Numbers 16:23-33

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, "Get 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.
33 So they went down alive to the world of the dead, with their possessions. The earth closed over them, and they vanished.

Numbers 16:23-33 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 16

This chapter gives an account of a sedition of Korah and others against Moses and Aaron, Nu 16:1-4, with whom Moses expostulates, and shows the unreasonableness of their clamour against Aaron, Nu 16:5-11; sends for Dathan and Abiram, who were in the confederacy, but refused to come, which greatly angered Moses, Nu 16:12-15; orders Korah and his company to appear before the Lord the next day, with Aaron, to have the controversy decided, Nu 16:16-18; when all the congregation gathered together would have been, consumed had it not been for the intercession of Moses and Aaron, Nu 16:19-22; and who, being separated from the rebels by the command of the Lord, some of the rebels were swallowed up in the earth, and others destroyed by fire from heaven, Nu 16:23-35; and their censers were made a covering for the altar, as a memorial of their sin, Nu 16:36-40; on which there was a new insurrection of the people, which brought a plague upon them, and destroyed 14,700 persons, and which was stopped at the intercession of Aaron, Nu 16:41-50.

Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.