Numbers 16:16-35

16Moses said to Korah, ‘Tomorrow, you and your men must come to the Tent of Meeting. You must come to stand in front of the Lord. Aaron will be there too.

17Each of you must take a pot and you must put incense in it. You must put the pots on the altar in front of the Lord. That will be 250 pots. You yourself must do the same thing, as well as Aaron.’

18So each man took a pot. He put incense in it, and fire to burn it. They stood with Moses and Aaron at the door of the Tent of Meeting.

19Korah brought all his group of people to stand against Moses and Aaron at the door of the Tent of Meeting. Then the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people.

20The Lord said to Moses and Aaron,

21‘Stand away from these men so that I can kill them.’

22But Moses and Aaron threw themselves on the ground. Their faces were touching the ground. They said, ‘You, our God, are the God who gives life to all people. When one man does a bad thing, will you be angry with all the people? Is that right?’

23The Lord said to Moses,

24‘Tell the people to move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.’

25Moses got up from the ground. He went to Dathan and Abiram. The leaders of the Israelites went with him.

26Moses said to all the people, ‘Move away from the tents of these wicked men. Do not touch anything that belongs to them. If you do not move away, God may destroy you together with them, because of all their sins.’

27So the people moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram were standing with their wives, babies and children at the doors of their tents.

28Then Moses said to the people, ‘Now you will know that the Lord has chosen me to lead you. He has told me to do this. It was not my own idea. This is how you will know.

29If these men die in a usual way, as all men will die one day, then the Lord did not choose me.

30But if the Lord causes something new to happen to these men, you will know that they have turned against him. For example, a hole might appear in the ground so that these men fall into it. They might fall down into their own graves while they are still alive. If that happens to them and to all that belongs to them, then you will know that the Lord has punished them.’

31When Moses finished speaking, a hole opened in the ground.

32Like a big mouth, it ate those men, their families and everything that belonged to them. The earth covered Korah, all his group and everything that belonged to them.

33They all went down into the deep grave while they were still alive. The ground closed over them and they died, no longer part of God's people.

34When the other Israelites heard those men shout, they ran away quickly. They were saying, ‘Help! The ground might eat us too!’

35Then the Lord sent fire down. It killed the 250 men who were offering the incense to God.