Korach

B'midbar 16:1 - 18:32
Num 16:1 Now Korach the son of Yitz'har, the son of K'hat, the son of Levi, along with Datan and Aviram, the sons of Eli'av, and On, the son of Pelet, descendants of Re'uven, took men and
Num 16:2 rebelled against Moshe. Siding with them were 250 men of Yisra’el, leaders of the community, key members of the council, men of reputation.
Num 16:3 They assembled themselves against Moshe and Aharon and said to them, "You take too much on yourselves! After all, the entire community is kadosh, every one of them, and YHVH is among them. So why do you lift yourselves up above YHVH's assembly?"
Num 16:4 When Moshe heard this he fell on his face.
Num 16:5 Then he said to Korach and his whole group, "In the morning, YHVH will show who are his and who is the kadosh person he will allow to approach him. Yes, he will bring whomever he chooses near to himself.
Num 16:6 Do this: take censers, Korach and all your group;
Num 16:7 put fire in them; and put incense in them before YHVH tomorrow. The one whom YHVH chooses will be the one who is kadosh! It is you, you sons of Levi, who are taking too much on yourselves!"
Num 16:8 Then Moshe said to Korach, "Listen here, you sons of Levi!
Num 16:9 Is it for you a mere trifle that the Elohim of Yisra’el has separated you from the community of Yisra’el to bring you close to himself, so that you can do the work in the tabernacle of YHVH and stand before the community serving them?
Num 16:10 He has brought you close and all your brothers the sons of Levi with you. Now you want the office of kohen too!
Num 16:11 That's why you and your group have gathered together against YHVH! After all, what is Aharon that you complain against him?"
Num 16:12 Then Moshe sent to summon Datan and Aviram, the sons of Eli'av. But they replied, "We won't come up!
Num 16:13 Is it such a mere trifle, bringing us up from a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the desert, that now you arrogate to yourself the role of dictator over us?
Num 16:14 You haven't at all brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, and you haven't put us in possession of fields and vineyards. Do you think you can gouge out these men's eyes and blind them? We won't come up!"
Num 16:15 Moshe was very angry and said to YHVH, "Don't accept their grain offering! I haven't taken one donkey from them, I've done nothing wrong to any of them."
Num 16:16 Moshe said to Korach, "You and your group, be there before YHVH tomorrow — you, they and Aharon.
Num 16:17 Each of you take his fire pan and put incense in it; every one of you, bring before YHVH his fire pan, 250 fire pans, you too, and Aharon — each one his fire pan."
Num 16:18 Each man took his fire pan, put fire in it, laid incense on it and stood at the entrance to the tent of meeting with Moshe and Aharon.
Num 16:19 Korach assembled all the group who were against them at the entrance to the tent of meeting. Then the esteem of YHVH appeared to the whole assembly.
Num 16:20 YHVH said to Moshe and Aharon,
Num 16:21 "Separate yourselves from this assembly; I'm going to destroy them right now!"
Num 16:22 They fell on their faces and said, "Oh Elohim, Elohim of the spirits of all humankind, if one person sins, are you going to be angry with the entire assembly?"
Num 16:23 YHVH answered Moshe,
Num 16:24 "Tell the assembly to move away from the homes of Korach, Datan and Aviram."
Num 16:25 Moshe got up and went to Datan and Aviram, and the leaders of Yisra’el followed him.
Num 16:26 There he said to the assembly, "Leave the tents of these wicked men! Don't touch anything that belongs to them, or you may be swept away in all their sins."
Num 16:27 So they moved away from all around the area where Korach, Datan and Aviram lived. Then Datan and Aviram came out and stood at the entrance to their tents with their wives, sons and little ones.
Num 16:28 Moshe said, "Here is how you will know that YHVH has sent me to do all these things and that I haven't done them out of my own ambition:
Num 16:29 if these men die a natural death like other people, only sharing the fate common to all humanity, then YHVH has not sent me.
Num 16:30 But if YHVH does something new — if the ground opens up and swallows them with everything they own, and they go down alive to Sh'ol — then you will understand that these men have had contempt for YHVH."
Num 16:31 The moment he finished speaking, the ground under them split apart —
Num 16:32 the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their households, all the people who had sided with Korach and everything they owned.
Num 16:33 So they and everything they owned went down alive into Sh'ol, the earth closed over them and their existence in the community ceased.
Num 16:34 All Yisra’el around them fled at their shrieks, shouting, "The earth might swallow us too!"
Num 16:35 Then fire came out from YHVH and destroyed the 250 men who had offered the incense.
Num 16:36 (17:1) YHVH said to Moshe,
Num 16:37 (17:2) "Tell El`azar the son of Aharon the kohen to remove the fire pans from the fire, and scatter the smoldering coals at a distance, because they have become kadosh.
Num 16:38 (17:3) Also the fire pans of these men, whose sin cost them their lives, have become kadosh, because they were offered before YHVH. Therefore, have them hammered into plates to cover the altar. This will be a sign for the people of Yisra’el."
Num 16:39 (17:4) El`azar the kohen took the brass fire pans which the men who had been burned to death had offered, and they hammered them into a covering for the altar,
Num 16:40 (17:5) to remind the people of Yisra’el that an ordinary person, not descended from Aharon, is not to approach and burn incense before YHVH, if he wants to avoid the fate of Korach and his group — as YHVH had said to him through Moshe.
Num 16:41 (17:6) But the very next day, the whole community of the people of Yisra’el complained against Moshe and Aharon: "You have killed YHVH's people!"
Num 16:42 (17:7) However, as the community was assembling against Moshe and Aharon, they looked in the direction of the tent of meeting and saw the cloud cover it and the esteem of YHVH appear.
Num 16:43 (17:8) Moshe and Aharon came to the front of the tent of meeting.
Num 16:44 (17:9) YHVH said to Moshe,
Num 16:45 (17:10) "Get away from this assembly, and I will destroy them at once!" But they fell on their faces.
Num 16:46 (17:11) Moshe said to Aharon, "Take your fire pan, put fire from the altar in it, lay incense on it, and hurry with it to the assembly to make atonement for them, because anger has gone out from YHVH, and the plague has already begun!"
Num 16:47 (17:12) Aharon took it, as Moshe had said, and ran into the middle of the assembly. There the plague had already begun among the people, but he added the incense and made atonement for the people.
Num 16:48 (17:13) He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped.
Num 16:49 (17:14) Those dying from the plague numbered 14,700 — besides those who died in the Korach incident.
Num 16:50 (17:15) Aharon returned to Moshe at the entrance to the tent of meeting, and the plague was stopped.
Num 17:1 (17:16) YHVH said to Moshe,
Num 17:2 (17:17) "Speak to the people of Yisra’el, and take from them staffs, one for each ancestral tribe from each leader of a tribe, twelve staffs. Write each man's name on his staff;
Num 17:3 (17:18) and write Aharon's name on the staff of Levi, for each tribe's leader is to have one staff.
Num 17:4 (17:19) Put them in the tent of meeting in front of the testimony, where I meet with you.
Num 17:5 (17:20) The staff of the man I am going to choose will sprout buds — in this way I will put a stop to the complaints the people of Yisra’el keep making against you."
Num 17:6 (17:21) Moshe spoke to the people of Yisra’el, and all their leaders gave him staffs, one for each leader, according to their ancestral tribes, twelve staffs. Aharon's staff was among their staffs.
Num 17:7 (17:22) Moshe put the staffs before YHVH in the tent of the testimony.
Num 17:8 (17:23) The next day Moshe went into the tent of the testimony, and there he saw that Aharon's staff for the house of Levi had budded — it had sprouted not only buds but flowers and ripe almonds as well.
Num 17:9 (17:24) Moshe brought out all the staffs from before YHVH to all the people of Yisra’el, and they looked, and each man took back his staff.
Num 17:10 (17:25) YHVH said to Moshe, "Return Aharon's staff to its place in front of the testimony. It is to be kept there as a sign to the rebels, so that they will stop grumbling against me and thus not die."
Num 17:11 (17:26) Moshe did this; he did as YHVH had ordered him.
Num 17:12 (17:27) But the people of Yisra’el said to Moshe, "Oh no! We're dead men! Lost! We're all lost!
Num 17:13 (17:28) Whenever anyone approaches the tabernacle of YHVH, he dies! Will we all perish?"
Num 18:1 YHVH said to Aharon, "You, your sons and your father's family line will be responsible for anything that goes wrong in the sanctuary. You and your sons with you will be responsible for anything wrong in your service as kohanim.
Num 18:2 But you are to bring your kinsmen, the tribe of Levi, along with yourselves, to work together with you and help you — you and your sons with you — when you are there before the tent of meeting.
Num 18:3 They are to be at your disposal and perform all kinds of tasks related to the tent; only they are not to come near the kadosh furnishings or the altar, so that neither they nor you will die.
Num 18:4 They will work together with you in your duties related to the tent of meeting, whatever the service in the tent may be; but an unauthorized person is not to come near you.
Num 18:5 You will take charge of all the kadosh things and the altar, so that there will no longer be anger against the people of Yisra’el.
Num 18:6 I myself have taken your kinsmen the L'vi'im from among the people of Yisra’el; they have been given as a gift to YHVH for you, so that you can perform the service in the tent of meeting.
Num 18:7 You and your sons with you will exercise your prerogatives and duties as kohanim in regard to everything having to do with the altar and within the curtain. I entrust the service required of kohanim to you; the unauthorized person who tries to perform it is to be put to death."
Num 18:8 YHVH said to Aharon, "I myself have put you in charge of the contributions given to me. Everything consecrated by the people of Yisra’el I have given and set aside for you and your sons; this is a perpetual law.
Num 18:9 Here is what is to be yours of the especially kadosh things taken from the fire: every offering they make — that is, every grain offering, sin offering and guilt offering of theirs that they turn over to me — will be especially kadosh for you and your sons.
Num 18:10 You are to eat it in an especially kadosh place; every male may eat it; it will be set apart for you.
Num 18:11 "Also yours is the contribution the people of Yisra’el give in the form of wave offerings. I have given these to you, your sons and your daughters with you; this is a perpetual law. Everyone in your family who is clean may eat it.
Num 18:12 All the best of the olive oil, wine and grain, the first portion of what they give to YHVH, I have given to you.
Num 18:13 The first produce to turn ripe of all that is in their land, which they bring to YHVH, is to be yours; every clean person in your family may eat it.
Num 18:14 "Everything in Yisra’el which has been consecrated unconditionally is to be yours.
Num 18:15 "Everything that comes first out of the womb, of all living things which they offer to YHVH, whether human or animal, will be yours. However, the firstborn of a human being you must redeem, and the firstborn of an unclean beast you are to redeem.
Num 18:16 The sum to be paid for redeeming anyone a month old or over is to be five shekels of silver [two ounces], as you value it, using the sanctuary shekel (this is the same as twenty gerahs).
Num 18:17 But the firstborn of an ox, sheep or goat you are not to redeem; they are kadosh — you are to splash their blood against the altar and make their fat go up in smoke as an offering made by fire, as a fragrant aroma for YHVH.
Num 18:18 Their meat will be yours, like the breast that is waved and the right thigh — they will be yours.
Num 18:19 All the contributions of kadosh things which the people of Yisra’el offer to YHVH I have given to you, your sons and your daughters with you; this is a perpetual law, an eternal covenant of salt before YHVH for you and your descendants with you."
Num 18:20 YHVH said to Aharon, "You are not to have any inheritance or portion in their land; I am your portion and inheritance among the people of Yisra’el.
Num 18:21 "To the descendants of Levi I have given the entire tenth of the produce collected in Yisra’el. It is their inheritance in payment for the service they render in the tent of meeting.
Num 18:22 From now on, the people of Yisra’el are not to approach the tent of meeting, so that they will not bear the consequences of their sin and die.
Num 18:23 Only the L'vi'im are to perform the service in the tent of meeting, and they will be responsible for whatever they do wrong. This is to be a permanent regulation through all your generations. They are to have no inheritance among the people of Yisra’el,
Num 18:24 because I have given to the L'vi'im as their inheritance the tenths of the produce which the people of Yisra’el set aside as a gift for YHVH. This is why I have said to them that they are to have no inheritance among the people of Yisra’el."
Num 18:25 YHVH said to Moshe,
Num 18:26 "Tell the L'vi'im, 'When you take from the people of Yisra’el the tenth of the produce which I have given you from them as your inheritance, you are to set aside from it a gift for YHVH, one tenth of the tenth.
Num 18:27 The gift you set aside will be accounted to you as if it were grain from the threshing-floor and grape juice from the wine vat.
Num 18:28 In this way you will set aside a gift for YHVH from all your tenths that you receive from the people of Yisra’el, and from these tenths you are to give to Aharon the kohen the gift set aside for YHVH.
Num 18:29 From everything given to you, you are to set aside all that is due YHVH, the best part of it, its kadosh portion.'
Num 18:30 "Therefore you are to tell them, 'When you set aside from it its best part, it will be accounted to the L'vi'im as if it were grain from the threshing-floor and grape juice from the wine vat.
Num 18:31 You may eat it anywhere, you and your households; because it is your payment in return for your service in the tent of meeting.
Num 18:32 Moreover, because you will have set aside from it its best parts, you will not be committing any sin because of it; for you are not to profane the kadosh things of the people of Yisra’el, or you will die.' "