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 men, ² and they stood before Moses, ^[a]together with some of the sons of Israel, 250 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 group, saying, “Tomorrow morning the Lord will make known who is His, and ^(H)who is holy, and will bring that one near to Himself; indeed, ^(I)the one whom He will choose, He will bring near to Himself. ⁶ Do this: take censers for yourselves, Korah and ^[d]your whole group, ⁷ and put fire in them, and place 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!”

¹⁶ Moses said to Korah, “You and all your group be present before the Lord tomorrow, you and they along with Aaron. ¹⁷ And each of you take his censer and put incense on ^[a]it, and each of you bring his censer before the Lord, 250 censers; also you and Aaron shall each bring his censer.” ¹⁸ So they took, each one his own censer, and put fire on ^[b]it, and placed incense on ^[c]it; and they stood at the entrance of the tent of meeting, with Moses and Aaron. ¹⁹ So Korah assembled all the congregation against them at the entrance of the tent of meeting. And ^(A)the glory of the Lord appeared to all the congregation.

²⁰ Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ²¹ “^(B)Separate yourselves from among this congregation, ^(C)so that I may consume them instantly.” ²² But they fell on their faces and said, “God, ^(D)the God of the spirits of ^[d]humanity, ^(E)when one person sins, will You be angry with the entire congregation?”

²³ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁴ “Speak to the congregation, saying, ‘^(F)Get away from the areas around the ^[e]tents 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, “^(G)Get away now from the tents of these wicked men, and do not touch anything that belongs to them, ^(H)or you will be swept away in all their sin!” ²⁷ So they moved away from the areas around the ^[f]tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram; and Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the entrances of their tents, along with their wives, ^(I)their sons, and their little ones. ²⁸ Then Moses said, “By this you shall know that ^(J)the Lord has sent me to do all these deeds; for it is not ^[g]my doing. ²⁹ If these men die ^[h]the death of all mankind, or ^[i]if they suffer the ^(K)fate of all mankind, then the Lord has not sent me. ³⁰ But ^(L)if the Lord ^[j]brings about an entirely new thing and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them with everything that is theirs, and they ^(M)descend alive into ^[k]Sheol, then you will know that these men have been disrespectful to the Lord.”

³¹ And as he finished speaking all these words, the ground that was under them split open; ³² and ^(N)the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their households, and ^(O)all the people who belonged to Korah with all their possessions. ³³ So they and all that belonged to them went down alive to ^[l]Sheol; and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly.