4. When Moses heard this, he knelt down to pray.
5. Then he said to Korah and his followers:Tomorrow morning the Lord will show us the person he has chosen to be his priest, and that man will faithfully serve him.
6-7. Korah, now here is what you and your followers must do: get some fire pans, fill them with coals and incense, and place them near the sacred tent. And the man the Lord chooses will be his priest. Korah, this time you Levites have gone too far!
8-9. You know that the God of Israel has chosen you Levites from all Israel to serve him by being in charge of the sacred tent and by helping the community to worship in the proper way. What more do you want?
10. The Lord has given you a special responsibility, and now, Korah, you think you should also be his priest.
11. You and your followers have rebelled against the Lord, not against Aaron.
12. Then Moses sent for Dathan and Abiram, but they sent back this message: “We won't come!
13. It's bad enough that you took us from our rich farmland in Egypt to let us die here in the desert. Now you also want to boss us around!
14. You keep promising us rich farmlands with fertile fields and vineyards—but where are they? Stop trying to trick these people. No, we won't come to see you.”
15. Moses was very angry and said to the Lord, “Don't listen to these men! I haven't done anything wrong to them. I haven't taken as much as a donkey.”
16. Then he said to Korah, “Tomorrow you and your followers must go with Aaron to the Lord's sacred tent.
17. Each of you take along your fire pan with incense in it and offer the incense to the Lord.”
18. The next day the men placed incense and coals in their fire pans and stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the sacred tent.
19. Meanwhile, Korah had convinced the rest of the Israelites to rebel against their two leaders.When that happened, the Lord appeared in all his glory
20. and said to Moses and Aaron,
21. “Get away from the rest of the Israelites so I can kill them at once!”
22. But the two men bowed down and prayed, “Our God, you gave these people life. Why would you punish everyone here when only one man has sinned?”
23. The Lord answered Moses,
24. “Tell the people to stay away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”
25. Moses walked over to Dathan and Abiram, and the other leaders of Israel followed.