Numbers 16 - New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB1995)

Korah’s Rebellion

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 action, ² and they rose up before Moses, ^[a]together with some of the sons of Israel, two hundred and fifty leaders of the congregation, ^[b](C)chosen in the assembly, men of renown. ³ They assembled together ^(D)against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “^[c](E)You have gone far enough, for all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and ^(F)the Lord is in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?”

⁴ When Moses heard this, ^(G)he fell on his face; ⁵ and he spoke to Korah and all his company, saying, “Tomorrow morning the Lord will show who is His, and ^(H)who is holy, and will bring him near to Himself; even ^(I)the one whom He will choose, He will bring near to Himself. ⁶ Do this: take censers for yourselves, Korah and all ^[d]your company, ⁷ and put fire in them, and lay incense upon them in the presence of the Lord tomorrow; and the man whom the Lord chooses shall be the one who is holy. ^[e](J)You have gone far enough, you sons of Levi!”

⁸ Then Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you sons of Levi, ^{9 (K)}is it ^[f]not enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the rest of the congregation of Israel, ^(L)to bring you near to Himself, to do the service of the tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them; ¹⁰ and that He has brought you near, Korah, and all your brothers, sons of Levi, with you? And are you ^(M)seeking for the priesthood also? ¹¹ Therefore you and all your company are gathered together ^(N)against the Lord; but as for Aaron, ^[g]who is he that ^(O)you grumble against him?”

¹² Then Moses sent ^[h]a summons to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab; but they said, “We will not come up. ¹³ Is it ^[i]not enough that you have brought us up out of a ^(P)land flowing with milk and honey ^(Q)to have us die in the wilderness, but you would also lord it over us? ¹⁴ Indeed, you have not brought us ^(R)into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor have you given us an inheritance of ^(S)fields and vineyards. Would you ^[j](T)put out the eyes of ^[k]these men? We will not come up!”

¹⁵ Then Moses became very angry and said to the Lord, “^(U)Do not regard their offering! ^(V)I have not taken a single donkey from them, nor have I done harm to any of them.” ¹⁶ Moses said to Korah, “You and all your company be present before the Lord tomorrow, both you and they along with Aaron. ¹⁷ Each of you take his firepan and put incense on ^[l]it, and each of you bring his censer before the Lord, two hundred and fifty firepans; also you and Aaron shall each bring his firepan.” ¹⁸ So they each took his own censer and put fire on ^[m]it, and laid incense on ^[n]it; and they stood at the doorway of the tent of meeting, with Moses and Aaron. ¹⁹ Thus Korah assembled all the congregation against them at the doorway of the tent of meeting. And ^(W)the glory of the Lord appeared to all the congregation.

²⁰ Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ²¹ “^(X)Separate yourselves from among this congregation, ^(Y)that I may consume them instantly.” ²² But they fell on their faces and said, “O God, ^(Z)God of the spirits of all flesh, ^(AA)when one man sins, will You be angry with the entire congregation?”

²³ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁴ “Speak to the congregation, saying, ‘^(AB)Get back from around the dwellings of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.’”

²⁵ Then Moses arose and went to Dathan and Abiram, with the elders of Israel following him, ²⁶ and he spoke to the congregation, saying, “^(AC)Depart now from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing that belongs to them, ^(AD)or you will be swept away in all their sin.” ²⁷ So they got back from around the dwellings of Korah, Dathan and Abiram; and Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the doorway of their tents, along with their wives and ^(AE)their sons and their little ones. ²⁸ Moses said, “By this you shall know that ^(AF)the Lord has sent me to do all these deeds; for this is not ^[o]my doing. ²⁹ If these men die ^[p]the death of all men or ^[q]if they suffer the ^(AG)fate of all men, then the Lord has not sent me. ³⁰ But ^(AH)if the Lord ^[r]brings about an entirely new thing and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that is theirs, and they ^(AI)descend alive into ^[s]Sheol, then you will understand that these men have spurned the Lord.”

³¹ As he finished speaking all these words, the ground that was under them split open; ³² and ^(AJ)the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and ^(AK)all the men who belonged to Korah with their possessions. ³³ So they and all that belonged to them went down alive to ^[t]Sheol; and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly. ³⁴ All Israel who were around them fled at their ^[u]outcry, for they said, “The earth may swallow us up!” ^{35 (AL)}Fire also came forth from the Lord and consumed the ^(AM)two hundred and fifty men who were offering the incense.

^{36 [v]}Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ³⁷ “Say to Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, that he shall take up the censers out of the midst of the ^[w]blaze, for they are holy; and you scatter the ^[x]burning coals abroad. ³⁸ As for the censers of these ^[y]men who have sinned at the cost of their lives, let them be made into hammered sheets for a plating of the altar, since they did present them before the Lord and they are holy; and ^(AN)they shall be for a sign to the sons of Israel.” ³⁹ So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers which the men who were burned had offered, and they hammered them out as a plating for the altar, ⁴⁰ as a ^[z]reminder to the sons of Israel that ^(AO)no ^[aa]layman who is not of the ^[ab]descendants of Aaron should come near ^(AP)to burn incense before the Lord; so that he will not become like Korah and his company—just as the Lord had spoken to him ^[ac]through Moses.

Murmuring and Plague

⁴¹ But on the next day all the congregation of the sons of Israel ^(AQ)grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You are the ones who have caused the death of the Lord’s people.” ⁴² It came about, however, when the congregation had assembled against Moses and Aaron, that they turned toward the tent of meeting, and behold, the cloud covered it and ^(AR)the glory of the Lord appeared. ⁴³ Then Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting, ⁴⁴ and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ⁴⁵ “^[ad](AS)Get away from among this congregation, that I may consume them instantly.” Then they fell on their faces. ⁴⁶ Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer and put in it fire from the altar, and lay incense on it; then bring it quickly to the congregation and ^(AT)make atonement for them, for ^(AU)wrath has gone forth from the Lord, the plague has begun!” ⁴⁷ Then Aaron took it as Moses had spoken, and ran into the midst of the assembly, for behold, the plague had begun among the people. ^(AV)So he put on the incense and made atonement for the people. ⁴⁸ He took his stand between the dead and the living, so that the plague was checked. ^{49 (AW)}But those who died by the plague were 14,700, besides those who ^(AX)died on account of Korah. ⁵⁰ Then Aaron returned to Moses at the doorway of the tent of meeting, for the plague had been checked.

Footnotes

1. Numbers 16:2 Lit and men from
2. Numbers 16:2 Lit called ones of
3. Numbers 16:3 Lit It is much for you
4. Numbers 16:6 Lit his
5. Numbers 16:7 Lit It is much for you
6. Numbers 16:9 Or too little for you
7. Numbers 16:11 Lit what
8. Numbers 16:12 Lit to call
9. Numbers 16:13 Lit a little thing
10. Numbers 16:14 Lit bore out
11. Numbers 16:14 Lit those
12. Numbers 16:17 Lit them
13. Numbers 16:18 Lit them
14. Numbers 16:18 Lit them
15. Numbers 16:28 Lit from my heart
16. Numbers 16:29 Lit like the death
17. Numbers 16:29 Lit the visitation of all men be visited upon them
18. Numbers 16:30 Lit creates a new creation
19. Numbers 16:30 I.e. the nether world
20. Numbers 16:33 I.e. the nether world
21. Numbers 16:34 Or voice
22. Numbers 16:36 Ch 17:1 in Heb
23. Numbers 16:37 Or place of burning
24. Numbers 16:37 Lit the fire
25. Numbers 16:38 Lit sinners against their lives
26. Numbers 16:40 Or memorial
27. Numbers 16:40 Lit stranger
28. Numbers 16:40 Lit seed
29. Numbers 16:40 Lit by the hand of
30. Numbers 16:45 Or Arise

Cross references

1. Numbers 16:1 : Ex 6:21; Jude 11
2. Numbers 16:1 : Num 26:9; Deut 11:6
3. Numbers 16:2 : Num 1:16; 26:9
4. Numbers 16:3 : Num 12:2; Ps 106:16
5. Numbers 16:3 : Num 16:7
6. Numbers 16:3 : Num 5:3
7. Numbers 16:4 : Num 14:5
8. Numbers 16:5 : Lev 10:3; Ps 65:4
9. Numbers 16:5 : Num 17:5, 8
10. Numbers 16:7 : Num 16:3
11. Numbers 16:9 : Is 7:13
12. Numbers 16:9 : Num 3:6, 9; Deut 10:8
13. Numbers 16:10 : Num 3:10; 18:1-7
14. Numbers 16:11 : Ex 16:7
15. Numbers 16:11 : 1 Cor 10:10
16. Numbers 16:13 : Ex 16:3; Num 11:4-6
17. Numbers 16:13 : Num 14:2, 3
18. Numbers 16:14 : Num 13:27; 14:8
19. Numbers 16:14 : Ex 22:5; 23:10, 11; Num 20:5
20. Numbers 16:14 : Judg 16:21; 1 Sam 11:2
21. Numbers 16:15 : Gen 4:4, 5
22. Numbers 16:15 : 1 Sam 12:3
23. Numbers 16:19 : Num 14:10; 16:42; 20:6
24. Numbers 16:21 : Num 16:45
25. Numbers 16:21 : Ex 32:10, 12
26. Numbers 16:22 : Num 27:16
27. Numbers 16:22 : Gen 18:23-32; Lev 4:3
28. Numbers 16:24 : Num 16:45
29. Numbers 16:26 : Is 52:11
30. Numbers 16:26 : Gen 19:15, 17
31. Numbers 16:27 : Num 26:11
32. Numbers 16:28 : Ex 3:12-15; 4:12, 15
33. Numbers 16:29 : Eccl 3:19
34. Numbers 16:30 : Job 31:2, 3
35. Numbers 16:30 : Ps 55:15
36. Numbers 16:32 : Num 26:10; Deut 11:6; Ps 106:17
37. Numbers 16:32 : Num 26:11
38. Numbers 16:35 : Num 11:1-3; 26:10
39. Numbers 16:35 : Num 16:2
40. Numbers 16:38 : Ezek 14:8; 2 Pet 2:6
41. Numbers 16:40 : Num 1:51
42. Numbers 16:40 : Ex 30:7-10
43. Numbers 16:41 : Num 16:3
44. Numbers 16:42 : Num 16:19
45. Numbers 16:45 : Num 16:21, 24
46. Numbers 16:46 : Num 25:13; Is 6:6, 7
47. Numbers 16:46 : Num 18:5; Deut 9:22
48. Numbers 16:47 : Num 25:6-8, 13
49. Numbers 16:49 : Num 25:9
50. Numbers 16:49 : Num 16:32, 35