Numbers 16 - EasyEnglish Bible 2024（EASY）

Chapter 16Korah and other people turn against Moses

1One day, Korah the son of Izhar and grandson of Kohath, the son of Levi, decided to speak against Moses. With him were Eliab's sons, Dathan and Abiram, and Peleth's son, On. These men belonged to Reuben's tribe.

2Together with 250 leaders of the Israelites, they all turned against Moses. These were famous men that the people had chosen as their leaders.

3They all came to speak against Moses and Aaron. They said, ‘You are taking more authority for yourselves than you should. All of us Israelites belong to God as his holy people. The Lord lives among us all. So you should not say that you are more important than the rest of the Lord's people.’

4When Moses heard that, he threw himself down with his face on the ground.

5He said to Korah and to the other leaders who were with him, ‘Tomorrow morning, the Lord will show us who belongs to him as his holy people. He will allow the person who is holy to come near to him.

6Now, Korah, do this: You and your friends must get some metal dishes for yourselves.

7Tomorrow, put fire and incense in the dishes, to burn in front of the Lord. Then the Lord will choose the man who is holy. It is you Levites who have made yourselves too important!’

8Then Moses said to Korah, ‘Listen to me, you Levites!

9The God of Israel has caused you to be separate from all the other tribes of Israel. He has brought you near to himself, to work in the Lord's tabernacle. He has chosen you to serve the other Israelite people as they worship the Lord. But it seems that this is not enough for you.

10The Lord has brought you, Korah, and the other Levites near to himself. Now it seems that you also want to become priests.

11You and you friends have turned against the Lord. It is not only Aaron that you are complaining about!’

12Then Moses called Eliab's sons, Dathan and Abiram, to come to him. But they said, ‘No, we refuse to come!

13You have brought us out of a country where there is plenty of food and drink, enough for everyone. You have brought us here, where we will die in the desert. But it seems that this is not enough for you. You also want to rule us as our master!

14You have certainly not brought us into a land where there is plenty of food and drink. You have not given us fields and vineyards, for us and our descendants to enjoy. You cannot deceive all these men. We will not come up to meet with you!’

15Moses was very angry. He said to the Lord, ‘Do not accept what these men offer to you. I have never taken anything from them, not even one donkey! I have never done a wrong thing to any of them.’

16Moses said to Korah, ‘Tomorrow, you and all your friends must come to the tabernacle. You must come there to stand in front of the Lord. Aaron will be there too.

17Each of you must bring a dish and you must put incense in it. You must burn the incense as an offering to the Lord. There will be 250 dishes with incense, one for each of you as well as one for Aaron.’

18So each man brought a dish. Each man put fire on the incense to burn it. They all stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.

God punishes Korah and his friends

19Korah brought the whole group of Israelites to stand against Moses and Aaron at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. Then the bright glory of the Lord appeared to all the people.

20The Lord said to Moses and Aaron,

21‘Stand away from all these people so that I can destroy them immediately!’

22But Moses and Aaron threw themselves down with their faces on the ground. They said, ‘You, our God, are the God who gives life to all people. When only one man has done a bad thing, will you be angry with all the people? Is that right?’

23The Lord said to Moses,

24‘Tell all the people to move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.’

25Moses got up from the ground. He went to Dathan and Abiram. The leaders of the Israelites went with him.

26Moses said to all the people, ‘Move away from the tents of these wicked men. Do not touch anything that belongs to them. If you do not move away, God may destroy you together with them, because of all their sins.’

27So the people moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram came and stood at the doors of their tents, together with their wives, their babies and their children.

28Then Moses said, ‘It is the Lord who has sent me to do all these things for you. It was not my own idea. This is how you will know.

29If these men die of old age, as all men will die one day, then it shows that the Lord has not sent me.

30But if the Lord causes something completely new to happen to them, you will know that they are guilty people. They are the ones who have turned against the Lord. You will know this if the ground opens its mouth and eats them! You will know it if these men and everything that belongs to them fall down into the deep hole of death while they are still alive. Then you will know that these men have insulted the Lord.’

31When Moses finished speaking, a great hole opened in the ground.

32It was like a big mouth that ate those men, their families and everything that belonged to them. The earth ate Korah, all his group and everything that belonged to them.

33They all went down into the deep hole of death while they were still alive. The ground closed over them and they disappeared. They no longer belonged among God's people.

34The other Israelites who were standing near those men heard them shout. So they ran away quickly. They said, ‘Help! The ground might eat us too!’

35Then the Lord sent fire down on the other 250 men who were offering incense to God. The fire destroyed them completely.

36The Lord said to Moses,

37‘Tell Aaron's son, Eleazar, to take the dishes with incense out of the burning fire. That is because those dishes are holy. Then take the coal that was burning in the dishes and throw it a long way away.

38Those men died as punishment for their sin. But they were offering incense to the Lord, so the metal dishes that they were holding have become holy. Workers must use hammers to make the dishes into thin metal. Then they must use the metal to cover the altar. That will be a sign to warn the Israelites.’

39So Eleazar took the 250 dishes that the men had used to burn incense. Workers used the bronze from the dishes to cover the altar.

40This would help the Israelites to remember that only descendants of Aaron could burn incense in front of the Lord. They knew that God would punish anyone else, as he punished Korah and his friends. Eleazar obeyed the command that the Lord had given to Moses.

41But on the next day, the whole group of Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron. They said, ‘You have killed the Lord's people!’

42When the people met together to complain against Moses and Aaron, they turned to look at the Tent of Meeting. They saw that the cloud now covered the tent. The Lord's bright glory appeared to them.

43Moses and Aaron went to stand at the front of the Tent of Meeting.

44The Lord said to Moses,

45‘Move away from the people so that I can destroy them immediately!’ Moses and Aaron threw themselves down with their faces on the ground.

46Moses said to Aaron, ‘Take your incense dish. Take coals with fire from the altar. Put them on the dish and add incense on top. Then take it quickly among all the people. This will make them clean from their sin. Be quick! The Lord is very angry with the people. He has already started to punish them with a bad disease!’

47So Aaron did what Moses had told him to do. He ran among the people where the disease was already killing some of them. He burned incense on the coals and he made the people clean from their sin.

48He stood between the people who had died and those who were still living. In that way, he caused the disease to stop.

49But 14,700 people died because of the disease, as well as the people who had died with Korah.

50After the disease stopped, Aaron went back to Moses at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.