Korah's Rebellion

¹Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, along with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men. ²They confronted Moses, backed by 250 Israelite leaders — prominent members of the community, well-known men who had been chosen for the assembly. ³They ganged up against Moses and Aaron and said, "You've gone too far! Every person in this community is holy, and the LORD is among all of us. So why do you set yourselves above the LORD's assembly?" ⁴When Moses heard this, he fell facedown on the ground. ⁵Then he said to Korah and his entire group, "Tomorrow morning, the LORD will reveal who belongs to him and who is holy. He will bring that person near to himself — the one he chooses will be the one he draws close." ⁶"Here's what you're going to do: Korah, you and all your followers, get censers." ⁷"Tomorrow, put fire in them and add incense before the LORD. The man the LORD chooses — he will be the holy one. You sons of Levi are the ones who have gone too far!" ⁸Then Moses said to Korah, "Listen carefully, you sons of Levi!" ⁹"Isn't it enough for you that the God of Israel has set you apart from the rest of the community? He brought you close to himself to serve in the LORD's tabernacle and to stand before the congregation and minister to them." ¹⁰"He brought you near — you and all your fellow Levites — and now you want the priesthood too?" ¹¹"That's why you and your whole group have really gathered together against the LORD. Who is Aaron that you would complain against him?" ¹²Moses sent for Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they refused. "We're not coming!" they said. ¹³"Isn't it bad enough that you dragged us out of a land flowing with milk and honey just to let us die in the wilderness? Now you want to lord it over us like a prince too?" ¹⁴You have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up. ¹⁵Moses was furious. He said to the LORD, "Don't accept their offering. I haven't taken so much as a single donkey from any of them, and I haven't wronged a single one of them." ¹⁶Then Moses told Korah, "Tomorrow, you and your entire group must appear before the LORD — you, them, and Aaron." ¹⁷"Each man must take his censer, put incense on it, and bring it before the LORD — 250 censers in all. You and Aaron must each bring your censer as well." ¹⁸So each man took his censer, put fire in it, laid incense on it, and stood at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting alongside Moses and Aaron. ¹⁹Korah rallied the entire community against Moses and Aaron at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. Then the glory of the LORD appeared to everyone. ²⁰The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, ²¹"Step away from this community so I can destroy them in an instant!" ²²But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and said, "O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, will you be angry with the entire congregation because of one man's sin?" ²³The LORD said to Moses, ²⁴"Tell the community: 'Move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram!'" ²⁵Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. ²⁶He warned the community, "Get away from the tents of these wicked men! Don't touch anything that belongs to them, or you'll be swept away because of all their sins." ²⁷So the people moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram on every side. Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the entrances of their tents with their wives, their sons, and their small children. ²⁸Moses said, "This is how you'll know the LORD sent me to do all these things and that I didn't act on my own:" ²⁹"If these men die a natural death — the way anyone else might die — then the LORD didn't send me." ³⁰"But if the LORD does something unprecedented, and the ground opens up and swallows them along with everything they own, and they go down alive into the pit, then you'll know that these men have treated the LORD with contempt." ³¹The moment he finished speaking, the ground beneath them split open. ³²The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them — their households, all of Korah's men, and everything they owned. ³³They went down alive into the pit, with everything that belonged to them. The earth closed over them, and they were gone — wiped out from the community. ³⁴All the Israelites around them fled at their cries, for they said, 'Lest the earth swallow us up also.' ³⁵Then fire blazed out from the LORD and consumed the 250 men who had offered incense. ³⁶The LORD said to Moses, ³⁷"Tell Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to pull the censers out of the smoldering remains and scatter the coals far from the camp, because those censers are holy." ³⁸"The censers of these men who sinned at the cost of their own lives — have them hammered into sheets to overlay the altar. They were presented before the LORD, so they are holy. They will serve as a warning sign to the people of Israel." ³⁹So Eleazar the priest collected the bronze censers that the burned men had used, and they were hammered into sheets to cover the altar. ⁴⁰This was to remind the Israelites that no outsider — no one who isn't a descendant of Aaron — should come near to burn incense before the LORD, so that no one would end up like Korah and his followers. This was just as the LORD had told Eleazar through Moses. ⁴¹But the very next day, the entire Israelite community complained against Moses and Aaron, saying, "You've killed the LORD's people!" ⁴²As the community gathered against Moses and Aaron, they turned toward the Tent of Meeting — and there was the cloud covering it, and the glory of the LORD appeared. ⁴³Moses and Aaron went to the front of the Tent of Meeting. ⁴⁴The LORD said to Moses, ⁴⁵"Get away from this community so I can destroy them in an instant!" Moses and Aaron fell facedown. ⁴⁶Moses said to Aaron, "Grab your censer! Put fire from the altar in it and add incense. Then run to the community and make atonement for them — the LORD's anger has broken out, and the plague has already started!" ⁴⁷Aaron grabbed the censer just as Moses said and sprinted into the middle of the assembly. The plague had already begun striking people down. He added the incense and made atonement for the people. ⁴⁸He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague stopped. ⁴⁹But 14,700 people had already died from the plague — and that was on top of those who died because of Korah. ⁵⁰Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. The plague was over.