Korah, Dathan and Abiram

16 Korah was the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath. Kohath was the son of Levi. Korah and certain men from the tribe of Reuben turned against Moses. The men from Reuben were Dathan, Abiram and On. Dathan and Abiram were the sons of Eliab. On was the son of Peleth. ² All those men rose up against Moses. And 250 men of Israel joined them. All of them were known as leaders in the community. They had been appointed as members of the ruling body. ³ They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron. They said to Moses and Aaron, “You have gone too far! The whole community is holy. Every one in it is holy. And the Lord is with them. So why do you put yourselves above the Lord’s people?”

⁴ When Moses heard what they said, he fell with his face to the ground. ⁵ Then he spoke to Korah and all his followers. He said, “In the morning the Lord will show who belongs to him. He will show who is holy. He’ll bring that person near him. He’ll bring the man he chooses near him. ⁶ Korah, here’s what you and all your followers must do. Get some shallow cups for burning incense. ⁷ Tomorrow put burning coals and incense in them. Offer it to the Lord. The man the Lord chooses will be the one who is holy. You Levites have gone too far!”

²⁸ Then Moses said, “What is about to happen wasn’t my idea. The Lord has sent me to do everything I’m doing. Here is how you will know I’m telling you the truth. ²⁹ These men won’t die a natural death. Something will happen to them that doesn’t usually happen to people. If what I’m telling you doesn’t happen, then you will know that the Lord hasn’t sent me. ³⁰ But the Lord will make something totally new happen. The ground will open its mouth and swallow them up. It will swallow up everything that belongs to them. They will be buried alive. When that happens, you will know that these men have disrespected the Lord.”

³¹ As soon as Moses finished saying all these words, what he had said came true. The ground under them broke open. ³² It opened its mouth. It swallowed up those men. In fact, it swallowed up everyone who lived in their houses. It swallowed all Korah’s men. And it swallowed up everything they owned. ³³ They went down into the grave alive. Everything they owned went down with them. The ground closed over them and they died. And so they disappeared from the community. ³⁴ All the Israelites around them heard their cries. They ran away from them. They shouted, “The ground is going to swallow us up too!”

³⁵ Then the Lord sent down fire. It burned up the 250 men offering the incense.

⁴¹ The next day the whole community of Israel told Moses and Aaron they weren’t happy with them. “You have killed the Lord’s people,” they said.

⁴² The community gathered together to oppose Moses and Aaron. The people walked toward the tent of meeting. Suddenly the cloud covered it. The glory of the Lord appeared. ⁴³ Then Moses and Aaron went to the front of the tent of meeting. ⁴⁴ The Lord said to Moses, ⁴⁵ “Get away from these people. Then I can put an end to all of them at once.” And Moses and Aaron fell with their faces to the ground.

⁴⁶ Moses said to Aaron, “Take your incense cup. Put incense in it. And put burning coals from the altar in it. Then hurry to the people and pay for their sin. The Lord has begun to show his anger. The plague has started.” ⁴⁷ So Aaron did as Moses said. He ran in among the people. The plague had already started among them. But Aaron offered the incense and paid for their sin. ⁴⁸ He stood between those alive and those dead. And the plague stopped. ⁴⁹ But 14,700 people died from the plague. That doesn’t include those who had died because of what Korah did. ⁵⁰ Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the tent of meeting. The plague had stopped.