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Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, along with Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—descendants of Reuben, became insolent 2 and rose up against Moses. With them were two hundred and fifty prominent Israelite men, who were well-known community leaders appointed to the assembly. 3 They came together as a group and confronted Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! Everyone in the whole community is holy, all of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the Lord’s assembly?”
4 When Moses heard this, he fell facedown. 5 Then he said to Korah and all his followers, “Tomorrow morning the Lord will show who belongs to Him and who is holy, and He will have that person come near Him. The man He chooses He will cause to come near Him. 6 Korah, you and all your followers are to do this: Take censers, 7 and tomorrow put fire in them and lay incense on them before the Lord. Then the man the Lord chooses will be the one who is holy. You Levites have gone too far!”
8 Moses also said to Korah, “Now listen, you Levites! 9 Is it not enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the rest of the community of Israel and brought you near to Himself to carry out the work at the Lord’s tabernacle, and to stand before the community and minister to them? 10 He has brought you and all your fellow Levites near Himself, but now you are trying to get the priesthood as well! 11 Therefore, it is against the Lord that you and all your followers have banded together. As for Aaron, who is he that you should complain about him?”
12 Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come! 13 Is it not enough that you have brought us up from a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? Do you now want to also make yourself the ruler over us? 14 What is more, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you gouge out the eyes of these men? We will not come!”
15 Then Moses became very angry and said to the Lord, “Do not respect their offering. I have not so much as taken a single donkey from them, nor have I done harm to any of them.”
16 So Moses told Korah, “You and all your company are to appear before the Lord tomorrow—you and they and Aaron. 17 Each of you is to take his censer and put incense in it, and present his censer before the Lord—two hundred and fifty censers in all. You and Aaron are to present your censers also.” 18 So each man took his censer, put fire in it, laid incense on it, and stood at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting with Moses and Aaron. 19 And Korah assembled all his followers who were also opposed against them at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. Then the glory of the Lord appeared to the whole community. 20 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 21 “Separate yourselves from this community so I may consume them instantly.”
22 But they fell face down and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall only one man sin and You become angry with the entire community?”
23 Then the Lord said to Moses, 24 “Tell the community: ‘Move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram’.”
25 So Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. 26 He warned the community, “Move away from the tents of these wicked men! Do not touch anything belonging to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins.” 27 So they moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram had come out and were standing at the entrance of their tents with their wives, children, and little ones.
28 Then Moses said, “This is how you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these things and that it was not of my own will: 29 If these men die a natural death as all people do, and they experience only the same fate of all, then the Lord has not sent me. 30 But if the Lord brings about something entirely new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up along with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive down to Sheol, then you will know that these men have despised the Lord.”
31 As soon as he finished speaking all these words, the ground under them split apart, 32 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, along with all Korah’s people and their possessions. 33 They went down alive into Sheol with everything that belonged to them; then the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from among the assembly. 34 At their cries, all the Israelites fled, shouting, “The earth is going to swallow us up too!”
35 And fire also came out from the Lord and consumed the two hundred and fifty men who were offering the incense.
36 The Lord said to Moses, 37 “Tell Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest, to remove the censers from the smouldering remains, for the censers are holy. Then scatter the coals of the fire far away. 38 As for the censers of these men who sinned at the cost of their own lives, hammer them into sheets to overlay the altar with, for they were presented before the Lord and they have become holy. They will serve as a sign to the Israelites.”
39 So Eleazar the priest collected the bronze censers that those who were burned up had presented, and they were hammered out into sheets to overlay the altar, 40 just as the Lord commanded him through Moses. This was to serve as a reminder for the Israelites that an outsider not of the lineage of Aaron should approach to offer incense before the Lord, or he would become like Korah and his company.
41 The next day the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. “You have killed the Lord’s people!” they said. 42 When the community had gathered in opposition against them, Moses and Aaron turned toward the Tent of Meeting, and suddenly the cloud covered it and glory of the Lord appeared.
43 Then Moses and Aaron went to the front of the Tent of Meeting, 44 and the Lord said to Moses, 45 “Get away from this community so that I can consume them instantly.” But they fell facedown.
46 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer and put fire in it from the altar and lay incense on it. Then take it quickly to the community and make atonement for them, for wrath has gone out from the Lord; the plague has begun.” 47 So Aaron took his censer as Moses had told him, and ran into the midst of the assembly. The plague had already begun among the people, but Aaron offered the incense and made atonement for the people. 48 He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was halted. 49 But those who died in the plague numbered 14,700, besides those who had died because of Korah. 50 Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, for the plague had stopped.