25. Moses stood and went to Dathan and Abiram. The elders of Israel followed him.
26. Moses warned the people, “Move away from the tents of these evil men! Don’t touch anything of theirs. If you do, you will be destroyed because of their sins.”
27. 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.
28. Then Moses said, “Now you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these things. It was not my idea.
29. If these men die a normal death—the way men usually die—then the Lord did not really send me.
30. But if the Lord does something new, you will know they have insulted the Lord. The earth will open and swallow them. Alive, they will go to where the dead are. And everything that belongs to them will go with them.”
31. When Moses finished saying these things, the ground under the men opened up.
32. The earth seemed to open its mouth and swallow them. All their families, all Korah’s men and everything they owned went down.
33. They were buried alive, going to where the dead are. And everything they owned went with them. Then the earth closed over them. They died and were gone from the community.
34. The people of Israel around them heard their screams. They ran away and said, “The earth will swallow us, too!”
35. Then a fire came down from the Lord. It destroyed the 250 men who had presented the incense.
36. The Lord said to Moses,
37. “Tell Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest, to take all the incense pans out of the fire. Have him scatter the coals. But the incense pans are still holy.
38. These men sinned and lost their lives. Take their pans and hammer them into flat sheets. Cover the altar with them. They are holy because they were presented to the Lord. It will be a sign to the Israelites.”
39. So Eleazar the priest gathered all the bronze pans. These were the pans brought by the men who were burned up. Eleazar had the pans hammered into flat sheets to put on the altar.
40. This is what 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.
41. The next day all the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron. They said, “You have killed the Lord’s people.”
42. The people gathered to complain against Moses and Aaron. But when they turned toward the Meeting Tent, the cloud covered it. The glory of the Lord appeared.
43. Then Moses and Aaron went in front of the Meeting Tent.