Numbers 16:31-50 ▼

31 As soon as Moses had finished saying all this, the ground beneath them split open,

32 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households—all Korah’s men and all their possessions.

33 They went down alive into Sheol with all they owned. The earth closed over them, and they vanished from the assembly.

34 At their cries, all the people of Israel who were around them fled, saying, “The earth may swallow us too!”

35 And fire came forth from the LORD and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense.

36 Then the LORD said to Moses,

37 “Tell Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to remove the censers from the flames and to scatter the coals far away, because the censers are holy.

38 As for the censers of those who sinned at the cost of their own lives, hammer them into sheets to overlay the altar, for these were presented before the LORD, and so have become holy. They will serve as a sign to the Israelites.”

39 So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers brought by those who had been burned up, and he had them hammered out to overlay the altar,

40 just as the LORD commanded him through Moses. This was to be a reminder to the Israelites that no outsider who is not a descendant of Aaron should approach to offer incense before the LORD, lest he become like Korah and his followers.

41 The next day the whole congregation of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the LORD’s people!”

42 But when the congregation gathered against them, Moses and Aaron turned toward the Tent of Meeting, and suddenly the cloud covered it and the glory of the LORD appeared.

43 Then Moses and Aaron went to the front of the Tent of Meeting,

44 and the LORD said to Moses,

45 “Get away from this congregation so that I may consume them in an instant.” And Moses and Aaron fell facedown.

46 Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, place fire from the altar in it, and add incense. Go quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, because wrath has come out from the LORD; the plague has begun.”

47 So Aaron took the censer as Moses had ordered and ran into the midst of the assembly. And seeing that the plague had begun among the people, he offered the incense and made atonement for the people.

48 He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague was halted.

49 But those who died from the plague numbered 14,700, in addition to those who had died on account of Korah.

50 Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, since the plague had been halted.