The Rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram

^1-2Korah son of Izhar, from the Levite clan of Kohath, rebelled against the leadership of Moses. He was joined by three members of the tribe of Reuben—Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—and by 250 other Israelites, well-known leaders chosen by the community.

³They assembled before Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! All the members of the community belong to the Lord, and the Lord is with all of us. Why, then, Moses, do you set yourself above the Lord's community?”

⁴When Moses heard this, he threw himself on the ground and prayed.

⁵Then he said to Korah and his followers, “Tomorrow morning the Lord will show us who belongs to him; he will let the one who belongs to him, that is, the one he has chosen, approach him at the altar.

^6-7Tomorrow morning you and your followers take fire pans, put live coals and incense on them, and take them to the altar. Then we will see which of us the Lord has chosen. You Levites are the ones who have gone too far!”

⁸Moses continued to speak to Korah. “Listen, you Levites!

⁹Do you consider it a small matter that the God of Israel has set you apart from the rest of the community, so that you can approach him, perform your service in the Lord's Tent, and minister to the community and serve them?

¹⁰He has let you and all the other Levites have this honor—and now you are trying to get the priesthood too!

¹¹When you complain against Aaron, it is really against the Lord that you and your followers are rebelling.”

¹²Then Moses sent for Dathan and Abiram, but they said, “We will not come!

¹³Isn't it enough that you have brought us out of the fertile land of Egypt to kill us here in the wilderness? Do you also have to lord it over us?

¹⁴You certainly have not brought us into a fertile land or given us fields and vineyards as our possession, and now you are trying to deceive us. We will not come!”

¹⁵Moses became angry and said to the Lord, “Do not accept any offerings these men bring. I have not wronged any of them; I have not even taken one of their donkeys.”

¹⁶Moses said to Korah, “Tomorrow you and your 250 followers must come to the Tent of the Lord's presence; Aaron will also be there.

¹⁷Each of you will take his fire pan, put incense on it, and then present it at the altar.”

¹⁸So they each took their fire pans, put live coals and incense on them, and stood at the entrance of the Tent with Moses and Aaron.

¹⁹Then Korah gathered the whole community, and they stood facing Moses and Aaron at the entrance of the Tent. Suddenly the dazzling light of the Lord's presence appeared to the whole community,

²⁰and the Lord said to Moses and Aaron,

²¹“Move back from these people, and I will destroy them immediately.”

²²But Moses and Aaron bowed down with their faces to the ground and said, “O God, you are the source of all life. When one of us sins, do you become angry with the whole community?”

²³The Lord said to Moses,

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

²⁵Then Moses, accompanied by the leaders of Israel, went to Dathan and Abiram.

²⁶He said to the people, “Get away from the tents of these wicked men and don't touch anything that belongs to them. Otherwise, you will be wiped out with them for all their sins.”

²⁷So they moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram had come out and were standing at the entrance of their tents, with their wives and children.

²⁸Moses said to the people, “This is how you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these things and that it is not by my own choice that I have done them.

²⁹If these men die a natural death without some punishment from God, then the Lord did not send me.

³⁰But if the Lord does something unheard of, and the earth opens up and swallows them with all they own, so that they go down alive to the world of the dead, you will know that these men have rejected the Lord.”

³¹As soon as he had finished speaking, the ground under Dathan and Abiram split open

³²and swallowed them and their families, together with all of Korah's followers and their possessions.

³³So they went down alive to the world of the dead, with their possessions. The earth closed over them, and they vanished.

³⁴All the people of Israel who were there fled when they heard their cry. They shouted, “Run! The earth might swallow us too!”

³⁵Then the Lord sent a fire that blazed out and burned up the 250 men who had presented the incense.

The Fire Pans

³⁶Then the Lord said to Moses,

³⁷“Tell Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to remove the bronze fire pans from the remains of those who have been burned, and scatter the coals from the fire pans somewhere else, because the fire pans are holy.

³⁸They became holy when they were presented at the Lord's altar. So take the fire pans of these who were put to death for their sin, beat them into thin plates, and make a covering for the altar. It will be a warning to the people of Israel.”

³⁹So Eleazar the priest took the fire pans and had them beaten into thin plates to make a covering for the altar.

⁴⁰This was a warning to the Israelites that no one who was not a descendant of Aaron should come to the altar to burn incense for the Lord. Otherwise he would be destroyed like Korah and his men. All this was done as the Lord had commanded Eleazar through Moses.

Aaron Saves the People

⁴¹The next day the whole community complained against Moses and Aaron and said, “You have killed some of the Lord's people.”

⁴²After they had all gathered to protest to Moses and Aaron, they turned toward the Tent and saw that the cloud was covering it and that the dazzling light of the Lord's presence had appeared.

⁴³Moses and Aaron went and stood in front of the Tent,

⁴⁴and the Lord said to Moses,

⁴⁵“Move back from these people, and I will destroy them on the spot!” The two of them bowed down with their faces to the ground,

⁴⁶and Moses said to Aaron, “Take your fire pan, put live coals from the altar in it, and put some incense on the coals. Then hurry with it to the people and perform the ritual of purification for them. Hurry! The Lord's anger has already broken out and an epidemic has already begun.”

⁴⁷Aaron obeyed, took his fire pan and ran into the middle of the assembled people. When he saw that the plague had already begun, he put the incense on the coals and performed the ritual of purification for the people.

⁴⁸This stopped the plague, and he was left standing between the living and the dead.

⁴⁹The number of people who died was 14,700, not counting those who died in Korah's rebellion.

⁵⁰When the plague had stopped, Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the Tent.

The Seventh Year

¹“At the end of every seventh year you are to cancel the debts of those who owe you money.

²This is how it is to be done. Each of you who has lent money to any Israelite is to cancel the debt; you must not try to collect the money; the Lord himself has declared the debt canceled.

³You may collect what a foreigner owes you, but you must not collect what any of your own people owe you.

⁴“The Lord your God will bless you in the land that he is giving you. Not one of your people will be poor

⁵if you obey him and carefully observe everything that I command you today.

⁶The Lord will bless you, as he has promised. You will lend money to many nations, but you will not have to borrow from any; you will have control over many nations, but no nation will have control over you.

⁷“If in any of the towns in the land that the Lord your God is giving you there are Israelites in need, then do not be selfish and refuse to help them.

⁸Instead, be generous and lend them as much as they need.

⁹Do not refuse to lend them something, just because the year when debts are canceled is near. Do not let such an evil thought enter your mind. If you refuse to make the loan, they will cry out to the Lord against you, and you will be held guilty.

¹⁰Give to them freely and unselfishly, and the Lord will bless you in everything you do.

¹¹There will always be some Israelites who are poor and in need, and so I command you to be generous to them.

The Treatment of Slaves

¹²“If any Israelites, male or female, sell themselves to you as slaves, you are to release them after they have served you for six years. When the seventh year comes, you must let them go free.

¹³When you set them free, do not send them away empty-handed.

¹⁴Give to them generously from what the Lord has blessed you with—sheep, grain, and wine.

¹⁵Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord your God set you free; that is why I am now giving you this command.

¹⁶“But your slave may not want to leave; he may love you and your family and be content to stay.

¹⁷Then take him to the door of your house and there pierce his ear; he will then be your slave for life. Treat your female slave in the same way.

¹⁸Do not be resentful when you set slaves free; after all, they have served you for six years at half the cost of hired servants. Do this, and the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do.

The First-Born Cattle and Sheep

¹⁹“Set aside for the Lord your God all the first-born males of your cattle and sheep; don't use any of these cattle for work and don't shear any of these sheep.

²⁰Each year you and your family are to eat them in the Lord's presence at the one place of worship.

²¹But if there is anything wrong with the animals, if they are crippled or blind or have any other serious defect, you must not sacrifice them to the Lord your God.

²²You may eat such animals at home. All of you, whether ritually clean or unclean, may eat them, just as you eat deer or antelope.

²³But do not use their blood for food; instead, you must pour it out on the ground like water.

The Passover

¹“Honor the Lord your God by celebrating Passover in the month of Abib; it was on a night in that month that he rescued you from Egypt.

²Go to the one place of worship and slaughter there one of your sheep or cattle for the Passover meal to honor the Lord your God.

³When you eat this meal, do not eat bread prepared with yeast. For seven days you are to eat bread prepared without yeast, as you did when you had to leave Egypt in such a hurry. Eat this bread—it will be called the bread of suffering—so that as long as you live you will remember the day you came out of Egypt, that place of suffering.

⁴For seven days no one in your land is to have any yeast in the house; and the meat of the animal killed on the evening of the first day must be eaten that same night.

^5-6“Slaughter the Passover animals at the one place of worship—and nowhere else in the land that the Lord your God will give you. Do it at sunset, the time of day when you left Egypt.

⁷Boil the meat and eat it at the one place of worship; and the next morning return home.

⁸For the next six days you are to eat bread prepared without yeast, and on the seventh day assemble to worship the Lord your God, and do no work on that day.

The Harvest Festival

⁹“Count seven weeks from the time that you begin to harvest the grain,

¹⁰and then celebrate the Harvest Festival, to honor the Lord your God, by bringing him a freewill offering in proportion to the blessing he has given you.

¹¹Be joyful in the Lord's presence, together with your children, your servants, and the Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows who live in your towns. Do this at the one place of worship.

¹²Be sure that you obey these commands; do not forget that you were slaves in Egypt.

The Festival of Shelters

¹³“After you have threshed all your grain and pressed all your grapes, celebrate the Festival of Shelters for seven days.

¹⁴Enjoy it with your children, your servants, and the Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows who live in your towns.

¹⁵Honor the Lord your God by celebrating this festival for seven days at the one place of worship. Be joyful, because the Lord has blessed your harvest and your work.

¹⁶“All the men of your nation are to come to worship the Lord three times a year at the one place of worship: at Passover, Harvest Festival, and the Festival of Shelters. Each man is to bring a gift

¹⁷as he is able, in proportion to the blessings that the Lord your God has given him.

The Administration of Justice

¹⁸“Appoint judges and other officials in every town that the Lord your God gives you. These men are to judge the people impartially.

¹⁹They are not to be unjust or show partiality in their judgments; and they are not to accept bribes, for gifts blind the eyes even of wise and honest men, and cause them to give wrong decisions.

²⁰Always be fair and just, so that you will occupy the land that the Lord your God is giving you and so that you will continue to live there.

²¹“When you make an altar for the Lord your God, do not put beside it a wooden symbol of the goddess Asherah.

²²And do not set up any stone pillar for idol worship; the Lord hates them.

God the Supreme Ruler

¹The Lord is king! Earth, be glad! Rejoice, you islands of the seas!

²Clouds and darkness surround him; he rules with righteousness and justice.

³Fire goes in front of him and burns up his enemies around him.

⁴His lightning lights up the world; the earth sees it and trembles.

⁵The hills melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth.

⁶The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all the nations see his glory.

⁷Everyone who worships idols is put to shame; all the gods bow down before the Lord.

⁸The people of Zion are glad, and the cities of Judah rejoice because of your judgments, O Lord.

⁹Lord Almighty, you are ruler of all the earth; you are much greater than all the gods.

¹⁰The Lord loves those who hate evil; he protects the lives of his people; he rescues them from the power of the wicked.

¹¹Light shines on the righteous, and gladness on the good.

¹²All you that are righteous be glad because of what the Lord has done! Remember what the holy God has done, and give thanks to him.