1. Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and On turned against Moses. (Korah was the son of Izhar. Izhar was the son of Kohath, and Kohath was the son of Levi. Dathan and Abiram were brothers, the sons of Eliab. And On was the son of Peleth. Dathan, Abiram, and On were descendants of Reuben.)
2. These four men gathered 250 other men from Israel together and came against Moses. They were leaders who had been chosen by the people. All the people knew them.
3. They came as a group to speak against Moses and Aaron and said, “You have gone too far—you are wrong! All the Israelites are holy—the Lord still lives among them. You are making yourselves more important than the rest of the Lord’S people.”
4. When Moses heard this, he bowed his face to the ground to show he was not being proud.
5. Then Moses said to Korah and all his followers, “Tomorrow morning the Lord will show who belongs to him. He will show who is holy, and he will bring that man near to him. He will choose him and bring that man near to him.
6. So Korah, you and all your followers should do this:
7. Tomorrow put fire and incense in some special pans. Then bring those pans before the Lord. He will choose the man who is holy. You Levites have gone too far—you are wrong!”
8. Moses also said to Korah, “You Levites, listen to me.
9. You should be happy that the God of Israel chose you to be different from the rest of the Israelites. He lets you come near to him to do the special work in the Lord’S Holy Tent to help the Israelites worship him. Isn’t that enough?
10. He brought you Levites near to him to help the priests, but now you are trying to become priests also.
11. You and your followers have joined together and turned against the Lord! Did Aaron do anything wrong? No, so why are you complaining against Aaron?”
12. Then Moses called Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab. But the two men said, “We will not come!
13. You have brought us out of a land filled with many good things. You brought us to the desert to kill us. And now you want to show that you have even more power over us.
14. Why should we follow you? You did not bring us into the new land filled with many good things. You did not give us the land God promised. You did not give us the fields or the vineyards. Will you make these men your slaves? No! We will not come.”
15. So Moses became very angry. He said to the Lord, “I never did anything wrong to these people. I never took anything from them—not even a donkey! Don’t accept their gifts!”