²⁴ “Say to the congregation, Get away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”

²⁵ Then Moses rose and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. ²⁶ And he spoke to the congregation, saying, ^(A)“Depart, please, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be swept away with all their sins.” ²⁷ So they got away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. And Dathan and Abiram came out and stood ^(B)at the door of their tents, together with their wives, their sons, and their little ones. ²⁸ And Moses said, “Hereby you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, and that it has not been ^(C)of my own accord. ²⁹ If these men die as all men die, or if they are visited by the fate of all mankind, ^(D)then the Lord has not sent me. ³⁰ But if the Lord creates something new, and ^(E)the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they ^(F)go down alive into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised the Lord.”

^31 (G)And as soon as he had finished speaking all these words, the ground under them split apart. ³² And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and ^(H)all the people who belonged to Korah and all their goods. ³³ So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed over them, and ^(I)they perished from the midst of the assembly. ³⁴ And all Israel who were around them fled at their cry, for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us up!” ³⁵ And ^(J)fire came out from the Lord and consumed ^(K)the 250 men offering the incense.

^36 [a] Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ³⁷ “Tell Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest to take up the censers out of the blaze. Then scatter the fire far and wide, for they have become holy. ³⁸ As for the censers of ^(L)these men who have sinned at the cost of their lives, let them be made into hammered plates as a covering for the altar, for they offered them before the Lord, and they became holy. ^(M)Thus they shall be a sign to the people of Israel.” ³⁹ So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers, which those who were burned had offered, and they were hammered out as a covering for the altar, ⁴⁰ to be a reminder to the people of Israel, so ^(N)that no outsider, who is not of the descendants of Aaron, should draw near to burn incense before the Lord, lest he become like Korah and his company—as the Lord said to him through Moses.

⁴¹ But on the next day all the congregation of the people of Israel ^(O)grumbled against Moses and against Aaron, saying, “You have killed the people of the Lord.” ⁴² And when the congregation had assembled against Moses and against Aaron, they turned toward the tent of meeting. And behold, ^(P)the cloud covered it, and ^(Q)the glory of the Lord appeared. ⁴³ And Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting, ⁴⁴ and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ^45 (R)“Get away from the midst of this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.” ^(S)And they fell on their faces. ⁴⁶ And Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, and put fire on it from off the altar and lay incense on it and carry it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, for ^(T)wrath has gone out from the Lord; the plague has begun.” ⁴⁷ So Aaron took it as Moses said and ran into the midst of the assembly. And behold, 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 ^(U)the plague was stopped. ⁴⁹ Now those who died in the plague were 14,700, ^(V)besides those who died in the affair of Korah. ⁵⁰ And Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the tent of meeting, when the plague was stopped.

The Ammonites Disgrace David's Men

19 ^(A)Now after this Nahash the king of the Ammonites died, and his son reigned in his place. ² And David said, “I will deal kindly with Hanun the son of Nahash, for his father dealt kindly with me.” So David sent messengers to console him concerning his father. And David's servants came to the land of the Ammonites to Hanun to console him. ³ But the princes of the Ammonites said to Hanun, “Do you think, because David has sent comforters to you, that he is honoring your father? Have not his servants come to you to search and to overthrow and to spy out the land?” ⁴ So Hanun took David's servants and shaved them and cut off their garments in the middle, at their hips, and sent them away; ⁵ and they departed. When David was told concerning the men, he sent messengers to meet them, for the men were greatly ashamed. And the king said, “Remain at Jericho until your beards have grown and then return.”

⁶ When the Ammonites saw that they had become a stench to David, Hanun and the Ammonites sent 1,000 talents^[a] of silver to hire chariots and horsemen ^(B)from Mesopotamia, from Aram-maacah, and from ^(C)Zobah. ⁷ They hired 32,000 chariots and the king of Maacah with his army, who came and encamped before ^(D)Medeba. And the Ammonites were mustered from their cities and came to battle. ⁸ When David heard of it, he sent Joab and all the army of the mighty men. ⁹ And the Ammonites came out and drew up in battle array at the entrance of the city, and the kings who had come were by themselves in the open country.

Ammonites and Syrians Defeated

¹⁰ When Joab saw that the battle was set against him both in front and in the rear, he chose some of the best men of Israel and arrayed them against the Syrians. ¹¹ The rest of his men he put in the charge of ^(E)Abishai his brother, and they were arrayed against the Ammonites. ¹² And he said, “If the Syrians are too strong for me, then you shall help me, but if the Ammonites are too strong for you, then I will help you. ¹³ Be strong, and let us use our strength for our people and for the cities of our God, and may the Lord do what seems good to him.” ¹⁴ So Joab and the people who were with him drew near before the Syrians for battle, and they fled before him. ¹⁵ And when the Ammonites saw that the Syrians fled, they likewise fled before ^(F)Abishai, Joab's brother, and entered the city. Then Joab came to Jerusalem.

¹⁶ But when the Syrians saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they sent messengers and brought out the Syrians who were beyond the Euphrates,^[b] with ^(G)Shophach the commander of the army of ^(H)Hadadezer at their head. ¹⁷ And when it was told to David, he gathered all Israel together and crossed the Jordan and came to them and drew up his forces against them. And when David set the battle in array against the Syrians, they fought with him. ¹⁸ And the Syrians fled before Israel, and David killed of the Syrians the men of ^(I)7,000 chariots and 40,000 ^(J)foot soldiers, and put to death also ^(K)Shophach the commander of their army. ¹⁹ And when the servants of ^(L)Hadadezer saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they made peace with David and became subject to him. So the Syrians were not willing to save the Ammonites anymore.

The Gate for the Prince

44 Then he brought me ^(A)back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, ^(B)which faces east. And it was shut. ² And the Lord said to me, “This gate shall remain shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for ^(C)the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered by it. Therefore it shall remain shut. ³ Only ^(D)the prince may sit in it ^(E)to eat bread before the Lord. He ^(F)shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gate, and shall go out by the same way.”

⁴ Then he brought me by way of ^(G)the north gate to the front of the temple, and I looked, and behold, ^(H)the glory of the Lord filled the temple of the Lord. And ^(I)I fell on my face. ⁵ And the Lord said to me, ^(J)“Son of man, mark well, ^(K)see with your eyes, ^(L)and hear with your ears all that I shall tell you concerning ^(M)all the statutes of the temple of the Lord and all its laws. And mark well ^(N)the entrance to the temple and all the exits from the sanctuary. ⁶ And say to ^(O)the rebellious house,^[a] to the ^(P)house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: O house of Israel, ^(Q)enough of all your abominations, ⁷ in ^(R)admitting foreigners, ^(S)uncircumcised in heart and flesh, to be in my sanctuary, ^(T)profaning my temple, when you offer to me my food, the fat and the blood. You^[b] have broken my covenant, in addition to all your abominations. ⁸ And ^(U)you have not kept charge of my holy things, but you have set others to keep my charge for you in my sanctuary.

⁹ “Thus says the Lord God: ^(V)No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, of all the foreigners who are among the people of Israel, shall enter my sanctuary. ¹⁰ But ^(W)the Levites who went far from me, going astray from me after their idols ^(X)when Israel went astray, ^(Y)shall bear their punishment.^{[c] 11} They shall be ^(Z)ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight ^(AA)at the gates of the temple and ministering in the temple. They shall slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and ^(AB)they shall stand before the people, to minister to them. ¹² Because they ministered to them before their idols and became ^(AC)a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, therefore I have ^(AD)sworn concerning them, declares the Lord God, and they shall bear their punishment. ¹³ They ^(AE)shall not come near to me, to serve me as priest, nor come near any of my holy things and the things that are most holy, but ^(AF)they shall bear their shame and the abominations that they have committed. ¹⁴ Yet I will appoint them to keep ^(AG)charge of the temple, ^(AH)to do all its service and all that is to be done in it.

My Soul Thirsts for You

A Psalm of David.