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16 [1] **Korah son of Yitzhar, **Amram’s brother, **son of Kehat, son of Levi, and Datan and Aviram sons of Eliav, and On son of Pelet, **all three of whom were **sons of Reuben, took **men.
[2] **They, **Korah and his accomplices, **arose before Moses, and **with them were **two hundred and fifty people from the children of Israel, princes of the congregation, the distinguished of the convocation **, men who would be called for important gatherings, to hear judgments, and to the Tent of Meeting. 1 Alternatively, this phrase means that they had the authority to gather the assembly together. In addition, they were **people of renown, **making this a rebellion of the elite.
[3] They
**assembled against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them: It is too much for you. **You have taken for yourselves too many positions of authority. 2 **As the entire congregation **of Israel, **all of them are holy, and the Lord is **found **among them; why do you elevate yourselves over the assembly of the Lord **by giving yourself these positions?
[4] **Moses heard and he fell upon his face **in shock, as this was not the cry of a mob (see 11:4), but an attack from men with whom he was intimately familiar, and who were respected by the people.
[5] After falling on his face Moses received a prophecy.
**He **then **spoke to Korah and to his entire congregation **in the name of God, **saying: **Tomorrow, **in the morning the Lord will disclose who is His, and who is holy, and will bring him near to Him; whom He shall choose **as the one to perform His sacred service for future generations, and that person alone 3 **He will bring near to Him. **You will then realize that it is not I who decided the various appointments.
[6] In order to remove any doubt,
**this you shall do: Take for you fire-pans **for the incense, **Korah, and all his congregation. **
[7] **Place fire in them, and place incense upon them before the Lord tomorrow, **if you wish to burn incense yourselves. Yet **it shall be the man whom the Lord will choose, he **alone **is the holy one. **Up to this point, Moses has spoken to the entire congregation of Korah. Now he turns his focus specifically to the Levites among them: **It is too much for you, sons of Levi. **You should be satisfied with the honorable role you have been given.
[8] **Moses said to Korah: Hear now, sons of Levi: **
[9] **Is it not enough for you that the God of Israel has distinguished you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to Him, to perform the service of the Tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before the congregation to serve them? **
[10] **He brought you, **Korah, **near, and all your brethren the sons of Levi with you, and will you seek the priesthood as well? **Why isn’t your unique status as Levites in the Temple sufficient for you? Furthermore, your request that the entire people should have equal status is inconsistent with the fact that you as a tribe have been singled out and granted a special role. Evidently, you are hiding your personal ambitions for the priesthood.
[11] **Therefore, you and all your congregation **are people **who are **in effect **congregated against the Lord; and Aaron, what is he that you bring complaints against him? **Aaron did not choose his position as High Priest.
[12] **Moses sent to summon Datan and Aviram, sons of Eliav, **in order to talk to them personally; **and they said: We will not go up, **as we reject your authority.
[13] **Is it not enough that you brought us up from a land flowing with milk and honey? **Datan and Aviram appropriate Moses’ own description of the land of Canaan, 4 and use it to refer to Egypt, which they claim was a place of bountiful goodness and comfort. Their echoing of Moses is designed to harangue him. 5 Is it not enough that you took us up **to kill us in the wilderness? Will you also reign over us? **You took us from our land to a vast wilderness from which you are unable to extract us, and in addition you seek to lord over us.
[14] **Yet you did not take us to a land flowing with milk and honey, and **you did not **give us an inheritance of field and vineyard, **as you promised. **Will you gouge out the eyes of these men, **meaning our eyes; do you think we cannot see what is happening? 6 We see no evidence of the blessings of milk and honey you mentioned, but only the thorns of desert shrubbery. **We will not go up, **as we place no trust in your statements.
[15] **Moses was very incensed, and said to the Lord: Do not turn to their offering **or any of their prayers, 7 as **not one donkey did I take from them **as a tax, **nor did I wrong one of them. **There is no justification for their behavior.
[16] **Moses said to Korah: You and all your congregation, be before the Lord: You, and they, and Aaron, tomorrow. **
[17] **Each of you shall take his fire-pan and you shall place incense upon **each of **them, and each of you shall bring his fire-pan before the Lord, two hundred and fifty fire-pans; and you, and Aaron, each his fire-pan. **Since you claim that Aaron received his position by my choice alone, and not by God’s command due to his individual persona, you shall stand next to him for a test tomorrow.
[18] **Each man **from that group **took up his fire-pan; they put fire on them and placed incense on them, and stood at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting with Moses and Aaron. **
[19] **Korah assembled the entire congregation against them to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, **as he was convinced of the justness of his cause; **and the glory of the Lord appeared to the entire congregation. **
[20] **The Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying: **
[21] **Separate yourselves from the midst of this congregation, and I will destroy them in a moment. **The congregation refers to the entire congregation of Israel, which was gathered by Korah, as is evident from the next verse where Moses and Aaron pray on behalf of all Israel. 8
[22] **They, **Moses and Aaron, **fell upon their faces **in prayer, 9 **and said: God, God of the spirits of all flesh, **You know each man’s spirit. **Shall one man sin, and You will rage against the entire congregation? **This is a transgression of isolated individuals, not a rebellion of the entire congregation of Israel against You or us.
[23] **The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: **
[24] **Speak to the congregation, saying: Depart from around the dwelling of Korah, Datan, and Aviram. **
[25] **Moses arose and went to Datan and Aviram; and the elders of Israel followed him. **
[26] **He spoke to the congregation **that had gathered there, **saying: Depart now from near the tents of these wicked men, and do not touch anything that is theirs. **It is recommended that you stay away from their location and their possessions, **lest you be destroyed for all their sins. **When divine retribution arrives, it can sometimes strike others in the vicinity of the sinners.
[27] **They departed from around the dwelling of Korah, Datan, and Aviram. **Meanwhile **Datan and Aviram emerged and stood at the entrance of their tents with their wives, their sons, and their children. **The entire family came out in a brazen display of self-confidence and rebellion against Moses’ authority. They did so in the presence of the congregation, which had distanced themselves, but continued to watch the unfolding events.
[28] **Moses said: With this you will know that the Lord has sent me to perform all these actions, **the appointments about which you accuse me of favoritism, **as it is not from my heart. **I did not initiate them, but received them as commands from God.
[29] **If these **men **die like the death of all people, and the destiny of all people, **the punishment of all mankind, which is the death of the spirit while the body returns to dust, 10 **is visited upon them, **you will know that **the Lord has not sent me. **If they die in a normal manner, my prophecy will have been shown to be false.
[30] **But if the Lord creates a creation **here, **and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them and everything that is theirs, and they descend **while still **alive into the abyss, you shall know that these people have scorned the Lord, **and this is their punishment.
[31] **It was as he concluded to speak all these words; the ground that was beneath them split. **At first, cracks appeared in the earth.
[32] Then
**the earth opened its mouth **wide **and swallowed them, their households, all the people who were with Korah, **his family, **and all the property. **
[33] **They, and everything that was theirs descended alive into the abyss. The earth covered them and they were lost from the midst of the assembly **in body and soul.
[34] **All Israel that were **standing **around them fled due to their sound, as they said: Lest the earth swallow us. **
[35] **Fire emerged from the Lord, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men, the presenters of the incense. **Since they had encroached upon the sacred by acting in a capacity that was not assigned to them, they were punished in the manner of Nadav and Avihu, who offered strange fire. 11
Version: The Steinsaltz Tanakh - English
Source: https://korenpub.com/collections/the-steinsaltz-tanakh/products/steinsaltz-tanakh
License: Copyright: Steinsaltz Center