16 ¶ 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, of the sons of Reuben, took men;

² and they rose up against Moses, with two hundred and fifty men of the sons of Israel, princes of the congregation, of the council, men of renown;

³ and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said unto them, We have had enough of you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them; why then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD?

⁴ And when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face;

⁵ and he spoke unto Korah and unto all his company, saying, Tomorrow the LORD will show who are his and who is holy and will cause the one who is holy to come near unto him; the one whom he has chosen he will cause to come near unto him.

⁶ Do this: Take censers, Korah, and all his company,

⁷ and put fire in them and put incense in them before the LORD tomorrow; and it shall be that the man whom the LORD chooses, he shall be holy; this shall be enough for you, ye sons of Levi.

⁸ And Moses said unto Korah, Hear, I pray you, ye sons of Levi:

⁹ Does it seem but a small thing unto you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself to minister in the service of the tabernacle of the LORD and to stand before the congregation to minister unto them?

¹⁰ And that he has brought thee near to him and all thy brethren the sons of Levi with thee, and ye seek the priesthood also?

¹¹ For which cause both thou and all thy company are gathered together against the LORD, for what is Aaron, that ye murmur against him?

¹² ¶ And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they replied, We will not come up.

¹³ Is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land that flowed with milk and honey to make us die in the wilderness, but thou must also make thyself lord to rule over us?

¹⁴ Moreover, thou hast not brought us into a land that flows 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.

¹⁵ Then Moses was very angry and said unto the LORD, Look not thou upon their offering; I have not taken so much as one ass from them, neither have I done evil to any of them.

¹⁶ And Moses said unto Korah, Be thou and all thy company before the LORD, thou and they and Aaron, tomorrow;

¹⁷ and let each man take his censer and put incense in them and let each man bring his censer before the LORD, two hundred and fifty censers; thou also and Aaron, each of you with his censer.

¹⁸ And each man took his censer and put fire in them and laid incense in them and stood in the door of the tabernacle of the testimony with Moses and Aaron.

¹⁹ And Korah had gathered all the congregation against them unto the door of the tabernacle of the testimony; then the glory of the LORD appeared unto all the congregation.

²⁰ And the LORD spoke unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,

²¹ Separate yourselves from among this congregation, and I will consume them in a moment.

²² And 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?

²³ ¶ Then the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying,

²⁴ Speak unto the congregation, saying, Separate yourselves now from the tent of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.

²⁵ And Moses rose up and went unto Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him.

²⁶ And he spoke unto the congregation, saying, Depart from the tents of these wicked men and touch nothing of theirs lest peradventure ye be consumed in all their sins.

²⁷ So they removed themselves from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side; and Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood in the door of their tents, with their wives and their sons and their little children.

²⁸ And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the LORD has sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them out of my own heart.

²⁹ If these men die the common death of all men or if they are visited after the visitation of all men, then the LORD has not sent me.

³⁰ But if the LORD does a new thing and the earth opens her mouth and swallows them up with all their things and they go down alive into Sheol, then ye shall know that these men have provoked the LORD.

³¹ And it came to pass as he had made an end of speaking all these words that the ground broke open under them;

³² the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up, and their houses and all the men of Korah and all their goods.

³³ They and all that they had went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed upon them, and they perished from among the congregation.

³⁴ And all Israel, those that were round about them, fled at the cry of them, for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up also.

³⁵ ¶ And fire came out from the LORD and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.

³⁶ Then the LORD spoke 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

³⁸ the censers of these sinners are sanctified against their own souls, and broad plates shall be made of them for a covering of the altar, for they offered with them before the LORD; therefore, they are sanctified, and they shall be a sign unto the sons of Israel.

³⁹ And Eleazar, the priest, took the brass censers with which those that were burnt had offered, and they were made into a broad covering of the altar

⁴⁰ to be a memorial unto the sons of Israel, that no stranger who is not of the seed of Aaron come near to offer incense before the LORD, that he not be as Korah and as his company, as the LORD said to him by the hand of Moses.

⁴¹ ¶ But on the next day all the congregation of the sons of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of the LORD.

⁴² And it came to pass when the congregation was gathered against Moses and against Aaron that they looked toward the tabernacle of the testimony; and, behold, the cloud had covered it, and the glory of the LORD appeared.

⁴³ And Moses and Aaron came before the tabernacle of the testimony.

⁴⁴ And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying,

⁴⁵ Depart from among this congregation, and I will consume them in a moment. And they fell upon their faces.

⁴⁶ And Moses said unto Aaron, Take the censer and put fire in it from off the altar and put incense upon it and go quickly unto the congregation and reconcile them; for the wrath has gone out from before the face of the LORD; the plague is begun.

⁴⁷ Then Aaron took his censer as Moses said and ran into the midst of the congregation; and, behold, the plague was begun among the people; and he put on incense and reconciled the people.

⁴⁸ And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed.

⁴⁹ Now those that died in that plague were fourteen thousand seven hundred, besides those that died concerning the matter of Korah.

⁵⁰ And Aaron returned unto Moses unto the door of the tabernacle of the testimony, when the plague was stayed.