brought us up out of a land that has plenty of milk and honey. You have brought us here to kill us in this desert. Isn’t that enough? Now do you also want to act as if you were ruling over us?

¹⁴“Besides, you haven’t brought us into a land that has plenty of milk and honey. You haven’t given us fields and vineyards of our own. Are you going to poke out the eyes of these men? No! We won’t come!”

¹⁵Then Moses became very angry. He said to the Lord, “Don’t accept their offering. I haven’t taken even a donkey from them. In fact, I haven’t done anything wrong to any of them.”

¹⁶Moses said to Korah, “You and all of your followers must stand in front of the Lord tomorrow. You must appear there along with Aaron. ¹⁷Each man must get his shallow cup. He must put incense in it. There will be a total of 250 incense cups. Each man must bring his cup to the Lord. You and Aaron must also bring your cups.”

¹⁸So each man got his cup. He put fire and incense in it. All of the men came with Moses and Aaron. They stood at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. ¹⁹Korah gathered all of his followers together at the entrance to the tent. They opposed Moses and Aaron.

Then the glory of the Lord appeared to the whole community.

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