Numbers 16
GOD’S WORD Translation
Korah’s Rebellion
16 Korah (son of Izhar), Dathan and Abiram (sons of Eliab), and On (son of Peleth) dared to challenge Moses.[a] (Korah was a descendant of Kohath and Levi. Dathan, Abiram, and On were descendants of Reuben.) 2 These four men were joined by 250 Israelite men, well-known leaders of the community, chosen by the assembly. 3 They came together to confront Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You’ve gone far enough! Everyone in the whole community is holy, and the Lord is among them. Why do you set yourselves above the Lord’s assembly?”
4 As soon as Moses heard this, he bowed with his face touching the ground. 5 Then he said to Korah and all his followers, “In the morning the Lord will show who belongs to him, who is holy, and who it is that he will allow to come near him. Only the person the Lord chooses will be allowed to come near him. 6 Korah, you and all your followers must do this tomorrow: Take incense burners, 7 and put burning coals and incense in them in the Lord’s presence. Then the Lord will choose the man who is holy. You’ve gone far enough!”
8 Moses also said to Korah, “Listen, you Levites! 9 Isn’t it enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the rest of the community of Israel? The Lord has brought you near himself to do the work for his tent and stand in front of the community to serve them. 10 He has brought you and all the other Levites near himself, but now you demand to be priests. 11 So you and all your followers have joined forces against the Lord! Who is Aaron that you should complain about him?”
12 Then Moses sent for Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab. But they said, “We won’t come! 13 Isn’t it enough that you brought us out of a land flowing with milk and honey only to kill us in the desert? Do you also have to order us around? 14 Certainly you haven’t brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us any fields and vineyards to own. Do you think you can still pull the wool over our eyes? We won’t come.”
15 Moses became angry and said to the Lord, “Don’t accept their offering. I haven’t taken anything from them, not even a donkey. And I haven’t mistreated any of them.”
16 Moses said to Korah, “Tomorrow you and all your followers must come into the Lord’s presence. Aaron will also be there with you. 17 Each man will take his incense burner and put incense in it. They will offer all 250 incense burners to the Lord. Then you and Aaron offer your incense burners.”
18 So each man took his incense burner, put burning coals and incense in it, and stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 19 When Korah had gathered all his followers—those who opposed Moses and Aaron—at the entrance to the tent of meeting, the glory of the Lord appeared to the whole group.
20 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 21 “Move away from these men, and I’ll destroy them in an instant.” 22 Immediately, they bowed with their faces touching the ground and said, “O God, you are the God who gives the breath of life to everyone! If one man sins, will you be angry with the whole community?”
23 Then the Lord said to Moses, 24 “Tell the community: Move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”
25 Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the leaders of Israel followed him. 26 He said to the community, “Move away from the tents of these wicked men. Don’t touch anything that belongs to them, or you’ll be swept away because of all their sins.” 27 So they moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram had come out and were standing at the entrances to their tents with their wives and children.
28 Moses said, “This is how you will know that the Lord sent me to do all these things and that it wasn’t my idea: 29 If these men die like all other people—if they die a natural death—then the Lord hasn’t sent me. 30 But if the Lord does something totally new—if the ground opens up, swallows them and everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive to their graves—then you’ll know that these men have treated the Lord with contempt.”
31 As soon as he had finished saying all this, the ground under them split, 32 and the earth opened up to swallow them, their families, the followers of Korah, and all their property. 33 They went down alive to their graves with everything that belonged to them. The ground covered them, and so they disappeared from the assembly. 34 All the Israelites around them ran away when they heard their screams. They thought the ground would swallow them, too.
35 Fire came from the Lord and consumed the 250 men who were offering incense.[b]
36 Then the Lord said to Moses, 37 “Tell Eleazar, son of the priest Aaron, to take the incense burners out of the fire and scatter the coals and incense somewhere else, because the incense burners have become holy. 38 The incense burners of these men who sinned and lost their lives are holy, because they were offered to the Lord. Hammer them into thin metal sheets to cover the altar. This will be a sign to the Israelites.”
39 So the priest Eleazar took the bronze incense burners which had been brought by those who had been burned to death. The incense burners were then hammered into thin metal sheets to cover the altar, 40 following the command that the Lord had given through Moses. The bronze-covered altar will remind Israel that no one but a descendant of Aaron can come near to burn incense to the Lord. Everyone else will die like Korah and his followers.
41 The next day the whole community of Israel complained to Moses and Aaron. They said, “You have killed the Lord’s people.” 42 The community came together to confront Moses and Aaron. When they turned toward the tent of meeting, they saw the smoke covering it, and 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, and let me destroy them in an instant!” Immediately, they bowed with their faces touching the ground.
46 Moses said to Aaron, “Take your incense burner, put burning coals from the altar and incense in it, and go quickly into the community to make peace with the Lord for the people. The Lord is showing his anger; a plague has started.”
47 Aaron took his incense burner, as Moses told him, and ran into the middle of the assembly, because the plague had already begun among the people. He put incense on the incense burner to make peace with the Lord for the people. 48 He stood between those who had died and those who were still alive, and the plague stopped. 49 Still, 14,700 died from the plague in addition to those who had died because of Korah. 50 By the time Aaron came back to Moses at the entrance to the tent of meeting, the plague had stopped.
Footnotes
- 16:1 The beginning of verse 2 (in Hebrew) has been placed in verse 1 to express the complex Hebrew sentence structure more clearly in English.
- 16:35 Numbers 16:36–50 in English Bibles is Numbers 17:1–15 in the Hebrew Bible.
Numbers 16
International Children’s Bible
Korah, Dathan, Abiram and On
16 Korah, Dathan, Abiram and On turned against Moses. (Korah was the son of Izhar. Izhar was the son of Kohath, and Kohath was the son of Levi. Dathan and Abiram were brothers, the sons of Eliab. And On was the son of Peleth.) Dathan, Abiram and On were from the tribe of Reuben. 2 These 4 men gathered 250 other Israelite men and challenged Moses. They were well-known leaders chosen by the community. 3 They came as a group to speak to Moses and Aaron. The men said, “You have gone too far. All the people are holy. Every one of them is holy. And the Lord is with them. So why do you put yourselves above all the people?”
4 When Moses heard this, he bowed facedown. 5 Then he said to Korah and all his followers: “Tomorrow morning the Lord will show who belongs to him. The Lord will bring the one who is holy near to him. The Lord will bring to himself the person he chooses. 6 So Korah, you and all your followers do this: Get some pans for burning incense. 7 Tomorrow put fire and incense in them. Then take them before the Lord. He will choose the man who is holy. You Levites have gone too far.”
8 Moses also said to Korah, “Listen, you Levites. 9 The God of Israel has separated you from the rest of the Israelites. He brought you near to himself. You do the work in the Lord’s Holy Tent. You stand before all the Israelites and serve them. Isn’t that enough? 10 The Lord has brought you and all your fellow Levites near to himself. Now you want to be priests. 11 You and your followers have joined together against the Lord. Your complaint is not against Aaron.”
12 Then Moses called Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab. But they said, “We will not come! 13 You have brought us out of a land where much food grows. You brought us to the desert to kill us. And now you want to order us around. 14 You haven’t brought us into a land where much food grows. You haven’t given us any land with fields and vineyards. Will you put out the eyes of these men? No! We will not come!”
15 Then Moses became very angry. He said to the Lord, “Don’t accept their gifts. I have not taken anything from them, not even a donkey. I have not done wrong to any of them.”
16 Then Moses said to Korah, “You and all your followers must stand before the Lord tomorrow. And Aaron will stand there with you and them. 17 Each of you must take your pan and put incense in it. Present these 250 pans before the Lord. You and Aaron must also present your pans.” 18 So each man got his pan and put burning incense in it. Then they stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the Meeting Tent. 19 Korah gathered all his followers who were against Moses and Aaron. And they stood at the entrance to the Meeting Tent. Then the glory of the Lord appeared to everyone.
20 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 21 “Move away from these men. In a minute I will destroy them.”
22 But Moses and Aaron bowed facedown. They cried out, “God, you are the God over the spirits of all people. Please don’t be angry with this whole group. Only one man has really sinned.”
23 Then the Lord said to Moses, 24 “Tell everyone to move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.”
25 Moses stood and went to Dathan and Abiram. The elders of Israel followed him. 26 Moses warned the people, “Move away from the tents of these evil men! Don’t touch anything of theirs. If you do, you will be destroyed because of their sins.” 27 So they moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram were standing outside their tents with their wives, children and little babies.
28 Then Moses said, “Now you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these things. It was not my idea. 29 If these men die a normal death—the way men usually die—then the Lord did not really send me. 30 But if the Lord does something new, you will know they have insulted the Lord. The earth will open and swallow them. Alive, they will go to where the dead are. And everything that belongs to them will go with them.”
31 When Moses finished saying these things, the ground under the men opened up. 32 The earth seemed to open its mouth and swallow them. All their families, all Korah’s men and everything they owned went down. 33 They were buried alive, going to where the dead are. And everything they owned went with them. Then the earth closed over them. They died and were gone from the community. 34 The people of Israel around them heard their screams. They ran away and said, “The earth will swallow us, too!”
35 Then a fire came down from the Lord. It destroyed the 250 men who had presented the incense.
36 The Lord said to Moses, 37 “Tell Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest, to take all the incense pans out of the fire. Have him scatter the coals. But the incense pans are still holy. 38 These men sinned and lost their lives. Take their pans and hammer them into flat sheets. Cover the altar with them. They are holy because they were presented to the Lord. It will be a sign to the Israelites.”
39 So Eleazar the priest gathered all the bronze pans. These were the pans brought by the men who were burned up. Eleazar had the pans hammered into flat sheets to put on the altar. 40 This is what the Lord had commanded him through Moses. These sheets were to remind the Israelites that only descendants of Aaron should burn incense before the Lord. Anyone else would die like Korah and his followers.
Aaron Saves the People
41 The next day all the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron. They said, “You have killed the Lord’s people.”
42 The people gathered to complain against Moses and Aaron. But when they turned toward the Meeting Tent, the cloud covered it. The glory of the Lord appeared. 43 Then Moses and Aaron went in front of the Meeting Tent.
44 The Lord said to Moses, 45 “Move away from these people. In a minute I am going to destroy them.” So Moses and Aaron bowed facedown.
46 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Get your pan. Put fire from the altar and incense in it. Hurry to the people and remove their sin. The Lord is angry with them. The sickness has already started.” 47 So Aaron did as Moses said. He ran to the middle of all the people. The sickness had already started among them. So Aaron offered the incense to remove their sin. 48 He stood between the living and the dead. And the sickness stopped there. 49 But 14,700 people died from that sickness. There were also those who died because of Korah. 50 Then Aaron went back to Moses at the entrance to the Meeting Tent. The terrible sickness had been stopped.
Copyright © 1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God’s Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
