Numbers:16-18
Seeker Overlay ON
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Now Korah ,
the son of Izhar ,
the son of Kohath ,
the son of Levi ,
and Dathan and Abiram ,
the sons of Eliab ,
and On ,
the son of Peleth ,
sons of Reuben ,
took men :
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And they rose up before Moses ,
with certain of the children of Israel ,
two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly ,
famous in the congregation ,
men of renown :
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And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron ,
and said unto them ,
Ye take too much upon you ,
seeing all the congregation are holy ,
every one of them ,
and the LORD is among them :
wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD ?
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And when Moses heard it ,
he fell upon his face :
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And he spake unto Korah and unto all his company ,
saying ,
Even to morrow the LORD will shew who are his ,
and who is holy ;
and will cause him to come near unto him :
even him whom he hath chosen will he cause to come near unto him .
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This do ;
Take you censers ,
Korah ,
and all his company ;
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And put fire therein ,
and put incense in them before the LORD to morrow :
and it shall be that the man whom the LORD doth choose ,
he shall be holy :
ye take too much upon you ,
ye sons of Levi .
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And Moses said unto Korah ,
Hear ,
I pray you ,
ye sons of Levi :
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Seemeth it but a small thing unto you ,
that the God of Israel hath separated you from the congregation of Israel ,
to bring you near to himself to do the service of the tabernacle of the LORD ,
and to stand before the congregation to minister unto them ?
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And he hath brought thee near to him ,
and all thy brethren the sons of Levi with thee :
and seek ye the priesthood also ?
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For which cause both thou and all thy company are gathered together against the LORD :
and what is Aaron ,
that ye murmur against him ?
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And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram ,
the sons of Eliab :
which said ,
We will not come up :
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Is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land that floweth with milk and honey ,
to kill us in the wilderness ,
except thou make thyself altogether a prince over us ?
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Moreover thou hast not brought us into a land that floweth with milk and honey ,
or given us inheritance of fields and vineyards :
wilt thou put out the eyes of these men ?
we will not come up .
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And Moses was very wroth ,
and said unto the LORD ,
Respect not thou their offering :
I have not taken one ass from them ,
neither have I hurt one of them .
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And Moses said unto Korah ,
Be thou and all thy company before the LORD ,
thou ,
and they ,
and Aaron ,
to morrow :
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And take every man his censer ,
and put incense in them ,
and bring ye before the LORD every man his censer ,
two hundred and fifty censers ;
thou also ,
and Aaron ,
each of you his censer .
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And they took every man his censer ,
and put fire in them ,
and laid incense thereon ,
and stood in the door of the tabernacle of the congregation with Moses and Aaron .
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And Korah gathered all the congregation against them unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation :
and the glory of the LORD appeared unto all the congregation .
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And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron ,
saying ,
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Separate yourselves from among this congregation ,
that I may consume them in a moment .
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And they fell upon their faces ,
and said ,
O God ,
the God of the spirits of all flesh ,
shall one man sin ,
and wilt thou be wroth with all the congregation ?
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And the LORD spake unto Moses ,
saying ,
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Speak unto the congregation ,
saying ,
Get you up from about the tabernacle of Korah ,
Dathan ,
and Abiram .
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And Moses rose up and went unto Dathan and Abiram ;
and the elders of Israel followed him .
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And he spake unto the congregation ,
saying ,
Depart ,
I pray you ,
from the tents of these wicked men ,
and touch nothing of theirs ,
lest ye be consumed in all their sins .
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So they gat up from the tabernacle of Korah ,
Dathan ,
and Abiram ,
on every side :
and Dathan and Abiram came out ,
and stood in the door of their tents ,
and their wives ,
and their sons ,
and their little children .
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And Moses said ,
Hereby ye shall know that the LORD hath sent me to do all these works ;
for I have not done them of mine own mind .
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If these men die the common death of all men ,
or if they be visited after the visitation of all men ;
then the LORD hath not sent me .
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But if the LORD make a new thing ,
and the earth open her mouth ,
and swallow them up ,
with all that appertain unto them ,
and they go down quick into the pit ;
then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the LORD .
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And it came to pass ,
as he had made an end of speaking all these words ,
that the ground clave asunder that was under them :
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And the earth opened her mouth ,
and swallowed them up ,
and their houses ,
and all the men that appertained unto Korah ,
and all their goods .
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They ,
and all that appertained to them ,
went down alive into the pit ,
and the earth closed upon them :
and they perished from among the congregation .
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And all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them :
for they said ,
Lest the earth swallow us up also .
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And there came out a fire from the LORD ,
and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense .
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And the LORD spake unto Moses ,
saying ,
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Speak unto Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest ,
that he take up the censers out of the burning ,
and scatter thou the fire yonder ;
for they are hallowed .
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The censers of these sinners against their own souls ,
let them make them broad plates for a covering of the altar :
for they offered them before the LORD ,
therefore they are hallowed :
and they shall be a sign unto the children of Israel .
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And Eleazar the priest took the brasen censers ,
wherewith they that were burnt had offered ;
and they were made broad plates for a covering of the altar :
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To be a memorial unto the children of Israel ,
that no stranger ,
which is not of the seed of Aaron ,
come near to offer incense before the LORD ;
that he be not as Korah ,
and as his company :
as the LORD said to him by the hand of Moses .
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But on the morrow all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron ,
saying ,
Ye have killed the people of the LORD .
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And it came to pass ,
when the congregation was gathered against Moses and against Aaron ,
that they looked toward the tabernacle of the congregation :
and ,
behold ,
the cloud covered it ,
and the glory of the LORD appeared .
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And Moses and Aaron came before the tabernacle of the congregation .
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And the LORD spake unto Moses ,
saying ,
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Get you up from among this congregation ,
that I may consume them as in a moment .
And they fell upon their faces .
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And Moses said unto Aaron ,
Take a censer ,
and put fire therein from off the altar ,
and put on incense ,
and go quickly unto the congregation ,
and make an atonement for them :
for there is wrath gone out from the LORD ;
the plague is begun .
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And Aaron took as Moses commanded ,
and ran into the midst of the congregation ;
and ,
behold ,
the plague was begun among the people :
and he put on incense ,
and made an atonement for the people .
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And he stood between the dead and the living ;
and the plague was stayed .
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Now they that died in the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred ,
beside them that died about the matter of Korah .
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And Aaron returned unto Moses unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation :
and the plague was stayed .
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And the LORD spake unto Moses ,
saying ,
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Speak unto the children of Israel ,
and take of every one of them a rod according to the house of their fathers ,
of all their princes according to the house of their fathers twelve rods :
write thou every man '
s name upon his rod .
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And thou shalt write Aaron '
s name upon the rod of Levi :
for one rod shall be for the head of the house of their fathers .
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And thou shalt lay them up in the tabernacle of the congregation before the testimony ,
where I will meet with you .
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And it shall come to pass ,
that the man '
s rod ,
whom I shall choose ,
shall blossom :
and I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the children of Israel ,
whereby they murmur against you .
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And Moses spake unto the children of Israel ,
and every one of their princes gave him a rod apiece ,
for each prince one ,
according to their fathers '
houses ,
even twelve rods :
and the rod of Aaron was among their rods .
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And Moses laid up the rods before the LORD in the tabernacle of witness .
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And it came to pass ,
that on the morrow Moses went into the tabernacle of witness ;
and ,
behold ,
the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded ,
and brought forth buds ,
and bloomed blossoms ,
and yielded almonds .
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And Moses brought out all the rods from before the LORD unto all the children of Israel :
and they looked ,
and took every man his rod .
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And the LORD said unto Moses ,
Bring Aaron '
s rod again before the testimony ,
to be kept for a token against the rebels ;
and thou shalt quite take away their murmurings from me ,
that they die not .
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And Moses did so :
as the LORD commanded him ,
so did he .
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And the children of Israel spake unto Moses ,
saying ,
Behold ,
we die ,
we perish ,
we all perish .
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Whosoever cometh any thing near unto the tabernacle of the LORD shall die :
shall we be consumed with dying ?
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And the LORD said unto Aaron ,
Thou and thy sons and thy father '
s house with thee shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary :
and thou and thy sons with thee shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood .
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And thy brethren also of the tribe of Levi ,
the tribe of thy father ,
bring thou with thee ,
that they may be joined unto thee ,
and minister unto thee :
but thou and thy sons with thee shall minister before the tabernacle of witness .
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And they shall keep thy charge ,
and the charge of all the tabernacle :
only they shall not come nigh the vessels of the sanctuary and the altar ,
that neither they ,
nor ye also ,
die .
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And they shall be joined unto thee ,
and keep the charge of the tabernacle of the congregation ,
for all the service of the tabernacle :
and a stranger shall not come nigh unto you .
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And ye shall keep the charge of the sanctuary ,
and the charge of the altar :
that there be no wrath any more upon the children of Israel .
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And I ,
behold ,
I have taken your brethren the Levites from among the children of Israel :
to you they are given as a gift for the LORD ,
to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation .
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Therefore thou and thy sons with thee shall keep your priest '
s office for every thing of the altar ,
and within the vail ;
and ye shall serve :
I have given your priest '
s office unto you as a service of gift :
and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death .
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And the LORD spake unto Aaron ,
Behold ,
I also have given thee the charge of mine heave offerings of all the hallowed things of the children of Israel ;
unto thee have I given them by reason of the anointing ,
and to thy sons ,
by an ordinance for ever .
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This shall be thine of the most holy things ,
reserved from the fire :
every oblation of theirs ,
every meat offering of theirs ,
and every sin offering of theirs ,
and every trespass offering of theirs ,
which they shall render unto me ,
shall be most holy for thee and for thy sons .
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In the most holy place shalt thou eat it ;
every male shall eat it :
it shall be holy unto thee .
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And this is thine ;
the heave offering of their gift ,
with all the wave offerings of the children of Israel :
I have given them unto thee ,
and to thy sons and to thy daughters with thee ,
by a statute for ever :
every one that is clean in thy house shall eat of it .
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All the best of the oil ,
and all the best of the wine ,
and of the wheat ,
the firstfruits of them which they shall offer unto the LORD ,
them have I given thee .
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And whatsoever is first ripe in the land ,
which they shall bring unto the LORD ,
shall be thine ;
every one that is clean in thine house shall eat of it .
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Every thing devoted in Israel shall be thine .
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Every thing that openeth the matrix in all flesh ,
which they bring unto the LORD ,
whether it be of men or beasts ,
shall be thine :
nevertheless the firstborn of man shalt thou surely redeem ,
and the firstling of unclean beasts shalt thou redeem .
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And those that are to be redeemed from a month old shalt thou redeem ,
according to thine estimation ,
for the money of five shekels ,
after the shekel of the sanctuary ,
which is twenty gerahs .
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But the firstling of a cow ,
or the firstling of a sheep ,
or the firstling of a goat ,
thou shalt not redeem ;
they are holy :
thou shalt sprinkle their blood upon the altar ,
and shalt burn their fat for an offering made by fire ,
for a sweet savour unto the LORD .
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And the flesh of them shall be thine ,
as the wave breast and as the right shoulder are thine .
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All the heave offerings of the holy things ,
which the children of Israel offer unto the LORD ,
have I given thee ,
and thy sons and thy daughters with thee ,
by a statute for ever :
it is a covenant of salt for ever before the LORD unto thee and to thy seed with thee .
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And the LORD spake unto Aaron ,
Thou shalt have no inheritance in their land ,
neither shalt thou have any part among them :
I am thy part and thine inheritance among the children of Israel .
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And ,
behold ,
I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance ,
for their service which they serve ,
even the service of the tabernacle of the congregation .
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Neither must the children of Israel henceforth come nigh the tabernacle of the congregation ,
lest they bear sin ,
and die .
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But the Levites shall do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation ,
and they shall bear their iniquity :
it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations ,
that among the children of Israel they have no inheritance .
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But the tithes of the children of Israel ,
which they offer as an heave offering unto the LORD ,
I have given to the Levites to inherit :
therefore I have said unto them ,
Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance .
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And the LORD spake unto Moses ,
saying ,
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Thus speak unto the Levites ,
and say unto them ,
When ye take of the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them for your inheritance ,
then ye shall offer up an heave offering of it for the LORD ,
even a tenth part of the tithe .
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And this your heave offering shall be reckoned unto you ,
as though it were the corn of the threshingfloor ,
and as the fulness of the winepress .
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Thus ye also shall offer an heave offering unto the LORD of all your tithes ,
which ye receive of the children of Israel ;
and ye shall give thereof the LORD '
S heave offering to Aaron the priest .
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Out of all your gifts ye shall offer every heave offering of the LORD ,
of all the best thereof ,
even the hallowed part thereof out of it .
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Therefore thou shalt say unto them ,
When ye have heaved the best thereof from it ,
then it shall be counted unto the Levites as the increase of the threshingfloor ,
and as the increase of the winepress .
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And ye shall eat it in every place ,
ye and your households :
for it is your reward for your service in the tabernacle of the congregation .
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And ye shall bear no sin by reason of it ,
when ye have heaved from it the best of it :
neither shall ye pollute the holy things of the children of Israel ,
lest ye die .
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And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron ,
saying ,