Old Testament · Law

Numbers chapter 16

Now son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, along with Dathan and Abiram sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—all from the —decided to challenge Moses.They rose up against Moses, along with 250 Israelite men who were —well-known members of the council, .They gathered against Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You’ve gone too far! The whole community , every last one of them, and Yahweh is right here among them. So why do you put yourselves above Yahweh’s ?”When Moses heard this, he .Then he said to Korah and all his followers, “In the morning Yahweh will make it clear who is his, which one , and he will bring that man close to himself. The one Yahweh chooses is the one he brings close.”“Here’s what you’re going to do: Korah, you and all your followers—get ,”“put fire in them, and place on them before Yahweh tomorrow. The man Yahweh chooses is the one who . You Levites are the ones who have gone too far!”Moses also said to Korah, “Listen here, you Levites!”“Isn’t it enough for you that the God of Israel has you from the rest of the community and brought you close to himself to do the work of Yahweh’s and to stand before the community and serve them?”“He has —you and all your fellow Levites—and now you’re demanding the too?”“That means it’s really against Yahweh that you and your entire group have . Who is Aaron that you would about him?”Moses sent for Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab. But they said, “We’re not coming.”“Isn’t it enough that you brought us out of a to kill us in the wilderness? And now you want to too?”“On top of that, you haven’t brought us into any land flowing with milk and honey or given us fields and vineyards as an inheritance. Do you think you can ? We’re not coming!”Moses was furious. He said to Yahweh, “Don’t accept their . I haven’t taken a single from any of them, and I haven’t wronged a single one of them.”Moses said to Korah, “You and your entire group—present yourselves before Yahweh tomorrow. You, them, and Aaron.”“Each man take his censer and put incense on it. Bring your 250 censers before Yahweh—you and Aaron each bring your censer as well.”So each man took his censer, put fire in it, laid incense on it, and stood at the entrance of the with Moses and Aaron.Korah gathered the entire community against Moses and Aaron at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. Then the of Yahweh appeared to the entire community.Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron,“Step away from this community so I can them in an instant.”But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and cried out, “God——when one man , are you going to be angry with the entire community?”Yahweh said to Moses,“Tell the community: Move away from the area around the of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the of Israel followed him.He told the community, “Get away from the tents of these men. Don’t touch anything that belongs to them, or you’ll be because of all their .”So they moved away from the area around the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the entrances of their tents with their wives, their children, and their little ones.Moses said, “This is how you’ll know that Yahweh sent me to do all these things—it wasn’t my own idea:”“If these men die a natural death—the way everyone else dies—then Yahweh didn’t send me.”“But if Yahweh —if the ground opens its mouth and swallows them with everything they own, and they go down alive into —then you’ll know that these men .”The moment he finished saying all this, the ground under them split apart.The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them—them, their households, everyone associated with Korah, and all their possessions.They went down alive into —them and everything they owned. The earth closed over them, and they vanished from the community.All the Israelites around them ran at the sound of their screams, shouting, “The earth is going to swallow us too!”Then and the 250 men who were offering incense.Yahweh said to Moses,“Tell Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to pull the censers out of the burned remains, and scatter the fire some distance away, because these censers now .”“Take the censers of these men who . Have them hammered into sheets to overlay the altar, because they were presented before Yahweh and . They’ll serve as a to the Israelites.”So Eleazar the priest collected the bronze censers that the burned men had presented. He had them hammered out as a covering for the altar,as a reminder to the Israelites that no —no one who is not a descendant of Aaron—should come to burn incense before Yahweh, or they would end up like Korah and his followers. This was exactly what Yahweh had told him through Moses.The very next day, the entire Israelite community against Moses and Aaron: “You killed !”As the community gathered against Moses and Aaron, they turned toward the Tent of Meeting, and suddenly covered it and the of Yahweh appeared.Moses and Aaron went to the front of the Tent of Meeting.Yahweh said to Moses,“Get away from this community so I can them in an instant.” They fell facedown.Then Moses said to Aaron, “Grab your censer, put fire from the altar in it, lay incense on it, and get to the community as fast as you can to for them. The has already gone out from Yahweh—the has started!”Aaron grabbed it, just as Moses said, and ran into the middle of the assembly. The plague had already begun among the people. He put on the incense and for the people.He , and the plague was stopped.But people died from the plague—not counting those who died because of Korah.Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, and the plague had stopped.