1Korah, ²⁴son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi tried to take over leadership, along with Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On, son of Peleth, who were from the tribe of Reuben.

2They rebelled against Moses, and were joined by 250 well-respected Israelite leaders and members of the assembly.

3They joined together in opposition to Moses and Aaron, telling them, “You've taken too much power for yourselves! Every one of the Israelites is holy, and the Lord is among them. So why do you set yourselves above the Lord's assembly?”

4When Moses heard what they were saying, he fell facedown on the ground.

5Then he told Korah and all those with him, “In the morning the Lord is going to make it clear who is his and who is holy, and allow that person to approach him. He will only allow whoever he chooses to approach him.

6This is what you, Korah, and everyone with you are going to do. Take some incense burners,

7and tomorrow put incense in them and set it on fire in the presence of the Lord. Then the man the Lord chooses is the one who is holy. It is you Levites who are taking too much power for yourselves!”

8Moses also told Korah, “Listen, you Levites!

9Do you think it's something insignificant that the God of Israel chose you from all the other Israelites and allowed you to approach him and carry out the work in the Lord's Tabernacle, to stand before the Israelites and serve them?

10He has allowed you the privilege of approaching him, Korah, you and all the other Levites, but now you want to have the priesthood as well!

11So in reality you and those who have joined you are fighting against the Lord—because who is Aaron that you should complain about him?”

12Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they replied, “We're not going to appear before you! ²⁵

13Haven't you done enough by taking us away from a land flowing with milk and honey in order to kill us out here in the desert? Do you have to make yourself a dictator as well, someone to rule us?

14On top of that you haven't taken us to a land flowing with milk and honey or given us fields and vineyards to own. Do you really think you can fool everyone? ²⁶No, we will not attend!”

15Moses got really angry and said to the Lord, “Don't accept their offerings. I have never taken even a donkey from them or treated any of them badly.”

16Moses told Korah, “You and all those who have joined you must appear before the Lord tomorrow—all of you and Aaron too.

17Each one will take his incense burner, put incense in it, and offer it before the Lord. All 250 of you will use your incense burners and Aaron will as well.”

18So each one took his incense burner, put incense in it, set it on fire, and stood together with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

19When Korah had gathered all his rebellious group at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, the Lord's glory appeared before the whole congregation.

20The Lord told Moses and Aaron,

21“Step away from these Israelites and I will destroy them right away.”

22But Moses and Aaron fell facedown on the ground said, “God—God of everything that lives—when it's only one man who sins, must you be angry with everybody?”

23Then the Lord told Moses,

24“Tell the people to move away from the homes of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”

25So Moses went over to Dathan and Abiram, and the Israelite elders of Israel followed him.

26He ordered the people, “Move away from the tents of these wicked men and don't touch anything that belongs to them, otherwise you will be destroyed along with them in all their sins.”

27The people moved away from the homes of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the entrances to their tents along with their wives, children and little ones.

28Moses said, “This is how you will know that the Lord did send me to carry out everything I've done, for it wasn't anything I thought up. ²⁷

29If these men die a natural death, experiencing the destiny of every human being, then the Lord didn't send me.

30But if the Lord does something totally different, and the earth opens up and swallows them down along with everything that belongs to them so that they go down alive into Sheol, then you will know that these men have acted with contempt to the Lord.”

31Immediately after Moses had finished saying all this, the ground under the rebels split apart,

32and the earth opened up and swallowed them and their households down, as well as everyone who was there with Korah and everything that belonged to them.

33They went down alive into Sheol with all that they had. The earth closed over them, and they were no more.

34When they heard their cries, all the Israelites nearby ran away, shouting, “Watch out! The earth could swallow us too!”

35Fire burst out from the Lord and burned up the 250 men who were offering incense.

36Then the Lord said to Moses,

37“Tell Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, to collect the holy incense burners from among those who have been burned up, and scatter the coals used for the incense well away from the camp.

38Have the incense burners of those who sinned at the expense of their own lives hammered into metal sheets as a covering for the altar, because they were offered before the Lord, and so have become holy. They will be a reminder to Israelites of what happened.”

39So Eleazar the priest collected the bronze incense burners used by those who had been burned up, and had them hammered out as a covering for the altar,

40following the instructions given to him from the Lord through Moses. This was to remind the Israelites that no one who is not a descendant of Aaron should come and offer incense before the Lord, otherwise they could end up like Korah and those with him.

41The next day all the Israelites complained to Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the Lord's people!”

42But as the people gathered to confront them, Moses and Aaron went over to the Tent of Meeting, and suddenly the cloud covered it and the Lord's glory appeared.

43Moses and Aaron went and stood at the front of the Tent of Meeting,

44and the Lord said to Moses,

45“Get away from these people and I will finish them off immediately.” Moses and Aaron fell facedown on the ground.

46Moses told Aaron, “Put some coals from the altar and some incense in your incense burner. Then run to the people and make them right before the Lord, for the Lord is angry with them and a plague has started.”

47Aaron took the incense burner just as Moses had told him and ran into the middle of the assembly. He saw that the plague had started to affect the people so he offered the incense and made the people right with the Lord.

48He stood between those who had died and those who were still alive, and the plague was stopped.

49However, 14,700 died from the plague in addition to those who'd died because of Korah.

50Then Aaron went back to Moses at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting because the plague had been stopped.