Numbers 16

Korah, Dathan and Abiram rebel

¹Now Korah son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, gathered men to his side, together with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth, who were Reubenites,^{a 2}and they rose up against Moses. With them were 250 men from among the Israelites, leaders of the congregation, chosen members of the council, men of renown. ³They came together against Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You claim too much! Every member of the congregation is holy, all of them, and the LORD is among them. What right have you to raise yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?” ⁴When Moses heard this, he fell facedown. ⁵Then he said to Korah and all his company, “In the morning the LORD will show who belongs to him and who is holy, and he will let that man come near to him. The one he chooses, he will bring near to himself. ⁶Do this, Korah, you and all your company: take censers, ⁷and tomorrow put fire in them and lay incense on them before the LORD. The man the LORD chooses will be the one who is holy. It is you Levites who claim too much!” ⁸Moses also said to Korah, “Listen, you Levites! ⁹Does it mean so little to you that the God of Israel has set you apart from the congregation of Israel, bringing you near to himself to do the work of the LORD’s tabernacle and to stand before the congregation and serve them? ¹⁰He has brought you near, you and all your fellow Levites with you, and now you want the priesthood as well? ¹¹So it is against the LORD that you and all your company have banded together. Who is Aaron, that you grumble against him?” ¹²Then Moses sent for Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab. But they said, “We will not come up! ¹³Was it a small thing to bring us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey only to kill us in the wilderness? Must you now also lord it over us, and lord it completely? ¹⁴Besides, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us fields and vineyards to own. Do you mean to gouge out the eyes of these men? We will not come up!”^{b 15}Moses was furious, and he said to the LORD, “Pay no regard to their offering. I have not taken so much as one donkey from them, and I have done none of them any wrong.” ¹⁶Moses said to Korah, “Tomorrow you and all your company must appear before the LORD: you, they, and Aaron. ¹⁷Each man is to take his censer and put incense on it, and each is to bring his censer before the LORD, 250 censers. You and Aaron are also to bring your censers.” ¹⁸So each man took his censer, put fire in it, and laid incense on it. Then they stood at the entrance of the tent of meeting with Moses and Aaron. ¹⁹Korah gathered the whole congregation against Moses and Aaron at the entrance of the tent of meeting. Then the glory of the LORD appeared to the whole congregation.

²⁰The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron. He said, ²¹“Get away from this congregation, so that I can destroy them in an instant.” ²²But they fell facedown and said, “God, God of the spirits of all humankind, when one man sins, will you be angry with the whole congregation?”

The ground swallows the rebels

²³The LORD spoke to Moses. He said, ²⁴“Tell the congregation, ‘Move away from around the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.’” ²⁵Then Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. ²⁶He told the congregation, “Move away now from the tents of these wicked men! Do not touch anything that belongs to them, or you will be swept away when they are punished for all their sins.” ²⁷So the people moved away from all around the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram had come out and were standing at the entrances of their tents, together with their wives, their children, and their little ones. ²⁸Then Moses said, “This is how you will know that the LORD sent me to do all these things, and that they were not my own idea. ²⁹If these men die the way all people die, and only what comes to everyone comes to them, then the LORD has not sent me. ³⁰But if the LORD does something entirely new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them along with everything they have, so that they go down alive into Sheol, then you will know that these men have treated the LORD with contempt.” ³¹The moment he finished saying all this, the ground beneath them split open. ³²The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, together with their households, all Korah’s people, and all their possessions. ³³They went down alive into Sheol, they and all that was theirs. The earth closed over them, and they perished, gone from among the assembly. ³⁴All Israel around them fled at their cries, for they said, “The earth may swallow us too!” ³⁵Then fire came out from the LORD and devoured the 250 men who were offering incense.