14. Why should we follow you? You did not bring us into the new land filled with many good things. You did not give us the land God promised. You did not give us the fields or the vineyards. Will you make these men your slaves? No! We will not come.”
15. So Moses became very angry. He said to the Lord, “I never did anything wrong to these people. I never took anything from them—not even a donkey! Don’t accept their gifts!”
16. Then Moses said to Korah, “You and all your followers will stand before the Lord tomorrow. Aaron will also be there with you and your followers.
17. Each of you must bring a pan, put incense in it, and present it to the Lord. There will be 250 pans for the leaders and one pan for you and one pan for Aaron.”
18. So each man got a pan and put burning incense in it. Then they stood at the entrance of the Meeting Tent. Moses and Aaron also stood there.
19. Korah also gathered all the people together at the entrance of the Meeting Tent. Then the Glory of the Lord appeared to everyone there.
20. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron,
21. “Move away from these men! I want to destroy them now!”
22. But Moses and Aaron bowed to the ground and cried out, “God, you know what people are thinking. Please don’t be angry with all these people. Only one man really sinned.”
23. Then the Lord said to Moses,
24. “Tell the people to move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”
25. Moses stood and went to Dathan and Abiram. All the elders of Israel followed him.
26. Moses warned the people, “Move away from the tents of these evil men. Don’t touch anything that belongs to them! If you do, you will be destroyed because of their sins.”
27. So the men moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram went to their tents. They stood outside of their tents with their wives, children, and little babies.
28. Then Moses said, “I will show you proof that the Lord sent me to do all the things I told you. I will show you that all these things were not my own idea.
29. These men will die, but if they die in a normal way—the way people always die—then that will show that the Lord did not really send me.
30. But if the Lord causes them to die in a different way, then you will know that these men have sinned against the Lord. This is the proof: The earth will open and swallow them. They will go down to their grave still alive. And everything that belongs to these men will go down with them.”
31. When Moses finished saying these things, the ground under the men opened.
32. It was as if the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them. All of Korah’s men, their families, and everything they owned went down into the earth.
33. They went down into their grave alive. Everything they owned went with them. Then the earth closed over them. They were finished—gone from the camp!