Numbers 16
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 16
Korah’s Rebellion. 1 Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and some Reubenites, Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth took action 2 and rose up against Moses. With them were some of the people of Israel, two hundred fifty leaders of the assembly, well known in the assembly and men of renown. 3 They gathered together against Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! The whole assembly is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is in their midst. Why, then, do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?”[a]
4 When Moses heard this he fell on his face 5 and he spoke to Korah and his company, saying, “Tomorrow the Lord will reveal who belongs to him and who is holy when he allows him to approach him. He will allow the one whom he has chosen to approach him. 6 Do this: you and Korah and all his followers are to take censers 7 before the Lord tomorrow and put fire and incense in them. The man whom the Lord chooses shall be the holy one. You have gone too far, you Levites!”
8 Then Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you Levites, 9 is it not enough that the God of Israel has set you apart from the assembly of Israel to bring you onto himself, to minister in the tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before the assembly serving them? 10 He has brought you and all your brethren, the Levites, onto himself, and still you seek the priesthood too? 11 For this you and all your company have gathered together against the Lord. Who is Aaron that you should complain about him?”
12 Rebellion of Dathan and Abiram. Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab. They responded, “We will not come up! 13 Is it not enough that you brought us out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the desert? Now you are going to make yourself a prince over us? 14 Indeed, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor have you given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Are you going to gouge out the eyes of these men? No, we will not come up!”
15 Moses was very angry and said to the Lord, “Do not accept their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them, nor have I harmed any of them.” 16 Then Moses said to Korah, “You and your company are to appear before the Lord tomorrow, you, and them, and Aaron. 17 Each of you is to bring your censer and put incense in it. Each of you is to bring his censer before the Lord, two hundred and fifty censers. You and Aaron will also each bring a censer.” 18 [b]So each took his own censer, put fire and incense in them, and stood at the entrance to the tent of meeting along with Moses and Aaron. 19 The whole assembly gathered against them at the entrance to the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord appeared to the whole assembly.
20 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 21 “Move away from this assembly so that I can destroy them at once.” 22 But Moses and Aaron fell down upon their faces and said, “O God, O God of the spirits of all flesh,[c] will you be angry with the whole assembly because of the sin of one person?”
23 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 24 “Speak to the assembly, saying, ‘Draw back from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.’ ”
25 Punishment of Dathan and Abiram. Then Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, followed by the elders of Israel. 26 He spoke to the assembly, saying, “Draw back from the tents of these wicked men, and do not touch anything that belongs to them, or else you will be swept away in all their sin.” 27 So they backed away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram came out and stood in the entranceway of their tents along with their wives, their sons, and their little ones. 28 Moses said, “By this you shall know that the Lord sent me to do all these things, for they are not of my own doing. 29 If these men end up dying a natural death and are visited by every person’s fate, then the Lord has not sent me. 30 But if the Lord creates something new and the earth opens up and swallows them and all that belongs to them and they go down alive into Sheol,[d] then you will understand that they have treated the Lord with contempt.”
31 As soon as he finished saying these things, the ground split apart underneath them. 32 The earth opened up its mouth and swallowed them and their households as well as the men who were with Korah and all their possessions. 33 So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol and the earth closed over them. They perished from the assembly. 34 All of Israel that had gathered around them fled at their outcry for they said, “The earth might swallow us up too!” 35 Fire came out from the Lord and swallowed up the two hundred and fifty who had offered incense.
36 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 37 “Speak to Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, and have him gather up the censers[e] from the blaze for they are holy. Scatter the burning coals over there. 38 The censers of these sinners will bear witness against them. Hammer them into sheets to cover the altar, for they have been presented to the Lord and they are therefore holy. They will be a warning to the people of Israel.”
39 Eleazar took the bronze censers with which the men who had been destroyed by fire had made their offering, and they hammered them into sheets to cover the altar. 40 They were to be a reminder to the people of Israel that no one other than a descendant of Aaron was to draw near to offer incense to the Lord lest what happened to Korah and his company happen to them. He did this as the Lord had commanded him through Moses.
41 The very next day the whole assembly of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron saying, “You have killed the Lord’s people.” 42 When the assembly had gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron, they looked up toward the tent of meeting and, behold, the cloud covered it and the glory of the Lord appeared.
43 Moses and Aaron stood in front of the tent of meeting 44 and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 45 “Stand away from this assembly so that I can quickly put an end to them.” Then they fell down on their faces. 46 Moses said to Aaron, “Take a censer and put fire from the altar in it and put incense in it. Go out quickly to the assembly to make atonement for them, for anger has gone out from the Lord and the plague has begun.”
47 So Aaron did what Moses had commanded him and he ran out into the midst of the assembly. The plague had already begun among the people. He put in incense and made atonement for the people. 48 He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague halted. 49 There were fourteen thousand and seven hundred who died in the plague (not counting those who died on account of Korah). 50 Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the tent of meeting for the plague had been halted.
Footnotes
- Numbers 16:3 Several different rebellions are combined in this section. The one that is most prominent is based on Korah’s accusation against Moses and Aaron of abusing their roles as spiritual leaders.
- Numbers 16:18 Korah and 250 false priests who stood with Moses and Aaron with fire in their censers at the tent of meeting are fittingly put to death by the Lord’s fire (perhaps lightning).
- Numbers 16:22 God of the spirits of all flesh: the Creator of every living being.
- Numbers 16:30 Sheol: the dwelling place of the dead, where, according to the ancient idea of things, all the dead, without any distinction between the good and the wicked, lead a minimal kind of existence, as though they were shadows of themselves. Only as the Christian era draws near will teaching on the afterlife become clearer.
- Numbers 16:37 Gather up the censers: the bronze censers of the deceased sinful priests were hammered together into sheets for the altar as a reminder of their evil ways.
Numbers 16
New King James Version
Rebellion Against Moses and Aaron
16 Now (A)Korah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with (B)Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men; 2 and they rose up before Moses with some of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty leaders of the congregation, (C)representatives of the congregation, men of renown. 3 (D)They gathered together against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “You [a]take too much upon yourselves, for (E)all the congregation is holy, every one of them, (F)and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?”
4 So when Moses heard it, he (G)fell on his face; 5 and he spoke to Korah and all his company, saying, “Tomorrow morning the Lord will show who is (H)His and who is (I)holy,[b] and will cause him to come near to Him. That one whom He chooses He will cause to (J)come near to Him. 6 Do this: Take censers, Korah and all your company; 7 put fire in them and put incense in them before the Lord tomorrow, and it shall be that the man whom the Lord chooses is the holy one. You take too much upon yourselves, you sons of Levi!”
8 Then Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you sons of Levi: 9 Is it (K)a small thing to you that the God of Israel has (L)separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to Himself, to do the work of the tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before the congregation to serve them; 10 and that He has brought you near to Himself, you and all your brethren, the sons of Levi, with you? And are you seeking the priesthood also? 11 Therefore you and all your company are gathered together against the Lord. (M)And what is Aaron that you complain against him?”
12 And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come up! 13 Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of (N)a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, that you should (O)keep acting like a prince over us? 14 Moreover (P)you have not brought us into (Q)a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up!”
15 Then Moses was very angry, and said to the Lord, (R)“Do not [c]respect their offering. (S)I have not taken one donkey from them, nor have I hurt one of them.”
16 And Moses said to Korah, “Tomorrow, you and all your company be present (T)before the Lord—you and they, as well as Aaron. 17 Let each take his censer and put incense in it, and each of you bring his censer before the Lord, two hundred and fifty censers; both you and Aaron, each with his censer.” 18 So every man took his censer, put fire in it, laid incense on it, and stood at the door of the tabernacle of meeting with Moses and Aaron. 19 And Korah gathered all the congregation against them at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. Then (U)the glory of the Lord appeared to all the congregation.
20 And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 21 (V)“Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may (W)consume them in a moment.”
22 Then they (X)fell[d] on their faces, and said, “O God, (Y)the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and You be angry with all the (Z)congregation?”
23 So the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 24 “Speak to the congregation, saying, ‘Get away from the tents 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, (AA)“Depart now from the tents of these wicked men! Touch nothing of theirs, lest you be consumed in all their sins.” 27 So they got away from around the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram; and Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the door of their tents, with their wives, their sons, and their little (AB)children.
28 And Moses said: (AC)“By this you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them (AD)of my own will. 29 If these men die naturally like all men, or if they are (AE)visited by the common fate of all men, then the Lord has not sent me. 30 But if the Lord creates (AF)a new thing, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they (AG)go down alive into the pit, then you will understand that these men have rejected the Lord.”
31 (AH)Now it came to pass, as he finished speaking all these words, that the ground split apart under them, 32 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and (AI)all the men with Korah, with all their goods. 33 So they and all those with them went down alive into the pit; the earth closed over them, and they perished from among the assembly. 34 Then all Israel who were around them fled at their cry, for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us up also!”
35 And (AJ)a fire came out from the Lord and consumed the two hundred and fifty men who were offering incense.
36 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 37 “Tell Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, to pick up the censers out of the blaze, for (AK)they are holy, and scatter the fire some distance away. 38 The censers of (AL)these men who sinned [e]against their own souls, let them be made into hammered plates as a covering for the altar. Because they presented them before the Lord, therefore they are holy; (AM)and they shall be a sign to the children of Israel.” 39 So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers, which those who were burned up had presented, and they were hammered out as a covering on the altar, 40 to be a [f]memorial to the children of Israel (AN)that no outsider, who is not a descendant of Aaron, should come near to offer incense before the Lord, that he might not become like Korah and his companions, just as the Lord had said to him through Moses.
Complaints of the People
41 On the next day (AO)all the congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the people of the Lord.” 42 Now it happened, when the congregation had gathered against Moses and Aaron, that they turned toward the tabernacle of meeting; and suddenly (AP)the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared. 43 Then Moses and Aaron came before the tabernacle of meeting.
44 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 45 “Get away from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.”
And they fell on their faces.
46 So Moses said to Aaron, “Take a censer and put fire in it from the altar, put incense on it, and take it quickly to the congregation and make [g]atonement for them; (AQ)for wrath has gone out from the Lord. The plague has begun.” 47 Then Aaron took it as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the assembly; and already the plague had begun among the people. So he put in the incense and made atonement for the people. 48 And he stood between the dead and the living; so (AR)the plague was stopped. 49 Now those who died in the plague were fourteen thousand seven hundred, besides those who died in the Korah incident. 50 So Aaron returned to Moses at the door of the tabernacle of meeting, for the plague had stopped.
Footnotes
- Numbers 16:3 assume too much for
- Numbers 16:5 set aside for His use only
- Numbers 16:15 graciously regard
- Numbers 16:22 prostrated themselves
- Numbers 16:38 Or at the cost of their own lives
- Numbers 16:40 reminder
- Numbers 16:46 Lit. covering
Numbers 16
Evangelical Heritage Version
Korah, Dathan, and Abiram
16 Now Korah, who was the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, joined with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and with On, the son of Peleth. These three were descendants of Reuben. They gathered 2 two hundred fifty well-known Israelites, tribal chiefs of the community, appointed representatives who served on the council, and they rose up against Moses. 3 They assembled together against Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! For the entire community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them! Why do you lift yourselves up above the Lord’s assembly?”
4 When Moses heard this, he fell facedown. 5 He said to Korah and to all his followers, “In the morning the Lord will reveal which of you are his and which of you are holy, and he will have that person come near to him. The man he chooses, he will have that man come near to him. 6 Do this, Korah, you and all your followers. Take censers, 7 put fire in them, and place incense on them in the presence of the Lord tomorrow. The man whom the Lord chooses will be set aside as holy. You have gone too far, you Levites!”
8 Moses said to Korah, “Listen, you Levites! 9 Isn’t it enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the Israelite community and brought you near to himself to do the work of the Lord’s Dwelling and to stand before the congregation to minister to them, 10 and that he has brought you near, along with all your fellow Levites who are with you? Do you seek the priesthood also? 11 Therefore you and all your followers have gathered together against the Lord! As for Aaron, who is he that you should grumble against him?”
12 Moses sent to summon Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come! 13 Isn’t it enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to have us die in the wilderness? Must you also make yourself a ruler over us? 14 Besides this, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey. You have not given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you gouge out the eyes of these men? We will not come up.”
15 Moses was very angry and said to the Lord, “Do not pay attention to their offering. I have not taken a single donkey from them, nor have I wronged any one of them.”
16 Moses said to Korah, “Tomorrow, you and all your followers are to appear before the Lord—you and they, and Aaron. 17 Every one of them is to take his censer and put incense on it, and each man will present his censer before the Lord, two hundred fifty censers. You and Aaron also, each one of you, will present his censer.”
18 They each took their own censers, put fire in them, placed incense on them, and stood at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting with Moses and Aaron. 19 Korah assembled the entire community opposite Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. The glory of the Lord appeared to the entire assembly. 20 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, 21 “Separate yourselves from this assembly so that I may put an end to them instantly!”
22 But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, when one man sins, will you be angry against the entire community?”
23 The Lord spoke to Moses: 24 “Tell the assembly, ‘Move away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram!’” 25 So Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram. The elders of Israel followed him. 26 He told the assembly, “Move back from the tents of these wicked men. Do not touch anything that belongs to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins!” 27 So from every side, they moved away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the entrance to their tents with their wives, children, and little ones.
28 Moses said, “This is how you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these things and that all this was not just my idea.[a] 29 If these men die a death like everyone else and if they suffer the same fate that everyone does, then the Lord has not sent me. 30 But if the Lord creates something unheard of and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the grave,[b] you will know that these men have treated the Lord with contempt.”
31 As soon as he finished speaking all these words, the ground beneath them split open. 32 The earth opened its mouth and swallowed up everyone who was with Korah, along with their households and all their possessions. 33 So they and everything that belonged to them went down alive into the grave. The earth closed up over them, and they disappeared from the midst of the assembly. 34 Hearing their screams, all the Israelites who were around them fled, because they said, “The earth will swallow us up too!” 35 Fire went out from the Lord and consumed the two hundred fifty men who offered the incense.
36 The Lord spoke to Moses:[c] 37 “Tell Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest to remove the censers from the burning debris and scatter the fire far away, for the censers are holy. 38 Make the censers belonging to those who sinned at the cost of their own lives into hammered sheets for plating the altar, because they presented them before the Lord, and the censers are holy. They will serve as a sign to the Israelites.”
39 Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers, which had been presented by those who had been burned up by fire. They hammered them into plating for the altar 40 as a reminder to the Israelites that no unauthorized person, who is not from the descendants of Aaron, should come near to burn incense before the Lord and become like Korah and his followers. Eleazar the priest did just as the Lord said to him through Moses.
41 But on the next day the entire Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. They said, “You have killed the people of the Lord!”
42 When the community assembled together against Moses and Aaron and turned toward the Tent of Meeting, the cloud covered it, and the Glory of the Lord appeared. 43 Moses and Aaron went in front of the Tent of Meeting. 44 The Lord spoke to Moses: 45 “Get away from this community so that I may put an end to them instantly!” Moses and Aaron fell facedown to the ground.
46 Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, put fire from the altar in it, place incense on it, go quickly to the community, and make atonement for them, because wrath has gone out from the Lord! The plague has begun.”
47 Aaron did as Moses said and ran into the middle of the assembly. The plague had already begun among the people. He put the incense on his censer and made atonement for the people. 48 He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped. 49 Now those who died by the plague totaled 14,700, besides those who died because of the offense of Korah. 50 Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, and the plague was stopped.
Footnotes
- Numbers 16:28 Literally not from my heart
- Numbers 16:30 Hebrew sheol. Also in verse 33.
- Numbers 16:36 English verses 16:36-50 equal Hebrew verses 17:1-15. English verses 17:1-13 are equal to Hebrew verses 17:16-28.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.