Numbers 16

1 And Korah son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth son of Reuben, spoke out; 2 and they rose up in front of Moses, along with two hundred and fifty men of the children of Israel, heads of the gathering, chosen counselors, men of standing. 3 They rose up against Moses and Aaron and said, 3 “You have gone far enough. The whole gathering is holy, all of them, and the Lord is among them. Why do you set yourselves above the gathering of the Lord?” 4 And when Moses heard it he fell on his face. 5 And he spoke to Korah and to his whole company. He said, 5 “God has looked them over and knows who are his and who are holy, and he has brought them near to himself; the one he has chosen for himself he has brought near to himself. 6 Do this: take fire pans for yourselves, Korah and all your company, 7 and put fire in them and put incense on them before the Lord tomorrow. And the man the Lord chooses, he is the holy one. You have gone far enough, sons of Levi.” 8 And Moses said to Korah, 8 “Listen to me, sons of Levi. 9 Is it a small thing to you that the God of Israel has set you apart from the gathering of Israel and brought you near to himself, to do the work of the services of the tent of the Lord, and to stand before the tent and serve on their behalf? 10 He has brought you near, and all your brothers the sons of Levi with you — and now you are after the priesthood as well? 11 That is what you and your whole company have banded together against God for. And who is Aaron, that you grumble against him?”

12 And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab; and they said, 12 “We will not come up. 13 Is it a small thing that you brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness — and that you keep lording it over us as well? 14 Even if you had brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey and given us a portion of fields and vineyards, you would have gouged out the eyes of those men. We will not come up.” 15 And Moses was very angry, and said to the Lord, 15 “Pay no attention to their sacrifice. I have not taken one thing that any of them wanted, and I have not harmed a single one of them.”

16 And Moses said to Korah, 16 “Make your company holy, and be ready before the Lord tomorrow — you and Aaron and they. 17 And let each man take his fire pan, and put incense on them, and each bring his fire pan before the Lord: two hundred and fifty fire pans. And you and Aaron are each to bring your own.” 18 And each man took his fire pan and put fire in it and laid incense on it; and Moses and Aaron stood at the doors of the tent of witness. 19 And Korah raised his whole company up against them at the door of the tent of witness; and the glory of the Lord appeared to the whole gathering. 20 And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron. He said, 21 “Separate yourselves from the middle of this gathering, and I will finish them off at once.” 22 And they fell on their faces and said, 22 “God, the God of the spirits and of all flesh — if one man has sinned, is the anger of the Lord to fall on the whole gathering?” 23 And the Lord spoke to Moses. He said, 24 “Speak to the gathering and say: Get away from the company of Korah, all around.”

25 And Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and all the elders of Israel went with him. 26 And he spoke to the gathering. He said, 26 “Move away from the tents of these hard men, and do not touch anything that belongs to them, or you will be swept away with them in all their sin.” 27 And they stood back from the tent of Korah, all around; and Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the doors of their tents, with their wives and their children and their goods. 28 And Moses said, 28 “By this you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, and that I have not done them out of my own head. 29 If these men die the way all men die, and if what comes to them is what comes to everyone, then the Lord has not sent me. 30 But if the Lord shows something never seen before — if the ground opens its mouth and swallows them, and their houses and their tents and everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Hades — then you will know that these men have provoked the Lord.” [a]

31 And when he had finished speaking all these words, the ground split apart underneath them. 32 And the ground opened and swallowed them, and their houses, and all the men who were with Korah, and their cattle. 33 And they went down, they and everything they had, alive into Hades; and the ground covered them over, and they were gone from among the gathering. 34 And all Israel around them fled at the sound of them, saying, “The earth will swallow us too!” 35 And fire went out from the Lord and ate up the two hundred and fifty men who had brought the incense. [b]

36 And the Lord said to Moses, 37 “and to Eleazar son of Aaron the priest: Take up the bronze fire pans from among the burned men, and scatter that foreign fire away from here; for they have been made holy — [c] 38 the fire pans of these men who sinned against their own souls. Beat them into plates as a covering for the altar, because they were brought before the Lord and made holy; and they have become a sign to the children of Israel.” 39 And Eleazar son of Aaron the priest took the bronze fire pans that the men who were burned had brought, and they were made into a covering for the altar — 40 a reminder to the children of Israel that no outsider who is not of the seed of Aaron should come near to burn incense before the Lord, so that he does not become like Korah and those who banded together with him, as the Lord had spoken to him by the hand of Moses. [d]

41 And the next day the children of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, 41 “You have killed the people of the Lord.” 42 And when the gathering banded together against Moses and Aaron, they rushed at the tent of witness; and the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared. 43 And Moses and Aaron went in, in front of the tent of witness. 44 And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron. He said, 45 “Get out of the middle of this gathering, and I will finish them off at once.” 45 And they fell on their faces. 46 And Moses said to Aaron, 46 “Take a fire pan and put fire on it from the altar, and put incense on it, and carry it quickly into the camp and make atonement for them; for anger has gone out from before the Lord, and it has begun to destroy the people.” 47 And Aaron took it, as Moses had told him, and ran into the middle of the gathering — the plague had already begun among the people — and he put on the incense and made atonement for the people. 48 And he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague stopped. 49 And those who died in the plague were 14,700, besides those who died over the business of Korah. 50 And Aaron went back to Moses at the door of the tent of witness, and the plague stopped.