Daily Text and Bible Reading: Sunday, February 16 [Press play below]

16.1 Then Korah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, got up together with Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, of the sons of Reuben.
16.2 They rose up against Moses along with 250 Israelite men, chieftains of the assembly, chosen ones of the congregation, prominent men.
16.3 So they gathered together against Moses and Aaron and said to them: “We have had enough of you! The whole assembly is holy, all of them, and Jehovah is in their midst. Why, then, should you exalt yourselves above the congregation of Jehovah?”
16.4 When Moses heard this, he at once fell facedown.
16.5 Then he said to Korah and to all his supporters: “In the morning Jehovah will make known who belongs to him and who is holy and who should approach him, and whomever he may choose will approach him.
16.6 Do this: Take fire holders, Korah and all your supporters,
16.7 and put fire in them and place incense on them before Jehovah tomorrow, and the man whom Jehovah will choose, he is the holy one. You sons of Levi have gone far enough!”
16.8 Moses then said to Korah: “Listen, please, you sons of Levi.
16.9 Does it seem to you such a little thing that the God of Israel has separated you from the assembly of Israel and allowed you to approach him in order to perform the service of Jehovah’s tabernacle and to stand before the assembly to minister to them,
16.10 and that he brought you near to him along with all your brothers, the sons of Levi? Must you also try to secure the priesthood?
16.11 For this reason, you and all your supporters who are gathering together are against Jehovah. As for Aaron, who is he that you should murmur against him?”
16.12 Moses later sent for Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, but they said: “We are not going to come!
16.13 Is it so little a thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to put us to death in the wilderness? Now do you also want to make yourself an absolute ruler over us?
16.14 As it is, you have not brought us into any land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of field and vineyard. Would you bore out the eyes of those men? We are not going to come!”
16.15 So Moses became very angry and said to Jehovah: “Do not turn to look at their grain offering. Not one donkey have I taken away from them, nor have I harmed one of them.”
16.16 Then Moses said to Korah: “Present yourself with all your supporters before Jehovah tomorrow, you and they and Aaron.
16.17 Each one should take his fire holder and put incense on it, and each will present his fire holder before Jehovah, 250 fire holders, together with you and Aaron, each with his fire holder.”
16.18 So each of them took his fire holder, and they put fire and incense on them and stood at the entrance of the tent of meeting together with Moses and Aaron.
16.19 When Korah had gathered his supporters against them at the entrance of the tent of meeting, Jehovah’s glory appeared to all the assembly.
16.20 Jehovah now told Moses and Aaron:
16.21 “Separate yourselves from among this group, so that I may exterminate them in an instant.”
16.22 At this, they fell with their faces to the ground and said: “O God, the God of the spirit of all people, will one man’s sin cause you to become indignant against the entire assembly?”
16.23 Jehovah then said to Moses:
16.24 “Speak to the assembly and tell them, ‘Get away from around the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram!’”
16.25 Then Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel went with him.
16.26 He told the assembly: “Move away, please, from the tents of these wicked men and do not touch anything that belongs to them, so that you may not be swept away in all their sin.”
16.27 They immediately moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, from every side, and Dathan and Abiram came out, taking their stand at the entrance of their tents, together with their wives, their sons, and their little children.
16.28 Then Moses said: “By this you will know that Jehovah has sent me to do all these things, that it is not of my own heart:
16.29 If these people die a natural death as all men do and if their punishment is the same as that of all mankind, then Jehovah has not sent me.
16.30 But if Jehovah does something extraordinary with them and the ground opens and swallows them and everything that belongs to them and they go down alive into the Grave, you will certainly know that these men have treated Jehovah disrespectfully.”
16.31 As soon as he finished speaking all these words, the ground beneath them split apart.
16.32 And the earth opened and swallowed them up, along with their households and everyone who belonged to Korah and all their goods.
16.33 So they and all who belonged to them went down alive into the Grave, and the earth covered them over, so that they perished from the midst of the congregation.
16.34 All the Israelites who were around them fled at their screaming, for they said: “We are afraid that the earth may swallow us up!”
16.35 Then a fire came out from Jehovah and consumed the 250 men offering the incense.
16.36 Jehovah now said to Moses:
16.37 “Tell Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest to take the fire holders out of the fire, for they are holy. Also tell him to scatter the fire some distance away.
16.38 The fire holders of the men who sinned at the cost of their lives should be made into thin metal plates to overlay the altar, because they presented them before Jehovah, and they became holy. They should serve as a sign to the Israelites.”
16.39 So Eleazar the priest took the copper fire holders that had been presented by those who were burned up, and beat them to overlay the altar,
16.40 just as Jehovah had told him through Moses. It was a reminder for the Israelites that no unauthorized person who is not of the offspring of Aaron should approach to burn incense before Jehovah and that no one should become like Korah and his supporters.
16.41 On the very next day, the whole assembly of the Israelites began to murmur against Moses and Aaron, saying: “You two have put Jehovah’s people to death.”
16.42 When the assembly had gathered together against Moses and Aaron, they then turned toward the tent of meeting, and look! the cloud covered it, and Jehovah’s glory began to appear.
16.43 Moses and Aaron went before the tent of meeting,
16.44 and Jehovah said to Moses:
16.45 “You men, remove yourselves from among this assembly, so that I may exterminate them in an instant.” At this they fell with their faces to the ground.
16.46 Moses then said to Aaron: “Take the fire holder and put fire from the altar in it and put incense on it and go quickly to the assembly and make atonement for them, because indignation has gone out from Jehovah. The plague has started!”
16.47 Aaron at once took it, just as Moses had said, and ran into the midst of the congregation, and look! the plague had started among the people. So he put the incense on the fire holder and began making atonement for the people.
16.48 He kept standing between the dead and the living, and the scourge eventually stopped.
16.49 Those who died from the scourge amounted to 14,700, besides those dead on account of Korah.
16.50 When at last Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the tent of meeting, the scourge had been stopped.
17.1 Jehovah now said to Moses:
17.2 “Speak to the Israelites and take from them one rod for each paternal house, from the chieftains of each paternal house, 12 rods in all. Write the name of each one on his rod.
17.3 You should write Aaron’s name on Levi’s rod, because there is one rod for the head of each paternal house.
17.4 Deposit the rods in the tent of meeting before the Testimony, where I regularly present myself to you.
17.5 And the rod of the man whom I choose will bud, and I will put a stop to the murmuring of the Israelites against me, which they are also murmuring against you.”
17.6 So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and all their chieftains gave him rods—a rod for each chieftain of a paternal house, 12 rods—and Aaron’s rod was among their rods.
17.7 Then Moses deposited the rods before Jehovah in the tent of the Testimony.
17.8 On the next day, when Moses went into the tent of the Testimony, look! Aaron’s rod for the house of Levi had budded and was bringing forth buds and blossoming flowers and bearing ripe almonds.
17.9 Moses then brought out all the rods from before Jehovah to all the people of Israel. They looked at them, and each man took his own rod.
17.10 Jehovah then said to Moses: “Put Aaron’s rod back before the Testimony as something to be kept for a sign to the sons of rebelliousness, so that their murmurings against me may cease and so that they may not die.”
17.11 Moses immediately did just as Jehovah had commanded him. He did just so.
17.12 The Israelites then said to Moses: “Now we will die, we will surely perish, we are all going to perish!
17.13 Anyone who even comes close to Jehovah’s tabernacle will die! Must we end up dying that way?”
18.1 Jehovah then said to Aaron: “You and your sons and your paternal house with you will be answerable for any error against the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you will be answerable for any error against your priesthood.
18.2 Also bring near your brothers of the tribe of Levi, your ancestral tribe, so that they may join you and minister to you and your sons before the tent of the Testimony.
18.3 They are to fulfill their responsibilities to you and to the entire tent. However, they must not come near the utensils of the holy place and the altar, so that neither they nor you may die.
18.4 They will join you and carry out their responsibilities regarding the tent of meeting and all the service of the tent, and no unauthorized person may come near to you.
18.5 You must carry out your responsibility toward the holy place and the altar, so that no further indignation may come against the people of Israel.
18.6 I myself have taken your brothers, the Levites, from among the Israelites as a gift for you. They are given to Jehovah to care for the service of the tent of meeting.
18.7 You and your sons are responsible for your priestly duties pertaining to the altar and what is inside the curtain, and you are to render this service. I have given the service of the priesthood as a gift to you, and any unauthorized person who approaches should be put to death.”
18.8 Jehovah spoke further to Aaron: “I myself put you in charge of the contributions made to me. I have given to you and to your sons a portion of all the holy things contributed by the Israelites as a permanent allowance.
18.9 This will be yours out of the most holy offerings made by fire: every offering they make, including their grain offerings and their sin offerings and their guilt offerings that they bring to me. It is something most holy for you and for your sons.
18.10 In a most holy place you should eat it. Every male may eat it. It will be something holy to you.
18.11 This also belongs to you: the gifts they contribute together with all the wave offerings of the Israelites. I have given them to you and your sons and your daughters with you as a permanent allowance. Everyone clean in your house may eat it.
18.12 “All the best of the oil and all the best of the new wine and the grain, their firstfruits, which they give to Jehovah, I give them to you.
18.13 The first ripe fruits of everything from their land, which they will bring to Jehovah, will become yours. Everyone clean in your house may eat it.
18.14 “Every devoted thing in Israel should become yours.
18.15 “Every firstborn of all living things, which they will present to Jehovah, whether man or animal, should become yours. However, you should without fail redeem the firstborn of mankind, and the firstborn of the unclean animals you should redeem.
18.16 You should redeem it with the redemption price when it is a month old and up, by the estimated value of five silver shekels, according to the standard shekel of the holy place. It is 20 gerahs.
18.17 Only the firstborn bull or firstborn male lamb or firstborn goat you should not redeem. They are something holy. You should sprinkle their blood on the altar, and their fat you should make smoke as an offering made by fire for a pleasing aroma to Jehovah.
18.18 And their flesh should become yours. Like the breast of the wave offering and like the right leg, it should become yours.
18.19 All the holy contributions that the Israelites will contribute to Jehovah, I have given to you and your sons and your daughters with you as a permanent allowance. It is a lasting covenant of salt before Jehovah for you and your offspring with you.”
18.20 Jehovah went on to say to Aaron: “In their land you will not have an inheritance, and no portion of land among them will become yours. I am your portion and your inheritance in the midst of the Israelites.
18.21 “Now see that I have given to the sons of Levi every tenth part in Israel as an inheritance in return for the service they are carrying out, the service of the tent of meeting.
18.22 No longer may the people of Israel approach the tent of meeting, or else they will incur sin and die.
18.23 The Levites themselves are to carry out the service of the tent of meeting, and they are the ones who will answer for their error. It is a lasting statute during all your generations that they should not take possession of an inheritance among the Israelites.
18.24 For I have given to the Levites as an inheritance the tenth part contributed by the people of Israel, which they will contribute to Jehovah. That is why I have said to them, ‘In the midst of the Israelites, they should not take possession of an inheritance.’”
18.25 Then Jehovah said to Moses:
18.26 “You should tell the Levites, ‘You will receive from the Israelites the tenth part that I have given to you from them for your inheritance, and you should contribute from it a tenth part of the tenth part as a contribution to Jehovah.
18.27 And it will be considered your contribution, as though it were the grain of the threshing floor or the full production of the winepress or oil press.
18.28 In this way you will also give a contribution to Jehovah from all the tenth parts that you receive from the Israelites, and from them you are to give the contribution for Jehovah to Aaron the priest.
18.29 You will make every sort of contribution to Jehovah from the very best of all the gifts given to you as something holy.’
18.30 “And you must say to them, ‘When you contribute the best of them, then it will be considered for the Levites as the produce of the threshing floor and as the produce of the winepress or oil press.
18.31 You and your household may eat it in any place, because it is your wages in return for your service at the tent of meeting.
18.32 You will not incur sin in this as long as you contribute the best from them, and you must not profane the holy things of the Israelites, or you will die.’”