Numbers 16:10-39

¹⁰Made he therefore thee, and all thy brethren the sons of Levi, to nigh to himself, that ye challenge to you also priesthood,

¹¹and all thy gathering together stand against the Lord? For why, what is Aaron, that ye grutch against him?

¹²Therefore Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab; which answered, We come not.

¹³Whether is it little to thee, that thou leddest us out of the land that flowed with milk and honey, to slay us in the desert, no but also thou be lord of us?

¹⁴Verily thou hast brought us into the land that floweth with streams of milk and honey, andthou hast given to us possession of fields, and of vineyards; whether also thou wilt put out our eyes? We come not to thee.

¹⁵And Moses was wroth greatly, and said to the Lord, Behold thou not the sacrifices of them; thou knowest that I took never of them a little ass, neither I tormented any of them.

¹⁶And Moses said to Korah, Thou and all thy congregation stand asides half before the Lord, and Aaron tomorrow by himself.

¹⁷Take ye all by yourselves your censers, and put ye incense in those, and offer ye to the Lord, twain or two hundred and fifty censers; and Aaron hold he his censer.

¹⁸And when they had done this, while Moses and Aaron stood there,

¹⁹and they had gathered all the multitude to the door of the tabernacle against them, the glory of the Lord appeared to all.

²⁰And the Lord spake to Moses and to Aaron, and said,

²¹Be ye separated from the midst of this congregation, that I lose them suddenly.

²²The which fell down low upon their faces, and said, Most strong God of the spirits of all flesh, whether thy wrath shall be fierce against all men, for one man sinneth?

²³And the Lord said to Moses,

²⁴Command thou to all the people, that it be separated from the tabernacles of Korah, and of Dathan, and of Abiram.

²⁵And Moses rose, and went to Dathan and Abiram; and while the elder men of Israel followed him,

²⁶he said to the company, Go ye away from the tabernacles of the wicked men, and do not ye touch those things that pertain to them, lest ye be wrapped in the sins of them.

²⁷And when they had gone away from their tents by compass, Dathan and Abiram went out, and stood in the entry of their tents, with their wives, and their free children, and with all the multitude.

²⁸And Moses said, In this ye shall know that the Lord sent me, that I should do all things which ye see, and that I brought them not forth of mine own heart.

²⁹If they perish by customable death of men, and wound, either pestilence, visit them, by which also other men be wont to be visited, the Lord sent not me;

³⁰but if the Lord doeth a new thing, that the earth open his mouth, and swallow them, and all things that pertain to them, and they go down quick into hell, ye shall know that they blasphemed the Lord.

³¹Therefore anon as he ceased to speak, the earth was broken under their feet,

³²and the earth opened his mouth, and devoured them, with their tabernacles, and all their chattel;

³³and they went down quick, into hell, and were covered with earth, and they perished from the midst of the multitude.

³⁴And soothly all Israel that stood about, fled from the cry of men perishing, and said, Lest peradventure the earth swallow also us.

³⁵But also fire went out from the Lord, and killed twain or two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.

³⁶And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

³⁷Command thou to Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, that he take, or gather up, the censers that lie in the burning, and that he scatter the fire hither and thither; for those censers be hallowed

³⁸in the deaths of sinners; and that he bring forth those censers into plates, and nail them to the altar, for incense is offered in those or them to the Lord, and those be hallowed, that the sons of Israel see them for a sign and a memorial.

³⁹Therefore Eleazar, the priest, took the brazen censers, in which they, which the burning had devoured had offered, and he beat out those censers into plates, and nailed them to the altar;