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Tabernacle* with Moses and Aaron. 19 Meanwhile, Korah had stirred up the entire community against Moses and Aaron, and they all
gathered at the Tabernacle entrance. Then the
glorious presence of the Lord appeared to the
whole community, 20 and the Lord said to Moses
and Aaron, 21 “Get away from all these people so
that I may instantly destroy them!”
22 But Moses and Aaron fell face down on
the ground. “O God,” they pleaded, “you are
the God who gives breath to all creatures. Must
you be angry with all the people when only one
man sins?”
23 And the Lord said to Moses, 24 “Then tell all
the people to get away from the tents of Korah,
Dathan, and Abiram.”
25 So Moses got up and rushed over to the
tents of Dathan and Abiram, followed by the
elders of Israel. 26 “Quick!” he told the people.
“Get away from the tents of these wicked men,
and don’t touch anything that belongs to them.
If you do, you will be destroyed for their sins.”
27 So all the people stood back from the tents of
Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Then Dathan and
Abiram came out and stood at the entrances of
their tents, together with their wives and children and little ones.
28 And Moses said, “This is how you will know
that the Lord has sent me to do all these things
that I have done—for I have not done them on
my own. 29 If these men die a natural death, or
if nothing unusual happens, then the Lord has
not sent me. 30 But if the Lord does something
entirely new and the ground opens its mouth
and swallows them and all their belongings,
and they go down alive into the grave,* then you
will know that these men have shown contempt
for the Lord.”
31 He had hardly finished speaking the words
when the ground suddenly split open beneath
them. 32 The earth opened its mouth and swallowed the men, along with their households
and all their followers who were standing with
them, and everything they owned. 33 So they
went down alive into the grave, along with all
their belongings. The earth closed over them,
and they all vanished from among the people of
Israel. 34 All the people around them fled when
they heard their screams. “The earth will swallow us, too!” they cried. 35 Then fire blazed forth
from the Lord and burned up the 250 men who
were offering incense.
36*And the Lord said to Moses, 37 “Tell Eleazar
son of Aaron the priest to pull all the incense
burners from the fire, for they are holy. Also tell
him to scatter the burning coals. 38 Take the incense burners of these men who have sinned at
the cost of their lives, and hammer the metal
into a thin sheet to overlay the altar. Since these
burners were used in the Lord’s presence, they
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have become holy. Let them serve as a warning
to the people of Israel.”
39 So El e a zar the priest collected the
250 bronze incense burners that had been used
by the men who died in the fire, and the bronze
was hammered into a thin sheet to overlay the
altar. 40 This would warn the Israelites that no
unauthorized person—no one who was not a
descendant of Aaron—should ever enter the
Lord’s presence to burn incense. If anyone did,
the same thing would happen to him as happened to Korah and his followers. So the Lord’s
instructions to Moses were carried out.
41 But the very next morning the whole community of Israel began muttering again against
Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the
Lord’s people!” 42 As the community gathered
to protest against Moses and Aaron, they turned
toward the Tabernacle and saw that the cloud
had covered it, and the glorious presence of the
Lord appeared.
43 Moses and Aaron came and stood in front
of the Tabernacle, 44 and the Lord said to Moses,
45 “Get away from all these people so that I can
instantly destroy them!” But Moses and Aaron
fell face down on the ground.
46 And Moses said to Aaron, “Quick, take an
incense burner and place burning coals on it
from the altar. Lay incense on it, and carry it out
among the people to purify them and make them
right with the Lord.* The Lord’s anger is blazing
against them—the plague has already begun.”
47 Aaron did as Moses told him and ran out
among the people. The plague had already
begun to strike down the people, but Aaron
burned the incense and purified* the people.
48 He stood between the dead and the living, and
the plague stopped. 49 But 14,700 people died in
that plague, in addition to those who had died
in the affair involving Korah. 50 Then because
the plague had stopped, Aaron returned to
Moses at the entrance of the Tabernacle.
The Budding of Aaron’s Staff
1*Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 “Tell
the people of Israel to bring you twelve
wooden staffs, one from each leader of Israel’s
ancestral tribes, and inscribe each leader’s
name on his staff. 3 Inscribe Aaron’s name on
the staff of the tribe of Levi, for there must be
one staff for the leader of each ancestral tribe.
4 Place these staffs in the Tabernacle in front of
the Ark containing the tablets of the Covenant,*
where I meet with you. 5 Buds will sprout on the
17
16:18 Hebrew the Tent of Meeting; also in 16:19, 42, 43, 50.
16:30 Hebrew into Sheol; also in 16:33. 16:36 Verses 16:36-50
are numbered 17:1-15 in Hebrew text. 16:46 Or to make
atonement for them. 16:47 Or and made atonement for.
17:1 Verses 17:1-13 are numbered 17:16-28 in Hebrew text.
17:4 Hebrew in the Tent of Meeting before the Testimony. The
Hebrew word for “testimony” refers to the terms of the Lord’s
covenant with Israel as written on stone tablets, which were
kept in the Ark, and also to the covenant itself.