Numbers 16:32-42

32 The earth opened its mouth and swallowed the men, along with their households and all their followers who were standing with them, and everything they owned.
33 So they went down alive into the grave, along with all their belongings. The earth closed over them, and they all vanished from among the people of Israel.
34 All the people around them fled when they heard their screams. “The earth will swallow us, too!” they cried.
35 Then fire blazed forth from the LORD and burned up the 250 men who were offering incense.
36 And the LORD said to Moses,
37 “Tell Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to pull all the incense burners from the fire, for they are holy. Also tell him to scatter the burning coals.
38 Take the incense burners of these men who have sinned at the cost of their lives, and hammer the metal into a thin sheet to overlay the altar. Since these burners were used in the LORD ’s presence, they have become holy. Let them serve as a warning to the people of Israel.”
39 So Eleazar the priest collected the 250 bronze incense burners that had been used by the men who died in the fire, and the bronze was hammered into a thin sheet to overlay the altar.
40 This would warn the Israelites that no unauthorized person—no one who was not a descendant of Aaron—should ever enter the LORD ’s presence to burn incense. If anyone did, the same thing would happen to him as happened to Korah and his followers. So the LORD ’s instructions to Moses were carried out.
41 But the very next morning the whole community of Israel began muttering again against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the LORD ’s people!”
42 As the community gathered to protest against Moses and Aaron, they turned toward the Tabernacle and saw that the cloud had covered it, and the glorious presence of the LORD appeared.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Verses 16:36-50 are numbered 17:1-15 in Hebrew text.
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