20. and the Lord said to Moses and Aaron,
21. “Stand back from these people, and I will destroy them immediately.”
22. But Moses and Aaron bowed down with their faces to the ground and said, “O God, you are the source of all life. When one person sins, do you get angry with the whole community?”
23. The Lord said to Moses,
24. “Tell the people to move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”
25. Then Moses, accompanied by the leaders of Israel, went to Dathan and Abiram.
26. He said to the people, “Stand away from the tents of these wicked men and don't touch anything that belongs to them. Otherwise, you will be wiped out with them for all their sins.”
27. So they moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.Dathan and Abiram had come out and were standing at the entrance of their tents, with their wives and children.
28. Moses said to the people, “This is how you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these things and that it is not by my own choice that I have done them.
29. If these men die a natural death without some punishment from God, then the Lord did not send me.
30. But if the Lord does something unheard of, and the earth opens up and swallows them with all they own, so that they go down alive to the world of the dead, you will know that these men have rejected the Lord.”
31. As soon as he had finished speaking, the ground under Dathan and Abiram split open
32. and swallowed them and their families, together with all of Korah's followers and their possessions.