The Strange Story of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, Numbers, Chapter XVI. Accounted For.

1 Old ballads sing of Chevy Chase,
2 Beneath whose rueful shade,
3 Full many a valiant man was slain,
4 And many a window made.
5 But I will tell of one much worse,
6 That happ’d in days of yore,
7 All in the barren wilderness,
8 Beside the Jordan shore.
9 Where Moses led the people forth,
10 Call’d chosen tribes of God,
11 And fed them forty years with quail,
12 And rul’d them with a rod.
13 A dreadful fray once rose among
14 These self-named tribes of i am,
15 Where Korah fell, and by his side,
16 Fell Dathan and Abiram.
17 An earthquake swallowed thousands up,
18 And fire came down like stones,
19 Which slew their sons and daughters all,
20 Their wives and little ones.
21 ’Twas all about old Aaron’s tithes,
22 This murderous quarrel rose,
23 For tithes are worldly things of old,
24 That lead from worlds to blows.
25 A Jew of Venice has explain’d
26 In language of his nation,
27 The manner how this fray began,
28 Of which here is translation.
29 There was a widow, old and poor,
30 Who scarce herself could keep,
31 Her stock of goods was very small,
32 Her flock one single sheep.
33 And when the time of shearing came,
34 She counted much her gains,
35 For now, said she, I shall be bless’d,
36 With plenty for my pains.
37 When Aaron heard the sheep was shear’d
38 And gave a good increase,
39 He straight-way sent his tithing man,
40 And took away the fleece.
41 And this the weeping widow went
42 To Korah, to complain,
43 And Korah he to Aaron went,
44 In order to explain.
45 But Aaron said, in such a case
46 There can be no forbearing
47 The law ordains that thou shalt give
48 The first fleece of thy shearing.
49 When lambing time was come about,
50 This sheep became a dam,
51 And bless’d the widow’s mournful heart,
52 By bringing forth a lamb.
53 When Aaron heard the sheep had young,
54 He staid till it was grown,
55 And then he sent his tithing man,
56 And took it for his own.
57 Again the weeping widow went
58 To Korah, with her grief,
59 But Aaron said, in such a case,
60 There can be no relief.
61 For in the holy law ’tis writ,
62 That whilst thou keep’st the stock,
63 Thou shalt present unto the Lord,
64 The firstling of thy flock.
65 The widow then, in deep distress,
66 And having nought to eat,
67 Against her will she kill’d the sheep,
68 To feed upon the meat.
69 When Aaron heard the sheep was kill’d,
70 He sent and took a limb,
71 Which, by the holy law, he said,
72 Pertained unto him.
73 For in the holy law ’tis writ,
74 That when thou kilst a beast,
75 Thou shalt a shoulder and a breast,
76 Present unto the priest.
77 The widow then, worn out with grief,
78 Sat down to mourn and weep,
79 And in a fit of passion said,
80 The devil take the sheep.
81 Then Aaron took the whole away,
82 And said the laws record,
83 That all and each devoted thing,
84 Belongs unto the Lord.
85 The widow went among her kin:
86 The tribes of Israel rose,
87 And all the widows, old and young,
88 Pull’d Aaron by the nose.
89 But Moses call’d an earthquake up,
90 And fire from out the sky,
91 And all the consolation is —
92 The Bible tells a lie!

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Title (in Source Edition): The Strange Story of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, Numbers, Chapter XVI. Accounted For.
Author: Thomas Paine
Themes:
Genres: satire
Headnote: James Cheetham, The Life of Thomas Paine (1809)

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Cleary, Scott M., ed. Claeys, Gregory, gen. ed. Thomas Paine Collected Writings. Vol. II. Part 2: Poetry. Princeton: Princeton UP, 2026. 5 Volumes.

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