Num 16-17, Num 20-21, Deu 2:25-37, 8:4, Neh 9:12-15, 18-22 | ESV | STEP | Now Korah the son of Izhar , son of Kohath , son of Levi , and Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab , and On the son of Peleth , sons of Reuben , took men.

1 Now ^aKorah the son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, and ^bDathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men. 2 And 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. 3 ^cThey assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said to them, ^d“You have gone too far! For ^eall 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?” 4 When Moses heard it, ^fhe fell on his face, 5 and he said to Korah and all his company, “In the morning the Lord will show ^gwho is his, ^{▼▼Septuagint The Lord knows those who are his} and who is ⁱholy, and will bring him near to him. The one ^jwhom he chooses he will ^kbring near to him. 6 Do this: take ^lcensers, Korah and all his company; 7 put fire in them and put incense on them before the Lord tomorrow, and the man whom the Lord chooses shall be the holy one. ^mYou have gone too far, sons of Levi!” 8 And Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you sons of Levi: 9 is it ⁿtoo small a thing for you that the God of Israel has ^oseparated 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, 10 and that he has brought you near him, and all your brothers the sons of Levi with you? And would you seek the priesthood also? 11 Therefore it is against the Lord that you and all your company have gathered together. What is ^pAaron that you grumble against him?”

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

16 And Moses said to Korah, “Be present, you and all your company, ^vbefore the Lord, you and they, and Aaron, tomorrow. 17 And ^wlet every one of you take his censer and put incense on it, and every one of you bring before the Lord his censer, ^x250 censers; you also, and Aaron, each his censer.” 18 So 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. 19 Then Korah assembled all the congregation against them at the entrance of the tent of meeting. ^yAnd the glory of the Lord appeared to all the congregation.

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

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

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

36 ^{▼▼Ch 17:1 in Hebrew} 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. 38 As for the censers of ^aqthese 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. ^arThus they shall be a sign to the people of Israel.” 39 So 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, 40 to be a reminder to the people of Israel, so ^asthat 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.

41 But on the next day all the congregation of the people of Israel ^atgrumbled against Moses and against Aaron, saying, “You have killed the people of the Lord.” 42 And when the congregation had assembled against Moses and against Aaron, they turned toward the tent of meeting. And behold, ^authe cloud covered it, and ^avthe glory of the Lord appeared. 43 And Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting, 44 and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 45 ^aw“Get away from the midst of this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.” ^axAnd they fell on their faces. 46 And 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 ^aywrath has gone out from the Lord; the plague has begun.” 47 So 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. 48 And he stood between the dead and the living, and ^azthe plague was stopped. 49 Now those who died in the plague were 14,700, ^babesides those who died in the affair of Korah. 50 And Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the tent of meeting, when the plague was stopped.

Numbers 17

Aaron’s Staff Buds

1 ^{▼▼Ch 17:16 in Hebrew} The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 ^bc“Speak to the people of Israel, and get from them staffs, one for each fathers’ house, from all their chiefs according to their fathers’ houses, twelve staffs. Write each man’s name on his staff, 3 and write Aaron’s name on the staff of Levi. For there shall be one staff for the head of each fathers’ house. 4 Then you shall deposit them in the tent of meeting before the testimony, ^bdwhere I meet with you. 5 And the staff of the man ^bewhom I choose shall sprout. Thus I will make to cease from me ^bfthe grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against you.” 6 Moses spoke to the people of Israel. And all their chiefs gave him staffs, one for each chief, according to their fathers’ houses, twelve staffs. And the staff of Aaron was among their staffs. 7 And Moses deposited the staffs before the Lord in ^bgthe tent of the testimony.

8 On the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony, and behold, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds. 9 Then Moses brought out all the staffs from before the Lord to all the people of Israel. And they looked, and each man took his staff. 10 And the Lord said to Moses, “Put back ^bhthe staff of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept ^bias a sign for the rebels, ^bjthat you may make an end of their grumblings against me, lest they die.” 11 Thus did Moses; as the Lord commanded him, so he did.

12 And the people of Israel said to Moses, “Behold, we perish, we are undone, we are all undone. 13 ^bkEveryone who comes near, who comes near to the tabernacle of the Lord, shall die. Are we all to perish?”

Numbers 20

The Death of Miriam

1 And the people of Israel, the whole congregation, came ^blinto the wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh. And ^bmMiriam died there and was buried there.

The Waters of Meribah

2 ^bnNow there was no water for the congregation. ^boAnd they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. 3 And the people ^bpquarreled with Moses and said, “Would that we had perished ^bqwhen our brothers perished before the Lord! 4 Why have you brought the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, that we should die here, both we and our cattle? 5 And ^brwhy have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It is no place for grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, and there is no water to drink.” 6 Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting and ^bsfell on their faces. ^btAnd the glory of the Lord appeared to them, 7 and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 8 ^bu“Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So ^bvyou shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.” 9 And Moses took the staff ^bwfrom before the Lord, as he commanded him.

Moses Strikes the Rock

10 Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, ^bx“Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” 11 And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, ^byand water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. 12 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because ^bzyou did not believe in me, ^cato uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.” 13 ^cbThese are the waters of Meribah, ^{▼▼ Meribah means quarreling} where the people of Israel quarreled with the Lord, and through them he showed himself holy.

Edom Refuses Passage

14 ^cdMoses sent messengers from Kadesh to ^cethe king of Edom: “Thus says ^cfyour brother Israel: You know all the hardship that we have met: 15 ^cghow our fathers went down to Egypt, ^chand we lived in Egypt a long time. ^ciAnd the Egyptians dealt harshly with us and our fathers. 16 And ^cjwhen we cried to the Lord, he heard our voice and ^cksent an angel and brought us out of Egypt. And here we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your territory. 17 ^clPlease let us pass through your land. We will not pass through field or vineyard, ^cmor drink water from a well. We will go along the King’s Highway. We will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left until we have passed through your territory.” 18 But Edom said to him, “You shall not pass through, lest I come out with the sword against you.” 19 And the people of Israel said to him, “We will go up by the highway, ^cnand if we drink of your water, I and my livestock, ^cothen I will pay for it. Let me only pass through on foot, nothing more.” 20 But he said, ^cp“You shall not pass through.” And Edom came out against them with a large army and with a strong force. 21 Thus Edom ^cqrefused to give Israel passage through his territory, so Israel ^crturned away from him.

The Death of Aaron

22 And they journeyed from ^csKadesh, and the people of Israel, the whole congregation, came to ^ctMount Hor. 23 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor, on the border of the land of Edom, 24 ^cu“Let Aaron be gathered to his people, for he shall not enter the land that I have given to the people of Israel, because ^cvyou rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah. 25 Take Aaron and Eleazar his son and bring them up to Mount Hor. 26 And strip Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son. And Aaron ^cwshall be gathered to his people and shall die there.” 27 Moses did as the Lord commanded. And they went up Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. 28 ^cxAnd Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son. And Aaron died there ^cyon the top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. 29 And when all the congregation saw that Aaron had perished, ^czall the house of Israel wept for Aaron thirty days.

Numbers 21

Arad Destroyed

1 When ^dathe Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in ^dbthe Negeb, heard that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, he fought against Israel, and took some of them captive. 2 ^dcAnd Israel vowed a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will indeed give this people into my hand, then I will devote their cities to destruction.” ^{▼▼That is, set apart ( devote) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction); also verse 3} 3 And the Lord heeded the voice of Israel and gave over the Canaanites, and they devoted them and their cities to destruction. So the name of the place was called ^deHormah. ^{▼▼ Hormah means destruction}

The Bronze Serpent

4 From Mount Hor ^dgthey set out by the way to the Red Sea, ^dhto go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. 5 And the people ^dispoke against God and against Moses, ^dj“Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and ^dkwe loathe this worthless food.” 6 ^dlThen the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and ^dmthey bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. 7 ^dnAnd the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. ^doPray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 8 And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” 9 So ^dpMoses made a bronze ^{▼▼Or copper} serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

The Song of the Well

10 And the people of Israel set out and ^drcamped in Oboth. 11 ^dsAnd they set out from Oboth and ^dtcamped at Iye-abarim, in the wilderness that is opposite Moab, toward the sunrise. 12 From there they set out and camped in ^duthe Valley of Zered. 13 From there they set out and camped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness that extends from the border of the Amorites, for the ^dvArnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. 14 Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the Lord,

“Waheb in Suphah, and the valleys of the Arnon,
15 and the slope of the valleys
that extends to the seat of ^dwAr,
and leans to the border of Moab.”
16 And from there they continued ^dxto Beer; ^{▼▼ Beer means well} that is the well of which the Lord said to Moses, “Gather the people together, so that ^dzI may give them water.” 17 Then Israel sang this song:

“Spring up, O well!—Sing to it!—
18 the well that the princes made,
that the nobles of the people dug,
with ^eathe scepter and with their staffs.”
And from the wilderness they went on to Mattanah, 19 and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth, 20 and from Bamoth to the valley lying in the region of Moab by the top of Pisgah ^ebthat looks down on the desert. ^{▼▼Or Jeshimon}

King Sihon Defeated

21 Then ^edIsrael sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, 22 ^ee“Let me pass through your land. We will not turn aside into field or vineyard. We will not drink the water of a well. We will go by the King’s Highway until we have passed through your territory.” 23 ^efBut Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his territory. He gathered all his people together and went out against Israel to the wilderness and ^egcame to Jahaz and fought against Israel. 24 ^ehAnd Israel defeated him with the edge of the sword and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the ^eiJabbok, as far as to the Ammonites, for the border of the Ammonites was strong. 25 And Israel took all these cities, and Israel settled in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all its villages. 26 For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and taken all his land out of his hand, as far as the Arnon. 27 Therefore the ^ejballad singers say,

“Come to ^ekHeshbon, let it be built;
let the city of Sihon be established.
28 For ^elfire came out from ^emHeshbon,
flame from the city of Sihon.
It devoured ^enAr of Moab,
and swallowed ^{▼▼Septuagint; Hebrew the lords of} the heights of the Arnon.
29 ^epWoe to you, O Moab!
You are undone, O people of ^eqChemosh!
He has made his sons fugitives,
and his daughters captives,
to an Amorite king, Sihon.
30 So we overthrew them;
Heshbon, as far as ^erDibon, perished;
and we laid waste as far as Nophah;
fire spread as far as ^esMedeba.” ^{▼▼Compare Samaritan and Septuagint; Hebrew and we laid waste as far as Nophah, which is as far as Medeba}

King Og Defeated

31 Thus Israel lived in the land of the Amorites. 32 And Moses sent to spy out ^euJazer, and they captured its villages and dispossessed the Amorites who were there. 33 Then they turned and went up by the way to Bashan. And Og the king of Bashan came out against them, he and all his people, to battle ^evat Edrei. 34 ^ewBut the Lord said to Moses, “Do not fear him, for I have given him into your hand, and all his people, and his land. And ^exyou shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.” 35 So they defeated him and his sons and all his people, until he had no survivor left. And they possessed his land.

Deuteronomy 2:25-37

25 This day I will begin to put ^eythe dread and fear of you on the peoples who are under the whole heaven, who shall hear the report of you and shall tremble and be in anguish because of you.’

The Defeat of King Sihon

26 “So I sent messengers from the wilderness of ^ezKedemoth to Sihon the king of ^faHeshbon, ^fbwith words of peace, saying, 27 ^fc‘Let me pass through your land. I will go only by the road; I will turn aside neither to the right nor to the left. 28 ^fdYou shall sell me food for money, that I may eat, and give me water for money, that I may drink. Only let me pass through on foot, 29 ^feas the sons of Esau who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in Ar did for me, until I go over the Jordan into the land that the Lord our God is giving to us.’ 30 But ^ffSihon the king of ^fgHeshbon would not let us pass by him, for the Lord your God ^fhhardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, that he might give him into your hand, as he is this day. 31 And the Lord said to me, ‘Behold, I have begun to give Sihon and his land over to you. Begin to take possession, that you may occupy his land.’ 32 Then ^fiSihon came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Jahaz. 33 And ^fjthe Lord our God gave him over to us, and ^fkwe defeated him and his sons and all his people. 34 And we captured all his cities at that time and devoted to destruction ^{▼▼That is, set apart ( devoted) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction)} every ^fmcity, men, women, and children. We left no survivors. 35 Only the livestock we took as spoil for ourselves, with the plunder of the cities that we captured. 36 ^fnFrom Aroer, which is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, and from ^fothe city that is in the valley, as far as Gilead, there was not a city too high for us. ^fpThe Lord our God gave all into our hands. 37 Only to the land of the sons of Ammon you did not draw near, that is, to all the banks of the river ^fqJabbok and the cities of the hill country, whatever the Lord our God had forbidden us.

Deuteronomy 8:4

4 ^frYour clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years.

Nehemiah 9:12-15

12 By ^fsa pillar of cloud you led them in the day, and by a pillar of fire in the night to light for them the way in which they should go. 13 ^ftYou came down on Mount Sinai ^fuand spoke with them from heaven and gave them ^fvright rules and true laws, good statutes and commandments, 14 ^fwand you made known to them your holy Sabbath and commanded them commandments and statutes and a law by Moses your servant. 15 ^fxYou gave them bread from heaven for their hunger and ^fybrought water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and you ^fztold them to go in to possess the land that you had sworn to give them.

Nehemiah 9:18-22

18 Even ^gawhen they had made for themselves a golden ^{▼▼Hebrew metal} calf and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ ^gcand had committed great blasphemies, 19 you ^gdin your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. ^geThe pillar of cloud to lead them in the way did not depart from them by day, ^gfnor the pillar of fire by night to light for them the way by which they should go. 20 ^ggYou gave your good Spirit to instruct them ^ghand did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst. 21 ^giForty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.

22 “And you gave them kingdoms and peoples and allotted to them every corner. ^gjSo they took possession of the land of Sihon king of Heshbon ^gkand the land of Og king of Bashan.