KorachKorah

1Reading 1 Numbers 16:1–13Chapter page with footnotes →

Korah’s Rebellion

^16:1And Korah, son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, took, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben; ²and they rose up before Moses, with men from the sons of Israel, two hundred and fifty, princes of the congregation, called of the appointed time (mo-ed), men of renown; ³and they gathered together against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them, "Too much for you! For all the congregation, all of them, are holy, and the LORD is in their midst; and why do you lift yourselves up over the assembly of the LORD?"

⁴And Moses heard, and he fell upon his face. ⁵And he spoke to Korah and to all his company, saying, "In the morning the LORD will make known who is His, and who is holy, and He will bring him near to Him; and whom He chooses He will bring near to Him. ⁶This do: take for yourselves censers, Korah and all his company, ⁷and put fire in them, and place incense upon them before the LORD tomorrow; and it shall be, the man whom the LORD chooses, he is the holy one. Too much for you, sons of Levi!"

⁸And Moses said to Korah, "Hear now, sons of Levi: ⁹Is it a small thing for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to Him, to serve the service of the tabernacle of the LORD, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them; ¹⁰and He has brought you near, and all your brothers, the sons of Levi, with you; and will you seek also the priesthood? ¹¹Therefore you and all your company are gathered together against the LORD; and Aaron, what is he that you murmur against him?"

¹²And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab; and they said, "We will not come up! ¹³Is it a small thing that you have brought us up from a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, that you should also make yourself altogether a prince over us?

2Reading 2 Numbers 16:14–19Chapter page with footnotes →

^16:14Moreover, you have not brought us to a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us an inheritance of field and vineyard; will you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up!"

¹⁵And it burned hot to Moses exceedingly, and he said to the LORD, "Do not turn to their offering; not one donkey from them have I taken, nor have I done evil to one of them."

¹⁶And Moses said to Korah, "You and all your company, be before the LORD, you and they and Aaron, tomorrow. ¹⁷And take each man his censer, and put incense upon them, and bring near before the LORD each man his censer, two hundred and fifty censers; and you and Aaron, each his censer."

¹⁸And they took each man his censer, and put fire upon them, and laid incense upon them, and stood at the entrance of the tent of appointed time (mo-ed), with Moses and Aaron. ¹⁹And Korah assembled against them all the congregation to the entrance of the tent of appointed time (mo-ed); and the glory of the LORD appeared to all the congregation.

3Reading 3 Numbers 16:20–17:8Chapter page with footnotes →

^16:20And the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ²¹"Separate yourselves from among this congregation, and I will consume them in a moment."

²²And they fell upon their faces, and said, "God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and against all the congregation will You be wroth?"

Moses Separates the People

²³And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁴"Speak to the congregation, saying, Go up from around the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram."

²⁵And Moses rose up and went to Dathan and Abiram; and the elders of Israel went after him. ²⁶And he spoke to the congregation, saying, "Turn aside now from the tents of these wicked men, and do not touch anything that is theirs, lest you be swept away in all their sins."

²⁷And they went up from around the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram; and Dathan and Abiram came out, standing at the entrance of their tents, with their wives and their sons and their little ones.

The Earth Swallows Korah

²⁸And Moses said, "By this you shall know that the LORD has sent me to do all these works, that it is not from my heart: ²⁹if these die like the death of all man, and the visitation of all man is visited upon them, then the LORD has not sent me; ³⁰but if the LORD creates a creation, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them and all that is theirs, and they go down living into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised the LORD."

³¹And it came to pass, as he finished speaking all these words, that the ground split apart which was under them; ³²and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their houses, and every man who belonged to Korah, and all the goods. ³³And they went down, they and all that was theirs, living into Sheol; and the earth covered over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly.

³⁴And all Israel who were around them fled at their voice, for they said, "Lest the earth swallow us!" ³⁵And fire came out from the LORD and consumed the two hundred and fifty men offering the incense.

The Censers Reserved for Holy Use

^17:1And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ²"Say to Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, that he take up the censers from the midst of the burning, and scatter the fire yonder; for they have become holy, ³the censers of these sinners against their own souls; and they shall make them into beaten plates, a covering for the altar, for they brought them near before the LORD, and they became holy; and they shall be for a sign to the sons of Israel."

⁴And Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers which the burned ones had brought near, and they beat them out as a covering for the altar, ⁵a memorial for the sons of Israel, so that no strange man who is not from the seed of Aaron should draw near to make incense smoke before the LORD, and not become like Korah and like his company, as the LORD spoke by the hand of Moses to him.

Murmuring and Plague

⁶And on the next day all the congregation of the sons of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, "You, you have killed the people of the LORD!" ⁷And it came to pass, when the congregation gathered together against Moses and against Aaron, that they turned toward the tent of appointed time (mo-ed), and behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the LORD appeared.

⁸And Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of appointed time (mo-ed).

4Reading 4 Numbers 17:9–15Chapter page with footnotes →

^17:9And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁰"Get up from the midst of this congregation, and I will consume them in a moment." And they fell upon their faces.

¹¹And Moses said to Aaron, "Take the censer and put on it fire from upon the altar, and place incense, and go quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them; for the wrath has gone out from before the LORD; the plague has begun."

¹²And Aaron took it as Moses had spoken, and ran into the midst of the assembly, and behold, the plague had begun among the people; and he put on the incense and made atonement for the people. ¹³And he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was restrained. ¹⁴And those who died in the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, besides those who died over the matter of Korah.

¹⁵And Aaron returned to Moses, to the entrance of the tent of appointed time (mo-ed); and the plague had been restrained.

5Reading 5 Numbers 17:16–24Chapter page with footnotes →

Aaron’s Staff Buds

^17:16And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁷"Speak to the sons of Israel, and take from them a rod, a rod for each father's house, from all their princes according to their fathers' houses, twelve rods; each man's name you shall write upon his rod. ¹⁸And the name of Aaron you shall write upon the rod of Levi, for one rod is for the head of their fathers' house. ¹⁹And you shall lay them up in the tent of appointed time (mo-ed), before the testimony, where I meet with you. ²⁰And it shall be, the man whom I choose, his rod shall bud; and I will make cease from upon me the murmurings of the sons of Israel, which they murmur against you."

²¹And Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, and all their princes gave him a rod, for each prince one, according to their fathers' houses, twelve rods; and the rod of Aaron was in the midst of their rods. ²²And Moses laid up the rods before the LORD in the tent of the testimony.

²³And it came to pass on the next day that Moses came into the tent of the testimony, and behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi had budded, and brought forth a bud, and blossomed a blossom, and bore ripe almonds. ²⁴And Moses brought out all the rods from before the LORD to all the sons of Israel; and they looked, and each man took his rod.

6Reading 6 Numbers 17:25–18:20Chapter page with footnotes →

^17:25And the LORD said to Moses, "Put back the rod of Aaron before the testimony, for a charge, for a sign to the sons of rebellion, that you may make an end of their murmurings from upon me, that they do not die." ²⁶And Moses did so; as the LORD commanded him, so he did. ²⁷And the sons of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, "Behold, we expire, we perish, we all perish! ²⁸Everyone who draws near, who draws near to the tabernacle of the LORD, dies; shall we wholly be consumed to expire?"

Duties of Priests and Levites

^18:1And the LORD said to Aaron, "You and your sons and your father's house with you shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary; and you and your sons with you shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood. ²And also your brothers, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, bring near with you, that they may be joined to you and minister to you, you and your sons with you, before the tent of the testimony. ³And they shall keep your charge and the charge of all the tent; only to the vessels of the holy place and to the altar they shall not draw near, that they do not die, neither they nor you. ⁴And they shall be joined to you, and keep the charge of the tent of appointed time (mo-ed), for all the service of the tent; and a stranger shall not draw near to you.

⁵And you shall keep the charge of the holy place and the charge of the altar, that there be no more wrath upon the sons of Israel. ⁶And I, behold, I have taken your brothers the Levites from the midst of the sons of Israel; to you they are a gift, given to the LORD, to serve the service of the tent of appointed time (mo-ed). ⁷And you and your sons with you shall keep your priesthood, for everything of the altar and for within the veil; and you shall serve. I give your priesthood as a service of gift; and the stranger who draws near shall be put to death."

Offerings for Priests and Levites

⁸And the LORD spoke to Aaron, "And I, behold, I have given you the charge of my heave-offerings; for all the holy things of the sons of Israel, to you I have given them, for an anointing-portion, and to your sons, as a statute of forever. ⁹This shall be yours of the most holy things, from the fire: every offering of theirs, every meal-offering of theirs, and every sin-offering of theirs, and every guilt-offering of theirs, which they render to me, most holy it is for you and for your sons. ¹⁰In the most holy place you shall eat it; every male shall eat it; holy it shall be to you.

¹¹And this is yours: the heave-offering of their gift, for all the wave-offerings of the sons of Israel; to you I have given them, and to your sons and to your daughters with you, as a statute of forever; everyone clean in your house shall eat it. ¹²All the best of the oil, and all the best of the new wine and the grain, their firstfruits which they give to the LORD, to you I have given them. ¹³The first-ripe fruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to the LORD, shall be yours; everyone clean in your house shall eat it.

¹⁴Every devoted thing in Israel shall be yours. ¹⁵Everyone opening the womb, of all flesh, which they bring near to the LORD, among man and among beast, shall be yours; only you shall surely redeem the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of the unclean beast you shall redeem. ¹⁶And its redemption, from a month old you shall redeem it, by your valuation, five shekels of silver by the shekel of the holy place; twenty gerahs it is.

¹⁷Only the firstborn of an ox, or the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat, you shall not redeem; holy they are. Their blood you shall sprinkle upon the altar, and their fat you shall make smoke, a fire-offering for a soothing aroma to the LORD. ¹⁸And their flesh shall be yours; like the breast of the wave-offering and like the right thigh, it shall be yours.

¹⁹All the heave-offerings of the holy things, which the sons of Israel offer to the LORD, I have given to you, and to your sons and to your daughters with you, as a statute of forever; it is a covenant of salt forever before the LORD, to you and to your seed with you."

²⁰And the LORD said to Aaron, "In their land you shall not inherit, and a portion you shall not have in their midst; I am your portion and your inheritance in the midst of the sons of Israel.

7Reading 7 Numbers 18:21–32Chapter page with footnotes →

^18:21And to the sons of Levi, behold, I have given all the tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service which they serve, the service of the tent of appointed time (mo-ed). ²²And the sons of Israel shall not come near again to the tent of appointed time (mo-ed), to bear sin, to die.

²³But the Levite, he shall serve the service of the tent of appointed time (mo-ed), and they shall bear their iniquity; a statute of forever throughout your generations; and in the midst of the sons of Israel they shall not inherit an inheritance. ²⁴For the tithe of the sons of Israel, which they offer to the LORD as a heave-offering, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance; therefore I have said to them, In the midst of the sons of Israel they shall not inherit an inheritance."

²⁵And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁶"And to the Levites you shall speak, and say to them, When you take from the sons of Israel the tithe which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall offer from it a heave-offering of the LORD, a tithe from the tithe. ²⁷And your heave-offering shall be reckoned to you, as the grain from the threshing-floor, and as the fullness from the winepress. ²⁸Thus you also shall offer the heave-offering of the LORD from all your tithes which you take from the sons of Israel; and you shall give from it the heave-offering of the LORD to Aaron the priest. ²⁹From all your gifts you shall offer every heave-offering of the LORD, from all its best, its holy part from it.

³⁰And you shall say to them, When you offer up its best from it, then it shall be reckoned to the Levites as the produce of the threshing-floor and as the produce of the winepress. ³¹And you shall eat it in every place, you and your households; for it is a wage to you in return for your service in the tent of appointed time (mo-ed). ³²And you shall bear no sin over it, when you offer up its best from it; and the holy things of the sons of Israel you shall not profane, that you do not die."

P1 Samuel 11:14–12:22Chapter page with footnotes →

^11:14And Samuel said to the people, "Come, and let us go to Gilgal, and renew there the kingdom."

¹⁵And all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the LORD in Gilgal; and there they sacrificed sacrifices of peace offerings before the LORD; and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced exceedingly.

Samuel’s Farewell Address

^12:1And Samuel said to all Israel, "Behold, I have listened to your voice in all that you said to me, and have made a king reign over you. ²And now, behold, the king walks before you; and I am old and gray, and behold, my sons are with you; and I have walked before you from my youth to this day.

³Behold me; witness against me before the LORD and before his anointed: Whose ox have I taken? or whose donkey have I taken? or whom have I defrauded? whom have I oppressed? or from whose hand have I taken a ransom, that I should hide my eyes with it? and I will restore it to you."

⁴And they said, "You have not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither have you taken anything from the hand of any man."

⁵And he said to them, "The LORD is witness against you, and his anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand." And he said, "He is witness."

⁶And Samuel said to the people, "It is the LORD who made Moses and Aaron, and who brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt. ⁷And now, station yourselves, that I may plead in judgment with you before the LORD concerning all the righteous acts of the LORD, which he did with you and with your fathers.

⁸When Jacob came into Egypt, and your fathers cried out to the LORD, then the LORD sent Moses and Aaron, and they brought your fathers out of Egypt, and made them dwell in this place. ⁹But they forgot the LORD their God, and he sold them into the hand of Sisera, captain of the host of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them.

¹⁰And they cried out to the LORD, and said, "We have sinned, because we have forsaken the LORD, and have served the Baals and the Ashtaroth; but now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, and we will serve you."

¹¹And the LORD sent Jerubbaal, and Bedan, and Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies round about, and you dwelt in safety. ¹²And when you saw that Nahash the king of the sons of Ammon came against you, you said to me, "No, but a king shall reign over us"; when the LORD your God was your king.

¹³And now, behold the king whom you have chosen, whom you have asked for; and behold, the LORD has set a king over you.

¹⁴If you will fear the LORD, and serve him, and listen to his voice, and not rebel against the mouth of the LORD, then both you and also the king who reigns over you shall be after the LORD your God— ¹⁵but if you will not listen to the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the mouth of the LORD, then the hand of the LORD shall be against you, and against your fathers.

¹⁶Also now, station yourselves and see this great thing, which the LORD is doing before your eyes. ¹⁷Is it not wheat harvest today? I will call to the LORD, that he may give thunders and rain; and know and see that your evil is great, which you have done in the eyes of the LORD, in asking for yourselves a king.

¹⁸And Samuel called to the LORD; and the LORD gave thunders and rain that day; and all the people greatly feared the LORD and Samuel. ¹⁹And all the people said to Samuel, "Pray for your servants to the LORD your God, that we die not; for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for ourselves a king."

²⁰And Samuel said to the people, "Fear not; you have done all this evil; yet turn not aside from after the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart; ²¹and turn not aside; for it would be after the empty things which do not profit nor deliver, for they are empty. ²²For the LORD will not forsake his people, for the sake of his great name; because the LORD has been willing to make you a people for himself.

AJude 1:8–11Chapter page with footnotes →

^1:8Yet in the same way these dreamers also defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. ⁹But when the archangel Michael, disputing with the devil, was arguing about the body of Moses, he did not dare to bring a blasphemous judgment against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you." ¹⁰But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like irrational animals, understand by instinct. ¹¹Woe to them, for they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves to Balaam's error for the sake of gain and perished in Korah's rebellion.