Numbers 16:32-50 ▼

32 and the earth opens her mouth and swallows them, and their houses, and all the men who [are] for Korah, and all the goods,

33 and they go down—they and all that they have—alive to Sheol, and the earth closes over them, and they perish from the midst of the assembly;

34 and all Israel who [are] around them have fled at their voice, for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us”;

35 and fire has come out from YHWH and consumes the two hundred and fifty men bringing the incense near.

36 And YHWH speaks to Moses, saying,

37 “Say to Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to lift up the censers from the midst of the burning and scatter the fire away, for they have been hallowed.

38 [As for] the censers of these sinners against their own souls, indeed, they have made them [into] spread-out plates [for] a covering for the altar, for they have brought them near before YHWH, and they are hallowed; and they become a sign to the sons of Israel.”

39 And Eleazar the priest takes the bronze censers which they who are burned had brought near, and they spread them out [for] a covering for the altar—

40 a memorial to the sons of Israel, so that a stranger who is not of the seed of Aaron does not draw near to make incense before YHWH, and is not as Korah and as his congregation, as YHWH has spoken by the hand of Moses to him.

41 And on the next day all the congregation of the sons of Israel murmurs against Moses and against Aaron, saying, “You have put the people of YHWH to death.”

42 And it comes to pass, in the congregation being assembled against Moses and against Aaron, that they turn toward the Tent of Meeting, and behold, the cloud has covered it and the glory of YHWH is seen;

43 and Moses comes—Aaron also—to the front of the Tent of Meeting.

44 And YHWH speaks to Moses, saying,

45 “Get up from the midst of this congregation, and I consume them in a moment”; and they fall on their faces,

46 and Moses says to Aaron, “Take the censer and put fire on it from off the altar, and place incense, and go quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, for the wrath has gone out from the presence of YHWH—the plague has begun.”

47 And Aaron takes [it] as Moses has spoken, and runs to the midst of the assembly, and behold, the plague has begun among the people; and he gives the incense, and makes atonement for the people,

48 and stands between the dead and the living, and the plague is restrained;

49 and those who die by the plague are fourteen thousand and seven hundred, apart from those who die for the matter of Korah;

50 and Aaron turns back to Moses, to the opening of the Tent of Meeting, and the plague has been restrained.