¹ Say ye to your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah.

² Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her prostitutions out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts;

³ Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and kill her with thirst.

⁴ And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they are the children of lewdness.

⁵ For their mother hath played the harlot: she that conceived them hath done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.

⁶ Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths.

⁷ And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.

⁸ For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal.

⁹ Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in its time, and my wine in its season, and I will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness.

¹⁰ And now will I disclose her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of my hand.

¹¹ I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.

¹² And I will destroy her vines and her fig-trees, of which she hath said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me: and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.

¹³ And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, in which she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her ear-rings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgot me, saith the LORD.

¹⁴ Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably to her.

¹⁵ And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came from the land of Egypt.

¹⁶ And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, that thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali.

¹⁷ For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name.

¹⁸ And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping animals of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down in safety.

¹⁹ And I will betroth thee to me for ever; yes, I will betroth thee to me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving-kindness, and in mercies.

²⁰ I will even betroth thee to me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the LORD.

²¹ And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the LORD, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth;

²² And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel.

²³ And I will sow her to me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them who were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.

⁵ For Israel hath not been forsaken, nor Judah by his God, by the LORD of hosts; though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.

¹ Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan 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 certain of the children of Israel, two hundred fifty princes of the congregation, called to the assembly, men of renown;

³ and they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them, "You take too much on yourself, since all the congregation are holy, everyone of them, and Yahweh is among them: why then lift yourselves up above the assembly of Yahweh?"

⁴ When Moses heard it, he fell on his face:

⁵ and he spoke to Korah and to all his company, saying, "In the morning Yahweh will show who are his, and who is holy, and will cause him to come near to him: even him whom he shall choose he will cause to come near to him.

⁶ Do this: take censers, Korah, and all his company;

⁷ and put fire in them, and put incense on them before Yahweh tomorrow: and it shall be that the man whom Yahweh chooses, he shall be holy. You have gone too far, you sons of Levi!"

⁸ Moses said to Korah, "Hear now, you sons of Levi!

⁹ Is it a small thing to you, that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do the service of the tabernacle of Yahweh, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them;

¹⁰ and that he has brought you near, and all your brothers the sons of Levi with you? and do you seek the priesthood also?

¹¹ Therefore you and all your company are gathered together against Yahweh: and Aaron, what is he that you murmur against him?"

¹² Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab; and they said, "We won't come up:

¹³ is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, but you must also make yourself a prince over us?

¹⁴ Moreover you haven't 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 won't come up."

¹⁵ Moses was very angry, and said to Yahweh, "Don't respect their offering: I have not taken one donkey from them, neither have I hurt one of them."

¹⁶ Moses said to Korah, "You and all your company go before Yahweh, you, and they, and Aaron, tomorrow:

¹⁷ and each man take his censer, and put incense on them, and each man bring before Yahweh his censer, two hundred fifty censers; you also, and Aaron, each his censer."

¹⁸ They each took his censer, and put fire in them, and laid incense thereon, and stood at the door of the Tent of Meeting with Moses and Aaron.

¹⁹ Korah assembled all the congregation against them to the door of the Tent of Meeting: and the glory of Yahweh appeared to all the congregation.

²⁰ Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

²¹ "Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment!"

²² They fell on their faces, and said, "God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and will you be angry with all the congregation?"

²³ Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

²⁴ "Speak to the congregation, saying, 'Get away from around the tent of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram!'"

²⁵ Moses rose up and went to Dathan and Abiram; and the elders of Israel followed him.

²⁶ He spoke to the congregation, saying, "Depart, please, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be consumed in all their sins!"

²⁷ So they went away from the tent of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side: and Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood at the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their little ones.

²⁸ Moses said, "Hereby you shall know that Yahweh has sent me to do all these works; for [I have] not [done them] of my own mind.

²⁹ If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men; then Yahweh hasn't sent me.

³⁰ But if Yahweh make a new thing, and the ground open its mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain to them, and they go down alive into Sheol; then you shall understand that these men have despised Yahweh."

³¹ It happened, as he made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground split apart that was under them;

³² and the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and all the men who appertained to Korah, and all their goods.

³³ So they, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into Sheol: and the earth closed on them, and they perished from among the assembly.

³⁴ All Israel that were around them fled at the cry of them; for they said, "Lest the earth swallow us up!"

³⁵ Fire came forth from Yahweh, and devoured the two hundred fifty men who offered the incense.

³⁶ Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

³⁷ "Speak to Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, that he take up the censers out of the burning, and scatter the fire yonder; for they are holy,

³⁸ even the censers of these sinners against their own lives; and let them be made beaten plates for a covering of the altar: for they offered them before Yahweh; therefore they are holy; and they shall be a sign to the children of Israel."

³⁹ Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers, which those who were burnt had offered; and they beat them out for a covering of the altar,

⁴⁰ to be a memorial to the children of Israel, to the end that no stranger, who isn't of the seed of Aaron, comes near to burn incense before Yahweh; that he not be as Korah, and as his company: as Yahweh spoke to him by Moses.

⁴¹ But on the next day all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, "You have killed Yahweh's people!"

⁴² It happened, when the congregation was assembled against Moses and against Aaron, that they looked toward the Tent of Meeting: and behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of Yahweh appeared.

⁴³ Moses and Aaron came to the front of the Tent of Meeting.

⁴⁴ Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

⁴⁵ "Get away from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment!" They fell on their faces.

⁴⁶ Moses said to Aaron, "Take your censer, and put fire from off the altar in it, and lay incense on it, and carry it quickly to the congregation, and make atonement for them; for wrath has gone out from Yahweh! The plague has begun."

⁴⁷ Aaron did as Moses said, and ran into the midst of the assembly; and behold, the plague has begun among the people: and he put on the incense, and made atonement for the people.

⁴⁸ He stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed.

⁴⁹ Now those who died by the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, besides those who died about the matter of Korah.

⁵⁰ Aaron returned to Moses to the door of the Tent of Meeting: and the plague was stayed.