1 Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and 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 certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown:
3And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD?
Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, along with 250 princes of the assembly, rose up against Moses and Aaron, saying, [1]
You take too much authority for yourselves.
Everyone in the congregation is holy, and God is with them.
Why do you lift yourselves above God's congregation?
4And when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face:
5 And he spake unto Korah and unto all his company, saying, Even to morrow the LORD will shew who are his, and who is holy; and will cause him to come near unto him: even him whom he hath chosen will he cause to come near unto him.
When Moses heard it, he fell upon his face, and said to Korah and his companions,
Tomorrow God will show who belongs to him and who is holy.
6This do; Take you censers, Korah, and all his company;
7And put fire therein, and put incense in them before the LORD to morrow: and it shall be that the man whom the LORD doth choose, he shall be holy: ye take too much upon you, ye sons of Levi.
8 And Moses said unto Korah, Hear, I pray you, ye sons of Levi:
9 Seemeth it but a small thing unto you, that the God of Israel hath separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself to do the service of the tabernacle of the LORD, and to stand before the congregation to minister unto them?
10 And he hath brought thee near to him, and all thy brethren the sons of Levi with thee: and seek ye the priesthood also?
11 For which cause both thou and all thy company are gathered together against the LORD: and what is Aaron, that ye murmur against him?
Korah and his companions will put fire and incense in their censers, and God will choose who is holy. [2]
12 And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab: which said, We will not come up:
13 Is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land that floweth with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, except thou make thyself altogether a prince over us?
14 Moreover thou hast not brought us into a land that floweth with milk and honey, or given us inheritance of fields and vineyards: wilt thou put out the eyes of these men? we will not come up.
But Dathan and Abiram said,
We won't come up, even if you put out the eyes of these men. [3]
15 And Moses was very wroth, and said unto the LORD, Respect not thou their offering: I have not taken one ass from them, neither have I hurt one of them.
Moses was angry and said to God,
Don't respect their offering.
I haven't hurt them or taken one ass from them.
16 And Moses said unto Korah, Be thou and all thy company before the LORD, thou, and they, and Aaron, to morrow:
17 And take every man his censer, and put incense in them, and bring ye before the LORD every man his censer, two hundred and fifty censers; thou also, and Aaron, each of you his censer.
Moses said to Korah,
Tomorrow you and your companions will appear before God, as will Aaron.
Each of your 250 men will put incense in his censer, and Aaron will do likewise.
18And they took every man his censer, and put fire in them, and laid incense thereon, and stood in the door of the tabernacle of the congregation with Moses and Aaron.
And they did that.
19 And Korah gathered all the congregation against them unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and the glory of the LORD appeared unto all the congregation.
And then "the glory of the Lord" appeared.
God decides to kill everyone
(but Moses talks him out of it)
20And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,
21Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.
God said to Moses and Aaron,
Get away from the congregation, because I am going to kill everyone.
22And they fell upon their faces, and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt thou be wroth with all the congregation?
And Moses and Aaron fell on their faces, and said,
Shall the God of the spirits of all flesh be angry at all the congregation because of one man's sin? [4]
God kills Korah and his companions
23 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
24 Speak unto the congregation, saying, Get you up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.
25 And Moses rose up and went unto Dathan and Abiram; and the elders of Israel followed him.
God said to Moses,
Say this to the congregation,
Leave the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.
26 And he spake unto the congregation, saying, Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of their's, lest ye be consumed in all their sins.
Moses said to the congregation,
Leave the tents of these wicked men, and don't touch anything of theirs, or you will be killed for their sins. [5]
27 So they gat up from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side: and Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood in the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their little children.
So the congregation left the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and Dathan and Abiram came to the door of their tents with their wives and children.
28And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the LORD hath sent me to do all these works; for I have not done them of mine own mind.
29 If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men; then the LORD hath not sent me.
30But if the LORD make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit; then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the LORD.
Moses said,
Here's how you'll know that God has sent me:
If these men die of natural causes, then God hasn't sent me.
But if God makes the earth open up and swallow them, with their families and belongings, then these men have provoked God. [6]
31 And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them:
32And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods.
33They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congregation.
When Moses finished speaking, the earth opened up and swallowed Korah, his family, his house, and everything that belonged to him.
God kills 250 incense burners
34And all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them: for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up also.
Everyone who survived God's killing ran away saying,
Get away or God will make the earth swallow us too!
35And there came out a fire from the LORD, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.
And God sent a fire to burn to death the 250 men that offered incense. [7]
36And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
37 Speak unto Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, that he take up the censers out of the burning, and scatter thou the fire yonder; for they are hallowed.
God said to Moses, [8]
Say this to Eleazar, the son of Aaron,
Take the censers from the burning remains, because they are holy.
38 The censers of these sinners against their own souls, let them make them broad plates for a covering of the altar: for they offered them before the LORD, therefore they are hallowed: and they shall be a sign unto the children of Israel.
The censers of these sinners became holy when I burned them to death.
They will be a sign to the Israelites.
39And Eleazar the priest took the brasen censers, wherewith they that were burnt had offered; and they were made broad plates for a covering of the altar:
40To be a memorial unto the children of Israel, that no stranger, which is not of the seed of Aaron, come near to offer incense before the LORD; that he be not as Korah, and as his company: as the LORD said to him by the hand of Moses.
Eleazar took the censers and made a memorial out of them, to remind the Israelites that no one but the descendants of Aaron may offer incense to God.
And to remind everyone not to be like Korah and his companions.
The people complain about God's killings
16:41-42
41But on the morrow all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of the LORD.
The next day, the Israelites complained to Moses and Aaron, saying,
You have killed the people of the Lord. [9]
42 And it came to pass, when the congregation was gathered against Moses and against Aaron, that they looked toward the tabernacle of the congregation: and, behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the LORD appeared.
Then the people looked toward the tabernacle, and the glory of the Lord appeared.
God decides to kill everyone (again)
43 And Moses and Aaron came before the tabernacle of the congregation.
44And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
45Get you up from among this congregation, that I may consume them as in a moment. And they fell upon their faces.
God said to Moses,
Get away from the congregation, because I am going to kill them all. [10]
And Moses and Aaron fell upon their faces.
Aaron stops God's from killing everyone by burning incense
46And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement for them: for there is wrath gone out from the LORD; the plague is begun.
Moses said to Aaron,
Get a censer and burn some incense in it to make an atonement for the congregation. [11]
Because God is angry and has sent a plague on the people.
47 And Aaron took as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the congregation; and, behold, the plague was begun among the people: and he put on incense, and made an atonement for the people.
48 And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed.
And it worked. When Aaron started burning incense, God stopped killing people.
God kills 14,700 in a plague
49 Now they that died in the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, beside them that died about the matter of Korah.
50 And Aaron returned unto Moses unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and the plague was stayed.
But not before 14,700 people died in God's plague. [12]