Numbers 16:11-45

¹¹So you and all your band have come together against the Lord; and Aaron, who is he, that you are crying out against him?

¹²Then Moses sent for Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab: and they said, We will not come up:

¹³Is it not enough that you have taken us from a land flowing with milk and honey, to put us to death in the waste land, but now you are desiring to make yourself a chief over us?

¹⁴And more than this, you have not taken us into a land flowing with milk and honey, or given us a heritage of fields and vine-gardens: will you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up.

¹⁵Then Moses was very angry, and said to the Lord, Give no attention to their offering: not one of their asses have I taken, or done wrong to any of them.

¹⁶And Moses said to Korah, You and all your band are to come before the Lord tomorrow, you and they and Aaron:

¹⁷And let every man take a vessel for burning perfumes, and put sweet spices in them; let every man take his vessel before the Lord, two hundred and fifty vessels; you and Aaron and everyone with his vessel.

¹⁸So every man took his vessel and they put fire in them, with spices, and came to the door of the Tent of meeting with Moses and Aaron.

¹⁹And Korah made all the people come together against them to the door of the Tent of meeting: and the glory of the Lord was seen by all the people.

²⁰And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron,

²¹Come out from among this people, so that I may send sudden destruction on them.

²²Then falling down on their faces they said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, because of one man's sin will your wrath be moved against all the people?

²³And the Lord said to Moses,

²⁴Say to the people, Come away from the tent of Korah Dathan, and Abiram.

²⁵So Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the responsible men of Israel went with him.

²⁶And he said to the people, Come away now from the tents of these evil men, without touching anything of theirs, or you may be taken in the punishment of their sins.

²⁷So on every side they went away from the tent of Korah Dathan, and Abiram: and Dathan and Abiram came out to the door of their tents, with their wives and their sons and their little ones.

²⁸And Moses said, Now you will see that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, and I have not done them of myself.

²⁹If these men have the common death of men, or if the natural fate of all men overtakes them, then the Lord has not sent me.

³⁰But if the Lord does something new, opening the earth to take them in, with everything which is theirs, and they go down living into the underworld, then it will be clear to you that the Lord has not been honoured by these men.

³¹And while these words were on his lips, the earth under them was parted in two;

³²And the earth, opening her mouth, took them in, with their families, and all the men who were joined to Korah, and their goods.

³³So they and all theirs went down living into the underworld, and the earth was shut over them, and they were cut off from among the meeting of the people.

³⁴And all Israel round about them went in flight at their cry, For fear, said they, that we go down into the heart of the earth.

³⁵Then fire came out from the Lord, burning up the two hundred and fifty men who were offering the perfume.

³⁶And the Lord said to Moses,

³⁷Say to Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, that he is to take out of the flames the vessels with the perfumes in them, turning the fire out of them, for they are holy;

³⁸And let the vessels of those men, who with their lives have made payment for their sin, be hammered out into plates as a cover for the altar; for they have been offered before the Lord and are holy; so that they may be a sign to the children of Israel.

³⁹So Eleazar the priest took the brass vessels which had been offered by those who were burned up, and they were hammered out to make a cover for the altar:

⁴⁰To be a sign, kept in memory for ever by the children of Israel, that no man who is not of the seed of Aaron has the right of burning spices before the Lord, so that he may not be like Korah and his band: as the Lord said to him by the mouth of Moses.

⁴¹But on the day after, all the children of Israel made an outcry against Moses and against Aaron, saying, You have put to death the Lord's people.

⁴²Now when the people had come together against Moses and Aaron, looking in the direction of the Tent of meeting, they saw the cloud covering it, and the glory of the Lord came before their eyes.

⁴³Then Moses and Aaron came to the front of the Tent of meeting.

⁴⁴And the Lord said to Moses,

⁴⁵Come out from among this people, so that I may send sudden destruction on them. And they went down on their faces.