Bemiḏbar (Numbers) 16:24-50

Speak to the congregation, saying, ‘Move away from around the tents of Qoraḥ, Dathan, and Aḇiram.’ So Mosheh rose up and went to Dathan and Aḇiram, and the elders of Yisra’ĕl followed him. And he spoke to the congregation, saying, “Please turn away from the tents of these wrong men! Do not touch whatever belongs to them, lest you be consumed in all their sins.” Then they moved away from around the tents of Qoraḥ, Dathan, and Aḇiram. And Dathan and Aḇiram came out and stood at the door of their tents, with their wives, and their sons, and their little children. And Mosheh said, “By this you know that יהוה has sent me to do all these works, that they are not from my own heart. “If these die as all men do, or if they are visited as all men are visited, then יהוה has not sent me. But if יהוה creates what is unheard of, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into She’ol, then you shall know that these men have scorned יהוה.” And it came to be, as he ended speaking all these words, that the ground under them split apart, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the men with Qoraḥ, with all their goods. So they and all those with them went down alive into She’ol, and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly. And all Yisra’ĕl who were round about them fled at their cry, for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us up!” And a fire came out from יהוה and consumed the two hundred and fifty men who were offering incense. And יהוה spoke to Mosheh, saying, “Say to El‛azar, son of Aharon the priest, to pick up the fire holders out of the blaze, for they are set-apart, and scatter the fire some distance away. “The fire holders of these men who sinned against their own lives, let them be made into beaten plates as a covering for the slaughter-place. Because they brought them before יהוה, therefore they are set-apart. And let them become a sign to the children of Yisra’ĕl.” And El‛azar the priest took the bronze fire holders, which those who were burned up had brought, and they were beaten out as a covering on the slaughter-place – a remembrance to the children of Yisra’ĕl that no stranger who is not of the seed of Aharon, should come near to offer incense before יהוה, and not be like Qoraḥ and his company – as יהוה had said to him through Mosheh. But all the congregation of the children of Yisra’ĕl grumbled against Mosheh and against Aharon on the next day, saying, “You, you have killed the people of יהוה.” And it came to be, when the congregation assembled against Mosheh and against Aharon, that they turned toward the Tent of Appointment. And see, the cloud covered it, and the esteem of יהוה appeared. And Mosheh and Aharon came before the Tent of Appointment. And יהוה spoke to Mosheh, saying, Arise from amidst this congregation, and let Me consume them in a moment. And they fell on their faces. So Mosheh said to Aharon, “Take the fire holder and put fire in it from the slaughter-place, and lay incense on, and go, hurry to the congregation and make atonement for them, for wrath has gone out from יהוה, the plague has begun.” And Aharon took it as Mosheh commanded, and ran into the midst of the assembly, and saw that the plague had begun among the people. And he laid on the incense and made atonement for the people, and stood between the dead and the living. And the plague was stopped. And those who died in the plague were fourteen thousand seven hundred, besides those who died on account of Qoraḥ. Then Aharon returned to Mosheh at the door of the Tent of Appointment, for the plague had stopped.