Now, Cora, the son of Isar, the son of Co-Hath, the son of Levi, with the Bathen, and the Byram, the son of Eliyab, and own son of Pelith, the son of Ruben, took men, and they rose up before Moses with some of the children of Israel, 250 leaders of the congregation, representatives of the congregation, men of renown. They gathered together against Moses and Aaron and said to them, You take too much upon yourselves for all the congregation is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord? So when Moses heard it, he fell in his face, and he spoke to Cora and all his company saying, Tomorrow morning the Lord will show who is his and who is holy, and will cause him to come near him.
That one who he chooses, he will cause to come near him. Do this. Take censors, Cora, and all your company. Put fire in them, put incense in them before the Lord tomorrow, and that shall be that the man who the Lord chooses is the holy one.
You take too much upon yourselves, you sons of Levi. Then Moses said to Cora, Here now you sons of Levi. Is it a small thing to you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel to bring you near to himself, to do the work of the tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before the congregation to serve them, and that he has brought you near to himself, you and all your brethren, the sons of Levi with you. Are you seeking the priesthood also?
Therefore, you and all your company are gathered together against the Lord. And what is Aaron that you can play against him? And Moses sent to call Nathan and a buyer on the sons of Levi, but they said, We will not come. Is it a small thing to you that you have brought us up out of the land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness that you should keep acting like a prince over us?
Moreover, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up. Then Moses was very angry and said to the Lord, Do not respect their offering.
I have not taken one donkey from them nor have I hurt one of them. And Moses said to Cora, Tomorrow, you and all your company will be present before the Lord, you and they as well as Aaron. Let each take a sensor and put incense in it, and each of you bring a sensor before the Lord. 250 sensors, both you and Aaron, each with a sensor.
So every man took a sensor and put fire in it, laid incense on it, and stood at the door of the tabernacle of meeting with Moses and Aaron. And Cora gathered all the congregation against them at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. Then the Lord of the Lord appeared to all the congregation, and the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, Separate yourselves from among this congregation that I may consume them in a moment. Then they fell on their faces and said, Oh God, the God of the spirits of all flesh.
Shall one man sin and you be angry with all the congregation? So the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the congregation, saying, Get away from the tents of Cora, Nathan, and a Byron. Then Moses rose and went to Nathan and a Byron, and the elders of Israel followed him. And he spoke to the congregation, saying, Be part now from the tents of these wicked men.
Touching nothing of theirs lest you be consumed in all their sins. So they got away from around the tents of Cora, Nathan, and a Byron. And Nathan and a Byron came out and stood at the door of their tents with their wives, their sons, and their little children. And Moses said, By this you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them of my own will.
If these men die naturally like all men, or if they are visited by the common fate of all men, then the Lord has not sent me. But if the Lord creates a new thing, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up, with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the pit, then you will understand that these men have rejected the Lord. Now I came to pass as he finished speaking all these words that the ground split apart under them, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their households, and all the men with Cora with all their goods. So they and all those with them went down alive into the pit, the earth closed over them, and they perished from the assembly.
Then all Israel, who were around them, fled at their cry, for they said, Let's the earth swallow us up also. And a fire came out from the Lord and consumed 250 men who were offering incense. Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Tell Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, to pick up the censors out of the blaze, for they are holy, and scatter the fire some distance away. The censors of these men who sinned against their own souls, let them be made into hammered plates as a covering for the altar, because they presented them before the Lord, therefore they are holy, and they shall be assigned to the children of Israel.
So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censors, which those who were burned up had presented, and they were hammered out as a covering on the altar, to be memorials to the children of Israel that no outsider who was not a descendant of Aaron should come near to offer incense before the Lord, but he might not become like Cora in his companions, just as the Lord said to him through Moses. On the next day all the congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, saying, You have killed the people of the Lord. Now it happened, when the congregation gathered against Moses and Aaron, that they turned toward the tabernacle of meeting and suddenly the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared, then Moses and Aaron came before the tabernacle of meeting, and the Lord spoke to Moses saying, Get away from among this congregation that I may consume them in a moment, and they fell on their faces. So Moses said to Aaron, Take a sensor, and put fire in it from the altar, put incense on it, and take it quickly to the congregation, and make a tome that for them, for the wrath has gone out from the Lord, the plague has begun.
Then Aaron took it as Moses commanded and ran into the midst of the assembly, and already the plague had begun among the people. So he put in the incense and made a tome for the people, and he stood between the dead and the living, so the plague was stopped. And those who died in the plague were 14,700, besides those who died in the Quora incident. So Aaron returned to Moses at the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and the plague had stopped.
And the Lord spoke to Moses saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and get from them a rod from each father's house, and all their leaders according to their father's houses, 12 rods. Write each man's name on his rod, and you shall write Aaron's name on the rod of Levi. For there shall be one rod for the head of each father's house, then you shall place them in the tabernacle of meeting before the testimony where I meet with you, and then shall be the rod of the man whom I choose will blossom. Thus I will rid myself of the complaints of the children of Israel which they make against you.
So Moses spoke to the children of Israel, and each of their leaders gave him a rod apiece. For each leader according to their fathers houses, 12 rods, and the rod of Aaron was among their rods. Moses placed the rods before the Lord and the tabernacle of witness. Now it came to pass on the next day that Moses went into the tabernacle of witness, and behold, the rod of Aaron of the house of Levi had sprouted, and put forth buds, had produced blossoms, and yielded ripe almonds.
Then Moses brought out all the rods from before the Lord to all the children of Israel, and they looked, and each man took his rod. And the Lord said to Moses, Bring Aaron's rod back before the testimony to be kept as a sign against the rebels, that you may put their complaints away from me lest they die. Then Moses just as the Lord had commanded him, so he did. So the children of Israel spoke to Moses saying, Surely we die, we perish, we all perish.
Whoever comes near the tabernacle of the Lord must die, shall we all utterly die? Then the Lord said to Aaron, You and your sons and your father's house with you shall bear the iniquity related to the sanctuary. And you and your sons with you shall bear the iniquity associated with your priesthood. Also bring with you your brethren of the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may be joined with you and serve you while you and your sons are with you before the tabernacle of witness.
They shall attend to your needs and all the needs of the tabernacle, but they shall not come near the articles of the sanctuary in the altar lest they die. They and you also. They shall be joined with you and attended the needs of the tabernacle of meeting for all the work of the tabernacle, but an outsider shall not come near you. And you shall attend to the duties of the sanctuary and duties of the altar, that there may be no more wrath on the children of Israel.
Behold, I myself have taken your brethren to Levi's from among the children of Israel. They are a gift to you given by the Lord to do the work of the tabernacle of meeting. Therefore, you and your sons with you shall attend to your priesthood for everything at the altar and behind the veil, and you shall serve. I give your priesthood to you as a gift for service, but the outsider who comes near shall be put to death.
And the Lord spoke to Aaron, here, I myself have also given you charge of my Heav offerings, all the holy gifts of the children of Israel. I have given them as a portion to you and your sons as an ordinance forever. This shall be yours of the most holy things reserved from the fire. Every offering of theirs, every grain offering and every sin offering and every trespass offering which they rendered to me shall be most holy for you and your sons.
In a most holy place you shall eat it, every male shall eat it, it shall be holy to you. This is also yours, the Heav offerings of their gift with all the wave offerings of the children of Israel. I have given them to you and your sons and daughters with you as an ordinance forever. Everyone who is clean in your house may eat it.
All the best of the oil, all the best of the new wine and the grain, their first fruits which they offer to the Lord I have given them to you. Whatever first right fruit is in their land which they bring to the Lord shall be yours. Everyone who is clean in your house may eat it. Every devoted thing in Israel shall be yours.
Everything that first opens the womb of all flesh which they bring to the Lord whether man or beast shall be yours. Nevertheless the firstborn of man shall surely redeem and the firstborn of unclean animals shall redeem. And those who redeem to the devoted things shall redeem when one month old according to your valuation for five shekels of silver according to the shek of the sanctuary which is 20 garris. But the firstborn of a cow, the firstborn of a sheep or the firstborn of a goat shall not redeem their holy.
You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar and burn their fat as an offering made by fire for a sweeter aroma to the Lord. And their flesh shall be yours just as the wave rest and the right thi are yours. All the Heav offerings of the holy things with the children of Israel offer to the Lord I have given to you and your sons and daughters with you as an ordinance forever. It is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord with you and your descendants with you.
Then the Lord said to Aaron, you shall have no inheritance in their land and will she have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the children of Israel. Behold I have given the children of Levi all the ties in Israel as an inheritance in return for the work which they perform the work of the tabernacle of meeting. Hereafter the children of Israel shall not come near the tabernacle of meeting unless they bear sin and die.
But the Levi shall perform the work of the tabernacle of meeting and shall bear their iniquity. It shall be a statue forever throughout your generations that among the children of Israel shall have no inheritance. For the ties of the children of Israel which they offer up as a Heav offering to the Lord I have given to the Levi's as an inheritance. Therefore I have said to them among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.
Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak thus to the Levi's and say to them, when you take from the children of Israel the ties which I have given you from them as your inheritance, then you shall offer up a Heav offering of it to the Lord, a tenth of a tithe. And your Heav offering shall be reckoned to you as though it was a grain of the threshing floor and as the fullness of the winepress. Thus you shall offer a Heav offering to the Lord from all your ties which you received from the children of Israel and you shall give the Lord's Heav offering from it to Aaron the priest. Of all your gifts you shall offer up every Heav offering due to the Lord from all the best of them, the consecrated part of them.
And you shall say to them, when you have lifted up the best of it, then the rest shall be accounted to the Levi's as the produce of the threshing floor and as the produce of the winepress. You may eat in any place, you and your households, for it is your reward for the work in the tabernacle of meaty. And you shall bear no sin because of it when you have lifted up the best of it, but you shall not profane the holy gift of the children of Israel lest you die.