Numbers 16:21-49

“Move away from these men so I can destroy them quickly.” But Moses and Aaron bowed facedown and cried out, “God, you are the God over the spirits of all people. Please don’t be angry with this whole group. Only one man has really sinned.” Then the LORD said to Moses, “Tell everyone to move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.” Moses stood and went to Dathan and Abiram; the elders of Israel followed him. Moses warned the people, “Move away from the tents of these evil men! Don’t touch anything of theirs, or you will be destroyed because of their sins.” So they moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram were standing outside their tents with their wives, children, and little babies. Then Moses said, “Now you will know that the LORD has sent me to do all these things; it was not my idea. If these men die a normal death—the way men usually die—then the LORD did not really send me. But if the LORD does something new, you will know they have insulted the LORD. The ground will open and swallow them. They will be buried alive and will go to the place of the dead, and everything that belongs to them will go with them.” When Moses finished saying these things, the ground under the men split open. The earth opened and swallowed them and all their families. All Korah’s men and everything they owned went down. They were buried alive, going to the place of the dead, and everything they owned went with them. Then the earth covered them. They died and were gone from the community. The people of Israel around them heard their screams and ran away, saying, “The earth will swallow us, too!” Then a fire came down from the LORD and destroyed the two hundred fifty men who had presented the incense. The LORD said to Moses, “Tell Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest, to take all the incense pans out of the fire. Have him scatter the coals a long distance away. But the incense pans are still holy. Take the pans of these men who sinned and lost their lives, and hammer them into flat sheets that will be used to cover the altar. They are holy, because they were presented to the LORD, and they will be a sign to the Israelites.” So Eleazar the priest gathered all the bronze pans that had been brought by the men who were burned up. He had the pans hammered into flat sheets to put on the altar, as the LORD had commanded him through Moses. These sheets were to remind the Israelites that only descendants of Aaron should burn incense before the LORD. Anyone else would die like Korah and his followers. The next day all the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron and said, “You have killed the LORD’s people.” When the people gathered to complain against Moses and Aaron, they turned toward the Meeting Tent, and the cloud covered it. The glory of the LORD appeared. Then Moses and Aaron went in front of the Meeting Tent. The LORD said to Moses, “Move away from these people so I can destroy them quickly.” So Moses and Aaron bowed facedown. Then Moses said to Aaron, “Get your pan, and put fire from the altar and incense in it. Hurry to the people and remove their sin. The LORD is angry with them; the sickness has already started.” So Aaron did as Moses said. He ran to the middle of the people, where the sickness had already started among them. So Aaron offered the incense to remove their sin. He stood between the dead and the living, and the sickness stopped there. But 14,700 people died from that sickness, in addition to those who died because of Korah.