Korah's Rebellion

¹Now iKorah the son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, and jDathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men. ²And they rose up before Moses, with a number of the people of Israel, 250 chiefs of the congregation, chosen from the assembly, well-known men. ³kThey assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said to them, l“You have gone too far! For mall in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?” ⁴When Moses heard it, nhe fell on his face, ⁵and he said to Korah and all his company, “In the morning the Lord will show owho is his,1 and who is pholy, and will bring him near to him. The one qwhom he chooses he will rbring near to him. ⁶Do this: take scensers, Korah and all his company; ⁷put fire in them and put incense on them before the Lord tomorrow, and the man whom the Lord chooses shall be the holy one. tYou have gone too far, sons of Levi!” ⁸And Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you sons of Levi: ⁹is it utoo small a thing for you that the God of Israel has vseparated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do service in the tabernacle of the Lord and to stand before the congregation to minister to them, ¹⁰and that he has brought you near him, and all your brothers the sons of Levi with you? And would you seek the priesthood also? ¹¹Therefore it is against the Lord that you and all your company have gathered together. What is wAaron that you grumble against him?”

¹²And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and they said, “We will not come up. ¹³Is it xa small thing that you have brought us up out of ya land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, that you must also zmake yourself a prince over us? ¹⁴Moreover, 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.” ¹⁵And Moses was very angry and said to the Lord, a“Do not respect their offering. bI have not taken one donkey from them, and I have not harmed one of them.”

¹⁶And Moses said to Korah, “Be present, you and all your company, cbefore the Lord, you and they, and Aaron, tomorrow. ¹⁷And dlet every one of you take his censer and put incense on it, and every one of you bring before the Lord his censer, e250 censers; you also, and Aaron, each his censer.” ¹⁸So every man took his censer and put fire in them and laid incense on them and stood at the entrance of the tent of meeting with Moses and Aaron. ¹⁹Then Korah assembled all the congregation against them at the entrance of the tent of meeting. fAnd the glory of the Lord appeared to all the congregation.

²⁰And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ²¹g“Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them hin a moment.” ²²And they ifell on their faces and said, “O God, jthe God of the spirits of all flesh, kshall one man sin, and will you be angry with all the congregation?” ²³And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁴“Say to the congregation, Get away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”

²⁵Then Moses rose and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. ²⁶And he spoke to the congregation, saying, l“Depart, please, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be swept away with all their sins.” ²⁷So they got away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. And Dathan and Abiram came out and stood mat the door of their tents, together with their wives, their sons, and their little ones. ²⁸And Moses said, “Hereby you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, and that it has not been nof my own accord. ²⁹If these men die as all men die, or if they are visited by the fate of all mankind, othen the Lord has not sent me. ³⁰But if the Lord creates something new, and pthe ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they qgo down alive into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised the Lord.”

³¹rAnd as soon as he had finished speaking all these words, the ground under them split apart. ³²And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and sall the people who belonged to Korah and all their goods. ³³So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed over them, and tthey perished from the midst of the assembly. ³⁴And all Israel who were around them fled at their cry, for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us up!” ³⁵And ufire came out from the Lord and consumed vthe 250 men offering the incense.

³⁶2 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ³⁷“Tell Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest to take up the censers out of the blaze. Then scatter the fire far and wide, for they have become holy. ³⁸As for the censers of wthese men who have sinned at the cost of their lives, let them be made into hammered plates as a covering for the altar, for they offered them before the Lord, and they became holy. xThus they shall be a sign to the people of Israel.” ³⁹So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers, which those who were burned had offered, and they were hammered out as a covering for the altar, ⁴⁰to be a reminder to the people of Israel, so ythat no outsider, who is not of the descendants of Aaron, should draw near to burn incense before the Lord, lest he become like Korah and his company—as the Lord said to him through Moses.

⁴¹But on the next day all the congregation of the people of Israel zgrumbled against Moses and against Aaron, saying, “You have killed the people of the Lord.” ⁴²And when the congregation had assembled against Moses and against Aaron, they turned toward the tent of meeting. And behold, athe cloud covered it, and bthe glory of the Lord appeared. ⁴³And Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting, ⁴⁴and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ⁴⁵c“Get away from the midst of this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.” dAnd they fell on their faces. ⁴⁶And Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, and put fire on it from off the altar and lay incense on it and carry it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, for ewrath has gone out from the Lord; the plague has begun.” ⁴⁷So Aaron took it as Moses said and ran into the midst of the assembly. And behold, the plague had already begun among the people. And he put on the incense and made atonement for the people. ⁴⁸And he stood between the dead and the living, and fthe plague was stopped. ⁴⁹Now those who died in the plague were 14,700, gbesides those who died in the affair of Korah. ⁵⁰And Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the tent of meeting, when the plague was stopped.

Psalm 52

The Steadfast Love of God Endures

To the choirmaster. A Maskil1 of David, when cDoeg, the Edomite, came and told Saul, “David has come to the house of Ahimelech.”

¹Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man?

The steadfast love of God endures all the day.

²Your dtongue plots destruction,

like ea sharp razor, you fworker of deceit.

³You love evil more than good,

and glying more than speaking what is right. Selah

⁴You love all words that devour,

O deceitful tongue.

⁵But God will break you down forever;

he will snatch and htear you from your tent;

he will uproot you from ithe land of the living. Selah

⁶The righteous shall jsee and fear,

and shall klaugh at him, saying,

⁷“See the man who would not make

God his refuge,

but ltrusted in the abundance of his riches

and sought refuge in his own destruction!”2

⁸But I am like ma green olive tree

in the house of God.

I trust in the steadfast love of God

forever and ever.

⁹I will thank you forever,

because you have done it.

I will wait for your name, nfor it is good,

in the presence of the ogodly.

Psalm 53

There Is None Who Does Good

To the choirmaster: according to pMahalath. A Maskil1 of David.

¹qThe fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”

They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity;

there is none who does good.

²God looks down from heaven

on the children of man

to see if there are any who understand,2

who seek after God.

³They have all fallen away;

together they have become corrupt;

there is none who does good,

not even one.

⁴Have those who work evil no knowledge,

who eat up my people as they eat bread,

and do not call upon God?

⁵There they are, in great terror,

rwhere there is no terror!

For God sscatters the bones of him who encamps against you;

you put them to shame, for God has rejected them.

⁶Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!

When God restores the fortunes of his people,

let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.

Psalm 54

The Lord Upholds My Life

To the choirmaster: with tstringed instruments. A Maskil1 of David, uwhen the Ziphites went and told Saul, “Is not David hiding among us?”

¹O God, save me by your vname,

and vindicate me by your might.

²O God, whear my prayer;

give ear to the words of my mouth.

³xFor ystrangers2 have risen against me;

ruthless men zseek my life;

they do not set God before themselves. Selah

⁴Behold, aGod is my helper;

the Lord is the upholder of my life.

⁵He will return the evil to my enemies;

in your bfaithfulness cput an end to them.

⁶With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you;

I will give thanks to your name, O Lord, dfor it is good.

⁷For he has delivered me from every trouble,

and my eye has elooked in triumph on my enemies.

Isaiah's Vision of the Lord

¹In the year that sKing Uzziah died I tsaw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train1 of his robe filled the temple. ²Above him stood the seraphim. Each had usix wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. ³And one called to another and said:

u“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;

vthe whole earth is full of his glory!”2

⁴And wthe foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and xthe house was filled with smoke. ⁵And I said: “Woe is me! yFor I am lost; zfor I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the aKing, the Lord of hosts!”

⁶Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷And he btouched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

Isaiah's Commission from the Lord

⁸And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for cus?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” ⁹And he said, “Go, and say to this people:

d“‘Keep on hearing,3 but do not understand;

keep on seeing,4 but do not perceive.’

¹⁰eMake the heart of this people fdull,5

and their ears heavy,

and blind their eyes;

glest they see with their eyes,

and hear with their ears,

and understand with their hearts,

and turn and be healed.”

¹¹Then I said, h“How long, O Lord?”

And he said:

“Until icities lie waste

without inhabitant,

and houses without people,

and the land is a desolate waste,

¹²and the Lord removes people far away,

and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.

¹³jAnd though a tenth remain in it,

it will be burned6 again,

like a terebinth or an oak,

whose stump kremains

when it is felled.”

lThe holy seed7 is its stump.

Sacrifices Pleasing to God

¹Let ubrotherly love continue. ²vDo not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby wsome have entertained angels unawares. ³xRemember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body. ⁴yLet marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge zthe sexually immoral and adulterous. ⁵Keep your life afree from love of money, and bbe content with what you have, for he has said, c“I will never leave you nor forsake you.” ⁶So we can confidently say,

d“The Lord is my helper;

eI will not fear;

what can man do to me?”

⁷Remember fyour leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and gimitate their faith. ⁸Jesus Christ is hthe same yesterday and today and forever. ⁹Do not be iled away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, jnot by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them. ¹⁰We have an altar kfrom which those who serve the tent1 have no right to eat. ¹¹For lthe bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned moutside the camp. ¹²So Jesus also nsuffered ooutside the gate in order to sanctify the people pthrough his own blood. ¹³Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear qthe reproach he endured. ¹⁴For rhere we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. ¹⁵sThrough him then let us continually offer up ta sacrifice of praise to God, that is, uthe fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. ¹⁶Do not neglect to do good and vto share what you have, for such wsacrifices are pleasing to God.

¹⁷Obey xyour leaders and submit to them, yfor they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to zgive an account. aLet them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

¹⁸bPray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things. ¹⁹I urge you the more earnestly to do this in order cthat I may be restored to you the sooner.

Benediction

²⁰Now dmay the God of peace ewho brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, fthe great shepherd of the sheep, by gthe blood of the eternal covenant, ²¹hequip you with everything good that you may do his will, iworking in us2 that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, jto whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Final Greetings

²²I appeal to you, brothers,3 bear with my word of exhortation, for kI have written to you briefly. ²³You should know that lour brother Timothy has been released, with whom I shall see you if he comes soon. ²⁴Greet all myour leaders and all the saints. Those who come from Italy send you greetings. ²⁵nGrace be with all of you.