Dual Panel1KORAH son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, along with the Reubenites Dathan and Abiram sons of Eliab and On son of Peleth, challenged the authority of Moses.
2Siding with them in their revolt were two hundred and fifty Israelites, all chiefs of the community, conveners of assembly and men of good standing.
3They confronted Moses and Aaron and said, “You take too much on yourselves. Each and every member of the community is holy and the LORD is among them. Why do you set yourselves up above the assembly of the LORD?”
4When Moses heard this, he prostrated himself,
5and he said to Korah and all his company, “Tomorrow morning the LORD will declare who is his, who is holy and who may present offerings to him. The man whom the LORD chooses may present them.
6This is what you must do, you, Korah, and all your company: you must take censers,
7and put fire in them and place incense on them before the LORD tomorrow. The man whom the LORD then chooses is the man who is holy. You take too much on yourselves, you Levites.”
8Moses said to Korah, “Listen, you Levites.
9Is it not enough for you that the God of Israel has set you apart from the community of Israel, bringing you near him to maintain the service of the Tabernacle of the LORD and to stand before the community as their ministers?
10He has had you come near him, and all your brother Levites with you; now do you seek the priesthood as well?
11That is why you and all your company have combined together against the LORD. What is Aaron that you should make these complaints against him?”
12Moses sent to fetch Dathan and Abiram sons of Eliab, but they answered, “We will not come.
13Is it not enough that you have brought us away from a land flowing with milk and honey to let us die in the wilderness? Must you also set yourself up as prince over us?
14What is more, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor have you given us fields and vineyards to inherit. Do you think you can hoodwink men like us? We are not coming.”
15Moses became very angry, and said to the LORD, “Take no notice of their murmuring. I have not taken from them so much as a single donkey; I have not wronged any of them.”
16Moses said to Korah, “Present yourselves before the LORD tomorrow, you and all your company, you and they and Aaron.
17Each man of you is to take his censer and put incense on it. Then you shall present them before the LORD with their two hundred and fifty censers, and you and Aaron shall also bring your censers.”
18So each man took his censer, put fire in it, and placed incense on it. Moses and Aaron took their stand at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting,
19and Korah gathered his whole company together and faced them at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. Then the glory of the LORD appeared to the whole community,
20and the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,
21“Stand apart from them, so that I may make an end of them in a single moment.”
22But Moses and Aaron prostrated themselves and said, “God, you God of the spirits of all mankind, if one man sins, will you be angry with the whole community?”
23But the LORD said to Moses,
24“Tell them all to stand back from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”
25Moses rose and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him.
26He said to the whole community, “Stand well away from the tents of these wicked men; touch nothing of theirs, or you will be swept away because of all their sins.”
27So they moved away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram had come out and were standing at the entrance of their tents with their wives, their children, and their dependants.
28Moses said, “By this you shall know that it is the LORD who sent me to do all I have done, and it was not my own heart that prompted me.
29If these men die a natural death, merely sharing the common fate of man, then the LORD has not sent me;
30but if the LORD works a miracle, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them and all that is theirs, and they go down alive to Sheol, then you will know that these men have set the LORD at naught.”
31Hardly had Moses spoken when the ground beneath them split apart;
32the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their homes -- all the followers of Korah and all their property.
33They went down alive into Sheol with all that they had; the earth closed over them, and they vanished from the assembly.
34At their cries all the Israelites around them fled. “Look out!” they shouted. “The earth might swallow us.”
35Fire came out from the LORD and consumed the two hundred and fifty men presenting the incense.
36Then the LORD said to Moses,
37“Order Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to set aside the censers from the burnt remains, and scatter the fire from them a long way off, because they are holy.
38The censers of these men who sinned at the cost of their lives you shall make into beaten plates to overlay the altar; they are holy, because they have been presented before the LORD. Let them be a sign to the Israelites.”
39Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers which the victims of the fire had presented, and they were beaten into plates to cover the altar,
40to be a reminder to the Israelites that no lay person, no one not descended from Aaron, should come forward to burn incense before the LORD, or his fate would be that of Korah and his company. All this was done as the LORD commanded Eleazar through Moses.
41Next day the whole Israelite community raised complaints against Moses and Aaron and taxed them with causing the death of some of the LORD's people.
42As they gathered against Moses and Aaron, they turned towards the Tent of Meeting and saw that the cloud covered it, and the glory of the LORD appeared.
43When Moses and Aaron came to the front of the Tent of Meeting,
44the LORD said to them,
45“Stand well clear of this community, so that in a single moment I may make an end of them.” They prostrated themselves,
46and then Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, put fire from the altar in it, set incense on it, and go with it quickly to the assembled community to make expiation for them. Wrath has gone forth already from the presence of the LORD; the plague has begun.”
47As Moses had directed him, Aaron took his censer, ran into the midst of the assembly, and found that the plague had indeed begun among the people. He put incense on the censer and made expiation for the people,
48standing between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped.
49Fourteen thousand seven hundred died of it, in addition to those who had died for Korah's offence.
50When Aaron came back to Moses at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, the plague had stopped.