29. If all these people die a natural death, or if their fate be that of all humans, then the Lord hasn’t sent me.
30. But if the Lord performs an act of creation, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them and everything that belongs to them, so that they descend alive to their graves, then you’ll know that these men disrespected the Lord."
31. As soon as he finished speaking these words, the ground under them split open.
32. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households, including every human that belonged to Korah and all their possessions.
33. They along with all their possessions descended alive to their graves, and the earth closed over them. They perished in the middle of the assembly.
34. All the Israelites who were around them fled at their cry, for they said, "The earth may swallow us."
35. Then fire went out from the Lord and consumed the two hundred fifty men offering incense.
36. The Lord spoke to Moses:
37. Tell Eleazar, Aaron the priest’s son, to raise the censers from the fire and scatter the ashes about, because they are holy.
38. Hammer the censers of those who sinned and lost their lives into thin plates for the altar. Since they presented them in the Lord’s presence, they had become holy. They will be a sign for the Israelites.
39. Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers presented by those who had been consumed by fire and hammered them into a covering for the altar,
40. just as the Lord instructed him through Moses. This was a reminder for the Israelites that no outsider who isn’t one of Aaron’s descendants should approach to burn incense in the Lord’s presence, so as not to be like Korah and his community.
41. On the next day the entire Israelite community complained to Moses and Aaron, "You killed the Lord’s people."