English Standard Version ESV
The Message Bible MSG
1 Now Korah the son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men.
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Getting on his high horse one day, Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, along with a few Reubenites - Dathan and Abiram sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth -
2 And they rose up before Moses, with a number of the people of Israel, 250 chiefs of the congregation, chosen from the assembly, well-known men.
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rebelled against Moses. He had with him 250 leaders of the congregation of Israel, prominent men with positions in the Council.
3 They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said to them, "You have gone too far! For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?"
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They came as a group and confronted Moses and Aaron, saying, "You've overstepped yourself. This entire community is holy and God is in their midst. So why do you act like you're running the whole show?"
4 When Moses heard it, he fell on his face,
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On hearing this, Moses threw himself facedown on the ground.
5 and he said to Korah and all his company, "In the morning the LORD will show who is his, and who is holy, and will bring him near to him. The one whom he chooses he will bring near to him.
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Then he addressed Korah and his gang: "In the morning God will make clear who is on his side, who is holy. God will take his stand with the one he chooses.
6 Do this: take censers, Korah and all his company;
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"Now, Korah, here's what I want you, you and your gang, to do: Tomorrow, take censers.
7 put fire in them and put incense on them before the LORD tomorrow, and the man whom the LORD chooses shall be the holy one. You have gone too far, sons of Levi!"
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In the presence of God, put fire in them and then incense. Then we'll see who is holy, see whom God chooses. Sons of Levi, you've overstepped yourselves!"
8 And Moses said to Korah, "Hear now, you sons of Levi:
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Moses continued with Korah, "Listen well now, sons of Levi.
9 is it too small a thing for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do service in the tabernacle of the LORD and to stand before the congregation to minister to them,
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Isn't it enough for you that the God of Israel has selected you out of the congregation of Israel to bring you near him to serve in the ministries of The Dwelling of God, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them?
10 and that he has brought you near him, and all your brothers the sons of Levi with you? And would you seek the priesthood also?
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He has brought you and all your brother Levites into his inner circle, and now you're grasping for the priesthood too.
11 Therefore it is against the LORD that you and all your company have gathered together. What is Aaron that you grumble against him?"
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It's God you've ganged up against, not us. What do you have against Aaron that you're bad-mouthing him?"
12 And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and they said, "We will not come up.
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Moses then ordered Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, to appear, but they said, "We're not coming.
13 Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, that you must also make yourself a prince over us?
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Isn't it enough that you yanked us out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? And now you keep trying to boss us around!
14 Moreover, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up."
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Face it, you haven't produced: You haven't brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, you haven't given us the promised inheritance of fields and vineyards. You'd have to poke our eyes out to keep us from seeing what's going on. Forget it, we're not coming."
15 And Moses was very angry and said to the LORD, "Do not respect their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them, and I have not harmed one of them."
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Moses' temper blazed white-hot. He said to God, "Don't accept their Grain-Offering. I haven't taken so much as a single donkey from them; I haven't hurt a single hair of their heads."
16 And Moses said to Korah, "Be present, you and all your company, before the LORD, you and they, and Aaron, tomorrow.
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Moses said to Korah, "Bring your people before God tomorrow. Appear there with them and Aaron.
17 And let every one of you take his censer and put incense on it, and every one of you bring before the LORD his censer, censers; you also, and Aaron, each his censer."
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Have each man bring his censer filled with incense and present it to God - all 250 censers. And you and Aaron do the same, bring your censers."
18 So every man took his censer and put fire in them and laid incense on them and stood at the entrance of the tent of meeting with Moses and Aaron.
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So they all did it. They brought their censers filled with fire and incense and stood at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. Moses and Aaron did the same.
19 Then Korah assembled all the congregation against them at the entrance of the tent of meeting. And the glory of the LORD appeared to all the congregation.
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It was Korah and his gang against Moses and Aaron at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. The entire community could see the Glory of God.
20 And the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,
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God said to Moses and Aaron,
21 "Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment."
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"Separate yourselves from this congregation so that I can finish them off and be done with them."
22 And they fell on their faces and said, "O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and will you be angry with all the congregation?"
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They threw themselves on their faces and said, "O God, God of everything living, when one man sins are you going to take it out on the whole community?"
23 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
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God spoke to Moses:
24 "Say to the congregation, Get away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram."
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"Speak to the community. Tell them, Back off from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram."
25 Then Moses rose and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him.
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Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram. The leaders of Israel followed him.
26 And he spoke to the congregation, saying, "Depart, please, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be swept away with all their sins."
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He then spoke to the community: "Back off from the tents of these bad men; don't touch a thing that belongs to them lest you be carried off on the flood of their sins."
27 So they got away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. And Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the door of their tents, together with their wives, their sons, and their little ones.
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So they all backed away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram by now had come out and were standing at the entrance to their tents with their wives, children, and babies.
28 And Moses said, "Hereby you shall know that the LORD has sent me to do all these works, and that it has not been of my own accord.
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Moses continued to address the community: "This is how you'll know that it was God who sent me to do all these things and that it wasn't anything I cooked up on my own.
29 If these men die as all men die, or if they are visited by the fate of all mankind, then the LORD has not sent me.
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If these men die a natural death like all the rest of us, you'll know that it wasn't God who sent me.
30 But if the LORD creates something new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised the LORD."
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But if God does something unprecedented - if the ground opens up and swallows the lot of them and they are pitched alive into Sheol - then you'll know that these men have been insolent with God."
31 And as soon as he had finished speaking all these words, the ground under them split apart.
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The words were hardly out of his mouth when the Earth split open.
32 And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the people who belonged to Korah and all their goods.
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Earth opened its mouth and in one gulp swallowed them down, the men and their families, all the human beings connected with Korah, along with everything they owned.
33 So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly.
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And that was the end of them, pitched alive into Sheol. The Earth closed up over them and that was the last the community heard of them.
34 And all Israel who were around them fled at their cry, for they said, "Lest the earth swallow us up!"
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At the sound of their cries everyone around ran for dear life, shouting, "We're about to be swallowed up alive!"
35 And fire came out from the LORD and consumed the 250 men offering the incense.
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Then God sent lightning. The fire cremated the 250 men who were offering the incense.
36 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
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God spoke to Moses:
37 "Tell Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest to take up the censers out of the blaze. Then scatter the fire far and wide, for they have become holy.
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"Tell Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, Gather up the censers from the smoldering cinders and scatter the coals a distance away for these censers have become holy.
38 As for the censers of these men who have sinned at the cost of their lives, let them be made into hammered plates as a covering for the altar, for they offered them before the LORD, and they became holy. Thus they shall be a sign to the people of Israel."
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Take the censers of the men who have sinned and are now dead and hammer them into thin sheets for covering the Altar. They have been offered to God and are holy to God. Let them serve as a sign to Israel, evidence of what happened this day."
39 So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers, which those who were burned had offered, and they were hammered out as a covering for the altar,
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So Eleazar gathered all the bronze censers that belonged to those who had been burned up and had them hammered flat and used to overlay the Altar,
40 to be a reminder to the people of Israel, so that no outsider, who is not of the descendants of Aaron, should draw near to burn incense before the LORD, lest he become like Korah and his company--as the LORD said to him through Moses.
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just as God had instructed him by Moses. This was to serve as a sign to Israel that only descendants of Aaron were allowed to burn incense before God; anyone else trying it would end up like Korah and his gang.
41 But on the next day all the congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and against Aaron, saying, "You have killed the people of the LORD."
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Grumbling broke out the next day in the community of Israel, grumbling against Moses and Aaron: "You have killed God's people!"
42 And when the congregation had assembled against Moses and against Aaron, they turned toward the tent of meeting. And behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the LORD appeared.
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But it so happened that when the community got together against Moses and Aaron, they looked over at the Tent of Meeting and there was the Cloud - the Glory of God for all to see.
43 And Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting,
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Moses and Aaron stood at the front of the Tent of Meeting.
44 and the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
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God spoke to Moses:
45 "Get away from the midst of this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment."And they fell on their faces.
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"Back away from this congregation so that I can do away with them this very minute." They threw themselves facedown on the ground.
46 And Moses said to Aaron, "Take your censer, and put fire on it from off the altar and lay incense on it and carry it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, for wrath has gone out from the LORD; the plague has begun."
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Moses said to Aaron, "Take your censer and fill it with incense, along with fire from the Altar. Get to the congregation as fast as you can: make atonement for them. Anger is pouring out from God - the plague has started!"
47 So Aaron took it as Moses said and ran into the midst of the assembly. And behold, the plague had already begun among the people. And he put on the incense and made atonement for the people.
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Aaron grabbed the censer, as directed by Moses, and ran into the midst of the congregation. The plague had already begun. He put burning incense into the censer and atoned for the people.
48 And he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped.
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He stood there between the living and the dead and stopped the plague.
49 Now those who died in the plague were 14,700, besides those who died in the affair of Korah.
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Fourteen thousand seven hundred people died from the plague, not counting those who died in the affair of Korah.
50 And Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the tent of meeting, when the plague was stopped.
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Aaron then went back to join Moses at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. The plague was stopped.
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.