took two hundred and fifty men from the {Israelites}, leaders of the community summoned from the assembly, {renowned men}, and {they confronted} Moses.

They were assembled in front of Moses and Aaron, and they said to them, "{You take too much upon yourselves}! All of the community is holy, every one of them, and Yahweh [is] in their midst, so why do you raise yourselves over the assembly of Yahweh?"

And he said to Korah and to his entire company, saying, "[Tomorrow] morning Yahweh will make known who [is] his and [who] is holy, and he will bring him near to him, whomever he chooses he will bring near to him.

Do this: take for yourselves censers, Korah and all of your company;

tomorrow put fire in them and place incense on them {before} Yahweh; the man whom Yahweh chooses [will be] the holy [one]. You take too much upon yourselves, sons of Levi!"

And Moses said to Korah, "Please listen, sons of Levi!

[Is it] too little for you that the God of Israel set you apart from the community of Israel {to allow you to approach him} to do the work of the tabernacle of Yahweh, to stand {before} the community to serve them?

{He has allowed you to approach him}, you with all your brothers, the descendants of Levi, but yet you also seek the priesthood.

Moses sent to call [for] Dathan and Abiram son of Eliab, but they said, "We will not come!

Is it too little that you have brought us from a land that flows with milk and honey to kill us in the desert, and that you also appoint yourself as a ruler over us?

Surely, you have not brought us to a land that flows with milk and honey, and you have not given us the inheritance of fields and a vineyard. Will you gouge out the eyes of these men? We will not come!"

Then Moses became angry, and he said to Yahweh, "Do not notice their grain offering. I have not offered one donkey from them, and I have not mistreated one of them."

And Moses said to Korah, "You and your entire company will be {before} Yahweh tomorrow, you and they and Aaron.

Each one take his censer, and put incense on it and you will present it {before} Yahweh, and each of you bring his censer, two hundred and fifty censers, you and Aaron, each his censer."

And Korah summoned them, the entire community, by the doorway of the tent of assembly, and the glory of Yahweh appeared to all the community.

And Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,

Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

"Speak to the community, saying, 'Move away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.'"

So Moses stood up and went to Dathan and Abiram; the elders of Israel followed after him.

He said to the community, saying, "Please turn away from the tents of these wicked men, and do not touch anything {that belongs to them}, or you will be destroyed with all their sins."

And Moses said, "In this you will know that Yahweh has sent me to do all these works; [it is] not from my heart.

{If they die a natural death} or {if a natural fate is visited upon them}, Yahweh has not sent me.

But if Yahweh creates something new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up and {all that belongs to them}, and they go down alive [to] Sheol, and you will know that these men have despised Yahweh."

The land opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their houses and every person {that belonged to Korah} and all the property.

They went down alive [to] Sheol, they and all that belonged to them, and the land covered over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly.

And fire went out from Yahweh, and it consumed the two hundred and fifty men presenting the incense.

And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

"Say to Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, '{Take out} the censers from among the place of burning because they are sacred, and scatter the fire outside.

[it was] a memorial for the {Israelites}, so that {no strange man} who is not from {the offspring} of Aaron should approach the presence [of] Yahweh to burn a smoke offering; he will not be like Korah and his company, just as Yahweh had spoken to him by the hand of Moses.

The next day all the community of the {Israelites} grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, "You have killed the people of Yahweh!"

Then, when the community had gathered against Moses and Aaron, they turned to the tent of assembly, and behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of Yahweh appeared.

And Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of assembly,

and Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

And Moses and Aaron said, "Take the censer, and put fire on it from the altar. Place incense [on it], and bring it quickly to the community, and make atonement for them, because wrath went out from the presence of Yahweh, and a plague has begun."

Then Aaron returned to Moses at the doorway of the tent of assembly, and the plague was stopped.

Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

"Speak to the {Israelites}, and take from among them twelve staffs, {a staff from each family} from among all their leaders according to their families' households. Write the name of each man on his staff,

Moses spoke to the {Israelites}, and all their leaders gave him a staff for each leader, one from {each of their families}, twelve staffs, and the staff of Aaron [was] in the midst of their tribes.

Then the next day, Moses went into the tent of the testimony, and behold the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi blossomed and put forth a flower and produced blossoms, and it produced almonds.

Then Moses brought out to all the {Israelites} all the staffs before the presence of Yahweh, and they saw, and each man took his staff.

And Yahweh said to Moses, "Bring back the staff of Aaron before the testimony as a guard and sign for the children of rebellion, and let them finish their grumblings before me and not die."

And the {Israelites} said to Moses, saying, "Look! We will die! We will be destroyed! All of us will perish!

Anyone who approaches the tabernacle of Yahweh will die. {Will we all die}?"

Yahweh said to Aaron, "You, your sons, and your family with you will bear the guilt of the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you will bear the guilt of your priesthood.

Moreover, bring your brothers with you, the tribe of Levi the tribe of your father, that they may be joined to you and minister [to] you, you and your sons with you before the tent of testimony.

They will keep your responsibility and the responsibility of all the tent, only they may not come near the vessels of the sanctuary and the altar, so both you and they will not die.

They will be joined to you, and they will keep the responsibility of the tent of assembly for the entire service of the tent; a stranger may not come near you.

Look, I myself have chosen your brothers the Levites from the midst of the children. They are a gift to you given from Yahweh to perform the work of the tent of assembly.

But you with your sons will keep your priesthood to perform your priestly duties for everything at the altar and for {the area behind the curtain}. I give you the priesthood as a gift, but the stranger who approaches will be put to death."

Yahweh spoke to Aaron, "Behold, I myself have given to you the responsibility of my contributions for all the holy objects of the {Israelites}; I have given them as a portion to you and your sons as an eternal decree.

This will be for you from the sanctuary of the holy things from the fire; all of their offerings, from every grain offering, from every sin offering, and from every guilt offering which they will bring to me [is] {a most holy thing} for you and your sons.

You will eat it in the most holy place; every male will eat it. It will be a holy object to you.

This [is also] for you: the contribution of their gift of the wave offerings of the children Israel. I have given them to you and your sons and your daughters with you as an eternal decree; whoever [is] clean in your house may eat it.

All [the] finest olive oil and all the finest new wine and their best grain that they have given to Yahweh, I have given them to you.

[The] firstfruits of all that [is] in their land that they present to Yahweh will be for you; whoever [is] clean in your house may eat it.

All [the] first offspring of a womb of any creature that they offer to Yahweh, whether human or animal, will be yours; you will surely redeem the firstborn of the human and the unclean firstborn of the animal.

As to their price of redemption, from {a one-month-old} you will redeem them according to your proper value, five shekels of silver according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which [is] twenty gerah.

All the contributions of holiness that the {Israelites} offer to Yahweh I have given to you and your sons and your daughters with you as an eternal decree; it [is] an eternal covenant of salt {before} Yahweh to you and your offspring with you."

Then Yahweh said to Aaron, "You will not receive an inheritance in their land, and there will not be a plot of ground for you in the midst of the {Israelites}.

"Behold, I have given to the descendants of Levi every tithe in Israel as an inheritance in return for their service, which they [are] doing, the work of the tent of assembly.

The {Israelites} will not come near again to the tent of assembly, or {they will bear sin} and die.

because the tithes of the {Israelites} that are {offered} to Yahweh as a contribution, I have given to the Levites as an inheritance; therefore I said to them, 'They will not receive an inheritance in the midst of the {Israelites}.'"

Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

"You will speak to the Levites and say to them, 'When you receive the tithe from the {Israelites} that I have given to you from them for your inheritance, {you will present} a contribution from it to Yahweh, a tithe from a tithe.

Your contribution will be credited to you like the grain from the threshing floor and like the produce from the press.

So {you will present} your own contribution to Yahweh from all your tithes that you receive from the {Israelites}; from it you will give the contribution of Yahweh to Aaron the priest.

You will say to them, 'When {you are presenting} its fat, the rest will be credited to the Levites like a yield of the threshing floor and like a yield from the press.

You will not bear any sin because {you have presented} its fat; you will not defile the holy objects of the {Israelites}, or you will die.'"

And Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,

"This [is] the decree of the law that Yahweh has commanded, saying, 'Speak to the {Israelites} and let them take to you a red heifer without a physical defect, on which a yoke {has not been placed}.

And you will give it to Eleazar the priest, and it will be brought out to a place outside the camp, and it will be slaughtered in his presence.

The heifer will be burned in his sight; its skin, its meat, and its blood, in addition to its offal, will burn.

The priest will wash his garments and his body in the water, and afterward he will come to the camp; the priest will be unclean until the evening.

He will purify himself on the third day, and on the seventh day he will be clean. If he does not purify himself on the third day, he will not be clean on the seventh day.

The clean [person] will spatter the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day; and on the seventh day he will purify him, and he will wash his garments; he will bathe in the waters, and in the evening he will be clean.

Then the entire community of the {Israelites} came [to] the desert of Zin on the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh; Miriam died and was buried there.

Why have you brought the assembly of Yahweh, us and our livestock, into this desert to die here?

Why have you brought us from Egypt to bring us to this bad place? It is not a place of seed or figs or vines or pomegranate trees, and there is not water to drink."

And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the doorway of the tent of assembly. They fell on their faces, and the glory of Yahweh appeared to them.

Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

"Take the staff and summon the community, you and Aaron your brother, and speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will give water. Bring out for them water from the rock, and let the community and their livestock drink."

and Moses and Aaron summoned the assembly to the presence of the rock, and he said to them, "Please listen, you rebels; can we bring out water for you from this rock?"

But Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you have not trusted in me, to regard me as holy {in the sight of} the {Israelites}, you will not bring this assembly into the land that I have given to them."

From Kadesh Moses sent messengers to the king of Edom: "Thus your brother Israel has said, 'You know all the hardship that has found us;

our ancestors went down to Egypt, and we lived in Egypt {a long time}, and the Egyptians mistreated us and our ancestors.

Then we cried to Yahweh, and he heard our voice; he sent an angel and brought us out from Egypt. And look, we [are] in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your territory.

Then Edom said to him, "You will not pass through us lest {we will go out} to meet you with the sword."

The {Israelites} said to him, "We will go up on the main road, and if we and our livestock drink your water, we will pay [for it]. It is only a small matter; let us pass through on our feet."

But he said, "You will not go through." And Edom went out to meet {them} with a large army and a strong hand.

So Edom refused to give Israel passage through his territory, and Israel turned aside from him.

And they set out from Kadesh. The {Israelites}, the whole community, came [to] Mount Hor.

Yahweh said to Moses and to Aaron on Mount Hor, on the boundary of the land of Edom, saying,

"Let Aaron be gathered to his people; he will not come into the land that I have given to the {Israelites} because you rebelled against {my word} at the waters of Meribah.

Strip off Aaron's garments, and put them on Eleazar his son; Aaron will be gathered [to his people], and he will die there."

So Moses did just as Yahweh commanded, and they went up to Mount Hor before the eyes of all the community.

Israel made a vow to Yahweh, and they said, "If you will surely give this people into our hand, then we {will destroy} their cities."

Yahweh heard the voice of Israel; he gave [to them] the Canaanites, and {they destroyed them} and their cities. They called the name of the place Hormah.

They set out from Mount Hor [by] the way of the {Red Sea} to go around the land of Edom; but {the people became impatient} along the way.

The people spoke against God and against Moses, "Why have you brought us from Egypt to die in the desert? There is no food and no water, and our hearts detest [this] miserable food."

The people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned because we have spoken against Yahweh and against you. Pray to Yahweh and let him remove the snakes from among us." So Moses prayed for the people.