Numbers 16:41-50

Expanded Bible

Aaron Saves the People

⁴¹ The next day all the ·Israelites [^Lcommunity/congregation/assembly of the sons/^Tchildren of Israel] ·complained [grumbled] against Moses and Aaron and said, “You have killed the Lord’s people.”

⁴² When the ·people [community; congregation; assembly] ·gathered [assembled] to ·complain [grumble] against Moses and Aaron, they turned toward the Meeting Tent, and the cloud covered it. The glory of the Lord [^Crepresenting his manifest presence] appeared. ⁴³ Then Moses and Aaron went in front of the Meeting Tent.

⁴⁴ The Lord said to Moses, ⁴⁵ “Move away from ·these people [this community/congregation/assembly] so I can ·destroy [consume] them quickly.” So Moses and Aaron ·bowed facedown [^Lfell on their faces].

⁴⁶ Then Moses said to Aaron, “Get your ·pan [censer; firepan], and put fire from the altar and incense in it. Hurry to the people and ·remove their sin [make atonement for them]. The Lord is angry with them; the ·sickness [plague; pestilence] has already started.” ⁴⁷ So Aaron did as Moses said. He ran to the middle of the ·people [assembly; crowd], where the ·sickness [plague; pestilence] had already started among them. So Aaron offered the incense to ·remove their sin [make atonement for them]. ⁴⁸ He stood between the dead and the living, and the ·sickness [plague; pestilence] stopped there. ⁴⁹ But 14,700 people died from that ·sickness [plague; pestilence], in addition to those who died because of Korah. ⁵⁰ Then Aaron went back to Moses at the entrance to the Meeting Tent. The terrible ·sickness [plague; pestilence] had been stopped.