Numbers 民数记16

16Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and certain Reubenites-Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth-became insolent¹
2and rose up against Moses. With them were 250 Israelite men, well-known community leaders who had been appointed members of the council.
3They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them, "You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the Lord 's assembly?"
4When Moses heard this, he fell facedown.
5Then he said to Korah and all his followers²: "In the morning the Lord will show who belongs to him and who is holy, and he will have that person come near him. The man he chooses he will cause to come near him.
6You, Korah, and all your followers are to do this: Take censers
7and tomorrow put fire and incense³ in them before the Lord . The man the Lord chooses will be the one who is holy. You Levites have gone too far!"
8Moses also said to Korah, "Now listen, you Levites!
9Isn't it enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the rest of the Israelite community and brought you near himself to do the work at the Lord 's tabernacle and to stand before the community and minister to them?
10He has brought you and all your fellow Levites near himself, but now you are trying to get the priesthood too.
11It is against the Lord that you and all your followers have banded together. Who is Aaron that you should grumble⁴ against him?"
12Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab. But they said, "We will not come!
13Isn't it enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the desert? And now you also want to lord it over us?
14Moreover, you haven't brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you gouge⁵ out the eyes of these men? No, we will not come!"
15Then Moses became very angry and said to the Lord , "Do not accept their offering. I have not taken so much as a donkey from them, nor have I wronged any of them."
16Moses said to Korah, "You and all your followers are to appear before the Lord tomorrow-you and they and Aaron.
17Each man is to take his censer and put incense in it-250 censers in all-and present it before the Lord . You and Aaron are to present your censers also."
18So each man took his censer, put fire and incense in it, and stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
19When Korah had gathered all his followers in opposition⁶ to them at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, the glory of the Lord appeared to the entire assembly.
20The Lord said to Moses and Aaron,
21"Separate yourselves from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once."
22But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and cried out, "O God, God of the spirits of all mankind, will you be angry with the entire assembly when only one man sins?"
23Then the Lord said to Moses,
24"Say to the assembly, 'Move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.' "
25Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him.
26He warned the assembly, "Move back from the tents of these wicked men! Do not touch anything belonging to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins."
27So they moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram had come out and were standing⁷ with their wives, children and little ones at the entrances to their tents.
28Then Moses said, "This is how you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these things and that it was not my idea:
29If these men die a natural death and experience only what usually happens to men, then the Lord has not sent me.
30But if the Lord brings about something totally new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them, with everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the grave, then you will know that these men have treated the Lord with contempt."
31As soon as he finished saying all this, the ground under them split apart
32and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, with their households and all Korah's men and all their possessions.
33They went down alive into the grave, with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community.
34At their cries, all the Israelites around them fled, shouting, "The earth is going to swallow us too!"
35And fire came out from the Lord and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense.
36The Lord said to Moses,
37"Tell Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest, to take the censers out of the smoldering⁸ remains⁹ and scatter¹⁰ the coals some distance away, for the censers are holy-
38the censers of the men who sinned at the cost of their lives. Hammer the censers into sheets to overlay the altar, for they were presented before the Lord and have become holy. Let them be a sign to the Israelites."
39So Eleazar the priest collected the bronze censers brought by those who had been burned up, and he had them hammered out to overlay the altar,
40as the Lord directed him through Moses. This was to remind the Israelites that no one except a descendant of Aaron should come to burn incense before the Lord , or he would become like Korah and his followers.
41The next day the whole Israelite community grumbled¹¹ against Moses and Aaron. "You have killed the Lord 's people," they said.
42But when the assembly gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron and turned toward the Tent of Meeting, suddenly the cloud covered it and the glory of the Lord appeared.
43Then Moses and Aaron went to the front of the Tent of Meeting,
44and the Lord said to Moses,
45"Get away from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once." And they fell facedown.
46Then Moses said to Aaron, "Take your censer and put incense in it, along with fire from the altar, and hurry to the assembly to make atonement for them. Wrath¹² has come out from the Lord ; the plague has started."
47So Aaron did as Moses said, and ran into the midst of the assembly. The plague had already started among the people, but Aaron offered the incense and made atonement for them.
48He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague stopped.
49But 14,700 people died from the plague, in addition to those who had died because of Korah.
50Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, for the plague had stopped.

1 insolent   

adj.傲慢的，无理的

参考例句：

• His insolent manner really got my blood up.他那傲慢的态度把我的肺都气炸了。
• It was insolent of them to demand special treatment.他们要求给予特殊待遇，脸皮真厚。

2 followers   

追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件

参考例句：

• the followers of Mahatma Gandhi 圣雄甘地的拥护者
• The reformer soon gathered a band of followers round him. 改革者很快就获得一群追随者支持他。

3 incense   

v.激怒；n.香，焚香时的烟，香气

参考例句：

• This proposal will incense conservation campaigners.这项提议会激怒环保人士。
• In summer,they usually burn some coil incense to keep away the mosquitoes.夏天他们通常点香驱蚊。

4 grumble   

vi.抱怨；咕哝；n.抱怨，牢骚；咕哝，隆隆声

参考例句：

• I don't want to hear another grumble from you.我不愿再听到你的抱怨。
• He could do nothing but grumble over the situation.他除了埋怨局势之外别无他法。

5 gouge   

v.凿；挖出；n.半圆凿；凿孔；欺诈

参考例句：

• To make a Halloween lantern,you first have to gouge out the inside of the pumpkin.要做一个万圣节灯笼，你先得挖空这个南瓜。
• In the Middle Ages,a favourite punishment was to gouge out a prisoner's eyes.在中世纪，惩罚犯人最常用的办法是剜眼睛。

6 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

7 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

8 smoldering   

v.用文火焖烧，熏烧，慢燃( smolder的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The mat was smoldering where the burning log had fallen. 燃烧的木棒落下的地方垫子慢慢燃烧起来。 来自辞典例句
• The wood was smoldering in the fireplace. 木柴在壁炉中闷烧。 来自辞典例句

9 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

10 scatter   

vt.撒，驱散，散开；散布/播；vi.分散，消散

参考例句：

• You pile everything up and scatter things around.你把东西乱堆乱放。
• Small villages scatter at the foot of the mountain.村庄零零落落地散布在山脚下。

11 grumbled   

抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声

参考例句：

• He grumbled at the low pay offered to him. 他抱怨给他的工资低。
• The heat was sweltering, and the men grumbled fiercely over their work. 天热得让人发昏，水手们边干活边发着牢骚。

12 wrath   

n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒

参考例句：

• His silence marked his wrath. 他的沉默表明了他的愤怒。
• The wrath of the people is now aroused. 人们被激怒了。