Numbers 16

¹ Now Korah son of Izhar, son of Kohath the Levite, and the Reubenites Dathan and Abiram sons ofEliab, and On son of Peleth were proud

² and rebel ed against Moses with two hundred and fifty Israelites who were leaders of the community,prominent at the solemn feasts, men of repute.

³ These banded together against Moses and Aaron and said to them, 'You take too much onyourselves! The whole community, al its members, are consecrated, and Yahweh lives among them. Why setyourselves higher than Yahweh's community?'

⁴ On hearing this, Moses threw himself on his face.

⁵ Then he said to Korah and al in his party, 'Tomorrow morning Yahweh wil reveal who is his, who theconsecrated man whom he wil al ow to approach him. The one he al ows to approach is the one whom he haschosen.

⁶ This is what you must do: take the censers of Korah and al in his party,

⁷ put fire in them and put incense in them before Yahweh tomorrow, and the one whom Yahwehchooses wil be the consecrated man. Levites, you take too much on yourselves!'

⁸ Moses then said to Korah, 'Now listen, you Levites!

⁹ Is it not enough for you that the God of Israel has singled you out of the community of Israel, andcal ed you to be near him, to serve in Yahweh's Dwel ing and to represent the community by officiating on itsbehalf?

¹⁰ He has cal ed you to be near him, you and al your brother Levites with you, and now you want to bepriests as wel !

¹¹ For which reason, you and al in your party have banded together against Yahweh himself: for whatis Aaron, that you should mutter against him?'

¹² Moses then summoned Dathan and Abiram sons of Eliab. They replied, 'We wil not come.

¹³ Is it not enough for you to have brought us away from a country flowing with milk and honey to kil usin the desert, without your making yourself our absolute ruler?

¹⁴ What is more, you have not brought us to a country flowing with milk and honey and you have notgiven us fields and vineyards for our heritage. Do you think you can hoodwink these people? We wil not come.'

¹⁵ Moses flew into a rage and said to Yahweh, 'Disregard their cereal offering! I have not taken somuch as a donkey from them, nor have I wronged any of them.'

¹⁶ Moses said to Korah, 'You and all your party, come before Yahweh tomorrow, you and they, andAaron too.

¹⁷ Each wil take his censer, put incense in it, and bring his censer before Yahweh -- two hundred andfifty censers. You and Aaron too wil each bring his censer.'

¹⁸ Each of them took his censer, put fire in it and placed incense on it, and stood at the entrance to theTent of Meeting with Moses and Aaron.

¹⁹ Then, Korah having assembled the whole community to confront them at the entrance to the Tent ofMeeting, the glory of Yahweh appeared to the whole community.

²⁰ Yahweh then spoke to Moses and Aaron. He said,

²¹ 'Get away from this community. I am going to destroy them here and now.'

²² They threw themselves on their faces and cried out, 'O God, God of the spirits that give life to everyliving thing, wil you be angry with the whole community because one man has sinned?'

²³ Yahweh then said to Moses,

²⁴ 'Speak to the community and say, "Stand wel clear of Korah's tent." '

²⁵ Moses stood up and went to Dathan and Abiram; the elders of Israel fol owed him.

²⁶ He spoke to the community and said, 'Stand away, I tel you, from the tents of these sinners, andtouch nothing that belongs to them, for fear that with all their sins you too wil be swept away.'

²⁷ So they moved away from Korah's tent. Dathan and Abiram had come out and were standing attheir tent doors, with their wives, their sons and their little ones.

²⁸ Moses said, 'This is how you will know that Yahweh himself has sent me to perform al these tasksand that I am not doing them of my own accord.

²⁹ If these people die a natural death such as people commonly die, then Yahweh has not sent me.

³⁰ But if Yahweh does something utterly new, if the earth should open its mouth and swal ow them andal their belongings, so that they go down alive to Sheol, then you wil know that they held Yahweh in contempt.'

³¹ The moment he finished saying all this, the ground split apart under their feet,

³² the earth opened its mouth and swal owed them, their families, all Korah's people and al theirproperty.

³³ They went down alive to Sheol with al their belongings. The earth closed over them and theydisappeared in the middle of the community.

³⁴ At their cries, all the Israelites round them took to their heels, saying, 'We do not want the earth toswal ow us too!'

³⁵ Fire then shot out from Yahweh and consumed the two hundred and fifty men offering incense.