1 Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people ⁱwept that night. 2 And all the people of Israel ^jgrumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or ^kwould that we had died in this wilderness! 3 Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? ^lOur wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” 4 And they said to one another, ^m“Let us choose a leader and ⁿgo back to Egypt.”

5 Then ^oMoses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the people of Israel. 6 ^pAnd Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes 7 and said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, ^q“The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land. 8 If ^rthe Lord delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, ^sa land that flows with milk and honey. 9 Only ^tdo not rebel against the Lord. And ^udo not fear the people of the land, for ^vthey are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.” 10 ^wThen all the congregation said to stone them with stones. But ^xthe glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the people of Israel.

11 And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people ^ydespise me? And how long will they not ^zbelieve in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? 12 I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I ^awill make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”

13 But ^bMoses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for you brought up this people in your might from among them, 14 and they will tell the inhabitants of this land. ^cThey have heard that you, O Lord, are in the midst of this people. For you, O Lord, are seen face to face, and ^dyour cloud stands over them and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. 15 Now if you kill this people as one man, then the nations who have heard your fame will say, 16 ‘It is because the Lord ^ewas not able to bring this people into the land that he swore to give to them that he has killed them in the wilderness.’ 17 And now, please let the power of the Lord be great as you have promised, saying, 18 ^f‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, ^gvisiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’ 19 Please ^hpardon the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just ⁱas you have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now.”

20 Then the Lord said, “I have pardoned, ^jaccording to your word. 21 But truly, as I live, and as all ^kthe earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, 22 ^lnone of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ^mten times and have not obeyed my voice, 23 ⁿshall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it. 24 But my servant ^oCaleb, because he has a different spirit and has ^pfollowed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it. 25 ^qNow, since the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwell in the valleys, ^rturn tomorrow and set out for the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.”

26 And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 27 “How long shall ^sthis wicked congregation grumble against me? ^tI have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against me. 28 Say to them, ^u‘As I live, declares the Lord, ^vwhat you have said in my hearing I will do to you: 29 ^wyour dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and ^xof all your number, listed in the census ^yfrom twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me, 30 not one shall come into the land where I ^zswore that I would make you dwell, ^aexcept Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. 31 ^bBut your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that ^cyou have rejected. 32 But as for you, ^wyour dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. 33 And your children ^dshall be shepherds in the wilderness ^eforty years and shall ^fsuffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness. 34 ^gAccording to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, ^hforty days, a year for each day, you shall bear your iniquity forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.’ 35 ⁱI, the Lord, have spoken. Surely this will I do to all ^jthis wicked congregation who are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall come to a full end, and there they shall die.”

36 ^kAnd the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing up a bad report about the land— 37 the men who brought up a bad report of the land—^ldied by plague before the Lord. 38 Of those men who went to spy out the land, ^monly Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive.

1 Now ⁱKorah the son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, and ^jDathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men. 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. 3 ^kThey assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said to them, ^l“You have gone too far! For ^mall 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?” 4 When Moses heard it, ⁿhe fell on his face, 5 and he said to Korah and all his company, “In the morning the Lord will show ^owho is his,¹ and who is ^pholy, and will bring him near to him. The one ^qwhom he chooses he will ^rbring near to him. 6 Do this: take ^scensers, Korah and all his company; 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. ^tYou have gone too far, sons of Levi!” 8 And Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you sons of Levi: 9 is it ^utoo small a thing for you that the God of Israel has ^vseparated 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, 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? 11 Therefore it is against the Lord that you and all your company have gathered together. What is ^wAaron that you grumble against him?”

12 And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and they said, “We will not come up. 13 Is it ^xa small thing that you have brought us up out of ^ya land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, that you must also ^zmake yourself a prince over us? 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.” 15 And Moses was very angry and said to the Lord, ^a“Do not respect their offering. ^bI have not taken one donkey from them, and I have not harmed one of them.”

16 And Moses said to Korah, “Be present, you and all your company, ^cbefore the Lord, you and they, and Aaron, tomorrow. 17 And ^dlet every one of you take his censer and put incense on it, and every one of you bring before the Lord his censer, ^e250 censers; you also, and Aaron, each his censer.” 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. 19 Then Korah assembled all the congregation against them at the entrance of the tent of meeting. ^fAnd the glory of the Lord appeared to all the congregation.

20 And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 21 ^g“Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them ^hin a moment.” 22 And they ⁱfell on their faces and said, “O God, ^jthe God of the spirits of all flesh, ^kshall one man sin, and will you be angry with all the congregation?” 23 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 24 “Say to the congregation, Get away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”

25 Then Moses rose and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. 26 And he spoke to the congregation, saying, ^l“Depart, please, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be swept away with all their sins.” 27 So they got away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. And Dathan and Abiram came out and stood ^mat the door of their tents, together with their wives, their sons, and their little ones. 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 ⁿof my own accord. 29 If these men die as all men die, or if they are visited by the fate of all mankind, ^othen the Lord has not sent me. 30 But if the Lord creates something new, and ^pthe ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they ^qgo down alive into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised the Lord.”

31 ^rAnd as soon as he had finished speaking all these words, the ground under them split apart. 32 And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and ^sall the people who belonged to Korah and all their goods. 33 So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed over them, and ^tthey perished from the midst of the assembly. 34 And all Israel who were around them fled at their cry, for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us up!” 35 And ^ufire came out from the Lord and consumed ^vthe 250 men offering the incense.

36 ² Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 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. 38 As for the censers of ^wthese 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. ^xThus they shall be a sign to the people of Israel.” 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, 40 to be a reminder to the people of Israel, so ^ythat 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.

41 But on the next day all the congregation of the people of Israel ^zgrumbled against Moses and against Aaron, saying, “You have killed the people of the Lord.” 42 And when the congregation had assembled against Moses and against Aaron, they turned toward the tent of meeting. And behold, ^athe cloud covered it, and ^bthe glory of the Lord appeared. 43 And Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting, 44 and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 45 ^c“Get away from the midst of this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.” ^dAnd they fell on their faces. 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 ^ewrath has gone out from the Lord; the plague has begun.” 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. 48 And he stood between the dead and the living, and ^fthe plague was stopped. 49 Now those who died in the plague were 14,700, ^gbesides 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.