1 N ow Korah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, caused trouble.

¶ Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, of the sons of Reuben, took men;

2 T hey came in front of Moses, together with some of the sons of Israel. They had chosen 250 leaders of the people of Israel, well-known men.

and they rose up against Moses, with two hundred and fifty men of the sons of Israel, princes of the congregation, of the council, men of renown;

3 T hey all gathered together against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “You have gone too far! For all the people are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. So why do you honor yourselves more than the people of the Lord?”

and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said unto them, We have had enough of you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them; why then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD?

4 W hen Moses heard this, he bowed to the ground.

And when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face;

5 H e said to Korah and all who were with him, “Tomorrow morning the Lord will show who is His, and who is holy. He will have him come near to Him. He will bring near to Himself the one whom He will choose.

and he spoke unto Korah and unto all his company, saying, Tomorrow the LORD will show who are his and who is holy and will cause the one who is holy to come near unto him; the one whom he has chosen he will cause to come near unto him.

6 D o this, Korah and all who are with you. Take pots for burning special perfume.

Do this: Take censers, Korah, and all his company,

7 P ut fire in them, and put special perfume upon them before the Lord tomorrow. The man whom the Lord chooses will be the one who is holy. You have gone too far, you sons of Levi!”

and put fire in them and put incense in them before the LORD tomorrow; and it shall be that the man whom the LORD chooses, he shall be holy; this shall be enough for you, ye sons of Levi.

8 T hen Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you sons of Levi.

And Moses said unto Korah, Hear, I pray you, ye sons of Levi:

9 I s it not enough for you that the God of Israel has set you apart from the rest of the people of Israel? He has brought you near to Himself. He has you do the work around the meeting tent of the Lord. And He has you stand in front of the people to care for them.

Does it seem but a small thing unto you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself to minister in the service of the tabernacle of the LORD and to stand before the congregation to minister unto them?

10 H e has brought you near to Him, Korah, and all your brothers who are the sons of Levi, with you. Would you try to be the religious leaders also?

And that he has brought thee near to him and all thy brethren the sons of Levi with thee, and ye seek the priesthood also?

11 S o you and all who are with you are gathered together against the Lord. But as for Aaron, who is he that you complain against him?”

For which cause both thou and all thy company are gathered together against the LORD, for what is Aaron, that ye murmur against him?

12 T hen Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab. But they said, “We will not come up.

¶ And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they replied, We will not come up.

13 I s it not enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to have us die in the desert? Must you make yourself a ruler over us also?

Is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land that flowed with milk and honey to make us die in the wilderness, but thou must also make thyself lord to rule over us?

14 M ore than this, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey. You have not given us any land with fields and grape vines. Would you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up!”

Moreover, thou hast not brought us into a land that flows with milk and honey or given us inheritance of fields and vineyards; wilt thou put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up.

15 M oses became very angry. He said to the Lord, “Do not respect their gift! I have not taken one donkey from them. And I have not hurt one of them.”

Then Moses was very angry and said unto the LORD, Look not thou upon their offering; I have not taken so much as one ass from them, neither have I done evil to any of them.

16 T hen Moses said to Korah, “You and all who are with you be before the Lord tomorrow, you and they, and Aaron.

And Moses said unto Korah, Be thou and all thy company before the LORD, thou and they and Aaron, tomorrow;

17 E ach of you take his fire pot and put special perfume on it. And each of you bring his fire pot before the Lord, 250 fire pots. Let both you and Aaron bring his fire pot also.”

and let each man take his censer and put incense in them and let each man bring his censer before the LORD, two hundred and fifty censers; thou also and Aaron, each of you with his censer.

18 S o each man took his fire pot and put fire in it and put special perfume on it. And they stood at the door of the meeting tent with Moses and Aaron.

And each man took his censer and put fire in them and laid incense in them and stood in the door of the tabernacle of the testimony with Moses and Aaron.

19 K orah gathered together all the people against them at the door of the meeting tent. And the shining-greatness of the Lord was seen by all the people.

And Korah had gathered all the congregation against them unto the door of the tabernacle of the testimony; then the glory of the LORD appeared unto all the congregation.

20 T he Lord said to Moses and Aaron,

And the LORD spoke unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,

21 “ Go away from these people, so I may destroy them at once.”

Separate yourselves from among this congregation, and I will consume them in a moment.

22 B ut they fell on their faces, and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, when one man sins, will You be angry with all the people?”

And they fell upon their faces and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin and wilt thou be wroth with all the congregation?

23 T hen the Lord said to Moses,

¶ Then the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying,

24 “ Say to the people, ‘Get away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.’”

Speak unto the congregation, saying, Separate yourselves now from the tent of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.

25 T hen Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, with the leaders of Israel following him.

And Moses rose up and went unto Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him.

26 A nd he said to the people, “Go away now from the tents of these sinful men. Touch nothing that belongs to them, or you will be destroyed because of all their sin.”

And he spoke unto the congregation, saying, Depart from the tents of these wicked men and touch nothing of theirs lest peradventure ye be consumed in all their sins.

27 S o they went away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. And Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the door of their tents, with their wives, their sons, and their little ones.

So they removed themselves from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side; and Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood in the door of their tents, with their wives and their sons and their little children.

28 M oses said, “By this you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works. For this is not my doing.

And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the LORD has sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them out of my own heart.

29 I f these men die in the same way all men die, or if what happens to everyone happens to them, then the Lord has not sent me.

If these men die the common death of all men or if they are visited after the visitation of all men, then the LORD has not sent me.

30 B ut the Lord will do something new. The ground will open its mouth and take them with all that belongs to them. And they will go down alive into the place of the dead. Then you will understand that these men have turned against the Lord.”

But if the LORD does a new thing and the earth opens her mouth and swallows them up with all their things and they go down alive into Sheol, then ye shall know that these men have provoked the LORD.

31 A s soon as he stopped speaking, the ground under them opened up.

And it came to pass as he had made an end of speaking all these words that the ground broke open under them;

32 T he earth opened its mouth and took them and all those of their house, and all Korah’s men and all that belonged to them.

the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up, and their houses and all the men of Korah and all their goods.

33 T hey and all that belonged to them went down alive to the place of the dead, and the earth closed over them. They were destroyed from among the people.

They and all that they had went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed upon them, and they perished from among the congregation.

34 A nd all Israel who were around them ran away at their cry. For they said, “The earth may take us too!”

And all Israel, those that were round about them, fled at the cry of them, for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up also.

35 T hen fire came from the Lord and destroyed the 250 men who had brought the special perfume.

¶ And fire came out from the LORD and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.

36 T he Lord said to Moses,

Then the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying,

37 “ Tell Eleazar the son of Aaron the religious leader to take the fire pots out of the fire. For they are holy. Then spread the burning pieces far apart.

Speak unto Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, that he take up the censers out of the burning and scatter thou the fire yonder, for

38 L et the fire pots of these men who have sinned and lost their lives be made into beaten plates to cover the altar. For they did bring them to the Lord and they are holy. They will be something special for the people of Israel to see.”

the censers of these sinners are sanctified against their own souls, and broad plates shall be made of them for a covering of the altar, for they offered with them before the LORD; therefore, they are sanctified, and they shall be a sign unto the sons of Israel.

39 S o Eleazar the religious leader took the brass fire pots which the men who were burned had brought. And they beat them into plates to cover the altar.

And Eleazar, the priest, took the brass censers with which those that were burnt had offered, and they were made into a broad covering of the altar

40 T hey were to make the people of Israel remember that no man who is not a religious leader and a son of Aaron should come to burn special perfume before the Lord. Or he might become like Korah and those who were with him, as the Lord said to Eleazar through Moses. The People Complain

to be a memorial unto the sons of Israel, that no stranger who is not of the seed of Aaron come near to offer incense before the LORD, that he not be as Korah and as his company, as the LORD said to him by the hand of Moses.

41 B ut on the next day all the people of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You are the ones who have caused the death of the Lord’s people.”

¶ But on the next day all the congregation of the sons of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of the LORD.

42 W hen the people had gathered against Moses and Aaron, they turned toward the meeting tent. There the cloud covered it and they saw the shining-greatness of the Lord.

And it came to pass when the congregation was gathered against Moses and against Aaron that they looked toward the tabernacle of the testimony; and, behold, the cloud had covered it, and the glory of the LORD appeared.

43 T hen Moses and Aaron came to the front of the meeting tent.

And Moses and Aaron came before the tabernacle of the testimony.

44 A nd the Lord said to Moses,

And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying,

45 “ Get away from these people, so I may destroy them at once.” Then they fell on their faces.

Depart from among this congregation, and I will consume them in a moment. And they fell upon their faces.

46 M oses said to Aaron, “Take your fire pot and put fire in it from the altar, and lay special perfume on it. Then be quick to bring it to the people and pay for their sin. For anger has gone out from the Lord. The disease has come!”

And Moses said unto Aaron, Take the censer and put fire in it from off the altar and put incense upon it and go quickly unto the congregation and reconcile them; for the wrath has gone out from before the face of the LORD; the plague is begun.

47 S o Aaron took it as Moses said, and ran to the people. The disease had already come upon them. He put on the special perfume and paid for the sin of the people.

Then Aaron took his censer as Moses said and ran into the midst of the congregation; and, behold, the plague was begun among the people; and he put on incense and reconciled the people.

48 H e stood between the dead and the living, and the disease was stopped.

And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed.

49 B ut 14, 700 people died by the disease, as well as those who died because of Korah.

Now those that died in that plague were fourteen thousand seven hundred, besides those that died concerning the matter of Korah.

50 T hen Aaron returned to Moses at the door of the meeting tent, for the disease had been stopped.

And Aaron returned unto Moses unto the door of the tabernacle of the testimony, when the plague was stayed.