Numbers 16:16-17:13

¹⁶And Moses said to Korah, “You and all your followers are to appear before the LORD tomorrow — you and they and Aaron.

¹⁷Each man is to take his censer, place incense in it, and present it before the LORD —250 censers. You and Aaron are to present your censers as well.”

¹⁸So each man took his censer, put fire and incense in it, and stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

¹⁹When Korah had gathered his whole assembly against them at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, the glory of the LORD appeared to the whole congregation.

²⁰And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

²¹“Separate yourselves from this congregation so that I may consume them in an instant.”

²²But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, when one man sins, will You be angry with the whole congregation?”

²³Then the LORD said to Moses,

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

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

²⁶And he warned the congregation, “Move away now from the tents of these wicked men. Do not touch anything that belongs to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins.”

²⁷So they moved away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Meanwhile, Dathan and Abiram had come out and stood at the entrances to their tents with their wives and children and infants.

²⁸Then Moses said, “This is how you will know that the LORD has sent me to do all these things, for it was not my own doing:

²⁹If these men die a natural death, or if they suffer the fate of all men, then the LORD has not sent me.

³⁰But if the LORD brings about something unprecedented, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them and all that belongs to them so that they go down alive into Sheol, then you will know that these men have treated the LORD with contempt.”

³¹As soon as Moses had finished saying all this, the ground beneath them split open,

³²and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households — all Korah’s men and all their possessions.

³³They went down alive into Sheol with all they owned. The earth closed over them, and they vanished from the assembly.

³⁴At their cries, all the people of Israel who were around them fled, saying, “The earth may swallow us too!”

³⁵And fire came forth from the LORD and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense.

³⁶Then the LORD said to Moses,

³⁷“Tell Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to remove the censers from the flames and to scatter the coals far away, because the censers are holy.

³⁸As for the censers of those who sinned at the cost of their own lives, hammer them into sheets to overlay the altar, for these were presented before the LORD, and so have become holy. They will serve as a sign to the Israelites.”

³⁹So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers brought by those who had been burned up, and he had them hammered out to overlay the altar,

⁴⁰just as the LORD commanded him through Moses. This was to be a reminder to the Israelites that no outsider who is not a descendant of Aaron should approach to offer incense before the LORD, lest he become like Korah and his followers.

⁴¹The next day the whole congregation of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the LORD’s people!”

⁴²But when the congregation gathered against them, Moses and Aaron turned toward the Tent of Meeting, and suddenly the cloud covered it and the glory of the LORD appeared.

⁴³Then Moses and Aaron went to the front of the Tent of Meeting,

⁴⁴and the LORD said to Moses,

⁴⁵“Get away from this congregation so that I may consume them in an instant.” And Moses and Aaron fell facedown.

⁴⁶Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, place fire from the altar in it, and add incense. Go quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, because wrath has come out from the LORD; the plague has begun.”

⁴⁷So Aaron took the censer as Moses had ordered and ran into the midst of the assembly. And seeing that the plague had begun among the people, he offered the incense and made atonement for the people.

⁴⁸He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague was halted.

⁴⁹But those who died from the plague numbered 14, 700, in addition to those who had died on account of Korah.

⁵⁰Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, since the plague had been halted.

¹And the LORD said to Moses,

²“Speak to the Israelites and take from them twelve staffs, one from the leader of each tribe. Write each man’s name on his staff,

³and write Aaron’s name on the staff of Levi, because there must be one staff for the head of each tribe.

⁴Place the staffs in the Tent of Meeting in front of the Testimony, where I meet with you.

⁵The staff belonging to the man I choose will sprout, and I will rid Myself of the constant grumbling of the Israelites against you.”

⁶So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and each of their leaders gave him a staff— one for each of the leaders of their tribes, twelve staffs in all. And Aaron’s staff was among them.

⁷Then Moses placed the staffs before the LORD in the Tent of the Testimony.

⁸The next day Moses entered the Tent of the Testimony and saw that Aaron’s staff, representing the house of Levi, had sprouted, put forth buds, blossomed, and produced almonds.

⁹Then Moses brought out all the staffs from the LORD’s presence to all the Israelites. They saw them, and each man took his own staff.

¹⁰The LORD said to Moses, “Put Aaron’s staff back in front of the Testimony, to be kept as a sign for the rebellious, so that you may put an end to their grumbling against Me, lest they die.”

¹¹So Moses did as the LORD had commanded him.

¹²Then the Israelites declared to Moses, “Look, we are perishing! We are lost; we are all lost!

¹³Anyone who comes near the tabernacle of the LORD will die. Are we all going to perish?”

Related Resources from Heartlight

Cross References for Numbers 16:16-17:13

The Berean Standard Bible