Numbers · 50 verses

Numbers 16

Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.

The chapter

What happens here

Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.

Aaron runs into a plague with a censer, stands between the living and the dead, and somehow the plague stops there. Numbers is not shy of a dramatic entrance.

A test with very little room for doubtvv. 1–19

Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and On gather 250 leaders against Moses and Aaron, objecting that the whole congregation is holy and asking why the two should exalt themselves. Moses falls facedown, then proposes a test for the following morning: censers, fire, incense, and the LORD’s choice. Dathan and Abiram refuse even to come when summoned, accusing Moses of bringing them from a land flowing with milk and honey only to die in the wilderness. At the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, the assembled men take up their censers, and the glory of the LORD appears.

The earth gives its answervv. 20–40

The LORD tells Moses and Aaron to separate themselves from the congregation, but they fall facedown and plead that one man’s sin should not consume everyone. Moses warns Israel away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram stand at their tent entrances with their wives, children, and infants. Then Moses finishes speaking, the ground splits open, and the earth swallows the rebels, their households, and all their possessions alive into Sheol. Fire consumes the 250 men offering incense. The censers survive their owners: Eleazar removes them from the flames, and they are hammered into sheets for the altar, where rebellion’s equipment becomes a holy warning.

Aaron between the living and the deadvv. 41–50

The next day, the whole congregation grumbles that Moses and Aaron have killed the LORD’s people. The cloud covers the Tent of Meeting, the glory appears, and a plague begins among the people. Moses tells Aaron to take fire and incense, hurry into the congregation, and make atonement. Aaron runs into the midst of the assembly and stands between the living and the dead; the plague halts there. 14,700 have died, in addition to those who died on account of Korah.

The text

Read it

Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

Num 16:1Now Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath son of Levi, along with some Reubenites—Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—conducted
Num 16:2a rebellion against Moses, along with 250 men of Israel renowned as leaders of the congregation and representatives in the assembly.
Num 16:3They came together against Moses and Aaron and told them, “You have taken too much upon yourselves! For everyone in the entire congregation is holy, and the LORD is in their midst. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?”
Num 16:4When Moses heard this, he fell facedown.
Num 16:5Then he said to Korah and all his followers, “Tomorrow morning the LORD will reveal who belongs to Him and who is holy, and He will bring that person near to Himself. The one He chooses He will bring near to Himself.
Num 16:6You, Korah, and all your followers are to do as follows: Take censers,
Num 16:7and tomorrow you are to place fire and incense in them in the presence of the LORD. Then the man the LORD chooses will be the one who is holy. It is you sons of Levi who have taken too much upon yourselves!”
Num 16:8 Moses also said to Korah, “Now listen, you sons of Levi!
Num 16:9Is it not enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel and brought you near to Himself to perform the work at the LORD’s tabernacle, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them?
Num 16:10He has brought you near, you and all your fellow Levites, but you are seeking the priesthood as well.
Num 16:11Therefore, it is you and all your followers who have conspired against the LORD! As for Aaron, who is he that you should grumble against him?”
Num 16:12Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come!
Num 16:13Is it not enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? Must you also appoint yourself as ruler over us?
Num 16:14Moreover, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you gouge out the eyes of these men? No, we will not come!”
Num 16:15Then Moses became very angry and said to the LORD, “Do not regard their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them or mistreated a single one of them.”
Num 16:16And Moses said to Korah, “You and all your followers are to appear before the LORD tomorrow—you and they and Aaron.
Num 16:17Each man is to take his censer, place incense in it, and present it before the LORD—250 censers. You and Aaron are to present your censers as well.”
Num 16:18So each man took his censer, put fire and incense in it, and stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
Num 16:19When Korah had gathered his whole assembly against them at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, the glory of the LORD appeared to the whole congregation.
Num 16:20And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,
Num 16:21“Separate yourselves from this congregation so that I may consume them in an instant.”
Num 16:22But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, when one man sins, will You be angry with the whole congregation?”
Num 16:23Then the LORD said to Moses,
Num 16:24“Tell the congregation to move away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”
Num 16:25So Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him.
Num 16:26And he warned the congregation, “Move away now from the tents of these wicked men. Do not touch anything that belongs to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins.”
Num 16:27So they moved away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Meanwhile, Dathan and Abiram had come out and stood at the entrances to their tents with their wives and children and infants.
Num 16:28Then Moses said, “This is how you will know that the LORD has sent me to do all these things, for it was not my own doing:
Num 16:29If these men die a natural death, or if they suffer the fate of all men, then the LORD has not sent me.
Num 16:30But if the LORD brings about something unprecedented, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them and all that belongs to them so that they go down alive into Sheol, then you will know that these men have treated the LORD with contempt.”
Num 16:31As soon as Moses had finished saying all this, the ground beneath them split open,
Num 16:32and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households—all Korah’s men and all their possessions.
Num 16:33They went down alive into Sheol with all they owned. The earth closed over them, and they vanished from the assembly.
Num 16:34At their cries, all the people of Israel who were around them fled, saying, “The earth may swallow us too!”
Num 16:35And fire came forth from the LORD and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense.
Num 16:36Then the LORD said to Moses,
Num 16:37“Tell Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to remove the censers from the flames and to scatter the coals far away, because the censers are holy.
Num 16:38As for the censers of those who sinned at the cost of their own lives, hammer them into sheets to overlay the altar, for these were presented before the LORD, and so have become holy. They will serve as a sign to the Israelites.”
Num 16:39So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers brought by those who had been burned up, and he had them hammered out to overlay the altar,
Num 16:40just as the LORD commanded him through Moses. This was to be a reminder to the Israelites that no outsider who is not a descendant of Aaron should approach to offer incense before the LORD, lest he become like Korah and his followers.
Num 16:41The next day the whole congregation of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the LORD’s people!”
Num 16:42But when the congregation gathered against them, Moses and Aaron turned toward the Tent of Meeting, and suddenly the cloud covered it and the glory of the LORD appeared.
Num 16:43Then Moses and Aaron went to the front of the Tent of Meeting,
Num 16:44and the LORD said to Moses,
Num 16:45“Get away from this congregation so that I may consume them in an instant.” And Moses and Aaron fell facedown.
Num 16:46 Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, place fire from the altar in it, and add incense. Go quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, because wrath has come out from the LORD; the plague has begun.”
Num 16:47So Aaron took the censer as Moses had ordered and ran into the midst of the assembly. And seeing that the plague had begun among the people, he offered the incense and made atonement for the people.
Num 16:48He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague was halted.
Num 16:49But those who died from the plague numbered 14,700, in addition to those who had died on account of Korah.
Num 16:50Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, since the plague had been halted.

01 — Also here

Who else the chapter reaches

Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.

Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

02 — Read alongside

Where this is echoed

Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 385 passages were voted onto 42 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

1 Jude 1:11Woe to them! They have traveled the path of Cain; they have rushed for profit into the error of Balaam; they have perished in Korah’s rebellion.
22 Numbers 27:16“May the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation
3 Psalms 106:16In the camp they envied Moses, as well as Aaron, the holy one of the LORD.
5 Psalms 65:4Blessed is the one You choose and bring near to dwell in Your courts! We are filled with the goodness of Your house, the holiness of Your temple.
26 Isaiah 52:11Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing; come out from it, purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of the LORD.
46 Numbers 8:19And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from among the Israelites, to perform the service for the Israelites at the Tent of Meeting and to make atonement on their behalf, so that no plague will come against the Israelites when they approach the sanctuary.”
5 Numbers 17:5The staff belonging to the man I choose will sprout, and I will rid Myself of the constant grumbling of the Israelites against you.”
7 Numbers 16:3They came together against Moses and Aaron and told them, “You have taken too much upon yourselves! For everyone in the entire congregation is holy, and the LORD is in their midst. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?”
9 Deuteronomy 10:8At that time the LORD set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to stand before the LORD to serve Him, and to pronounce blessings in His name, as they do to this day.
9 Isaiah 7:13Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, O house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of my God as well?
22 Job 12:10The life of every living thing is in His hand, as well as the breath of all mankind.
22 Zechariah 12:1This is the burden of the word of the LORD concerning Israel. Thus declares the LORD, who stretches out the heavens and lays the foundation of the earth, who forms the spirit of man within him:
28 Exodus 3:12“I will surely be with you,” God said, “and this will be the sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, all of you will worship God on this mountain.”
28 John 6:38For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but to do the will of Him who sent Me.
35 Numbers 26:10And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them along with Korah, whose followers died when the fire consumed 250 men. They serve as a warning sign.
35 Leviticus 10:2So fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died in the presence of the LORD.

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