Numbers 16:32–50

³²The land opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their houses and every person that belonged to Korah^w and all the property. ³³They went down alive to Sheol, they and all that belonged to them, and the land covered over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly. ³⁴All Israel who were around them fled at their cry, because they said, “Lest the land swallow us up!” ³⁵And fire went out from Yahweh, and it consumed the two hundred and fifty men presenting the incense.

^36x And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ³⁷“Say to Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, ‘Take out^y the censers from among the place of burning because they are sacred, and scatter the fire outside. ³⁸The censers of these who have sinned^z at the cost of their lives, let them be made into gilded leafing plating for the altar; because they presented them before Yahweh,^a they are holy; and they will be a sign for the Israelites.’ ”^{b 39}Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers that the ones who were burned presented, and they hammered them out thinly as plating for the altar; ⁴⁰it was a memorial for the Israelites,^c so that no strange man^d who is not from the offspring^e of Aaron should approach the presence of Yahweh to burn a smoke offering;^f he will not be like Korah and his company, just as Yahweh had spoken to him by the hand of Moses.^g

The Israelites Grumble

⁴¹The next day all the community of the Israelites^h grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the people of Yahweh!” ⁴²Then, when the community had gathered against Moses and Aaron, they turned to the tent of assembly, and behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of Yahweh appeared. ⁴³And Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of assembly, ⁴⁴and Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ⁴⁵“Get away from the midst of this community, and I will finish them in an instant,”ⁱ but they fell on their faces. ⁴⁶And Moses and Aaron said, “Take the censer, and put fire on it from the altar. Place incense on it, and bring it quickly to the community, and make atonement for them, because wrath went out from the presence of Yahweh, and a plague has begun.” ⁴⁷And so Aaron took it just as Moses had spoken, and he ran into the midst of the assembly, for behold, the plague had begun among the people; so he gave the incense and made atonement for the people. ⁴⁸He stood between the dead and between the living, and the plague was stopped. ⁴⁹Those who died by the plague were fourteen thousand seven hundred, besides those who died on account of Korah. ⁵⁰Then Aaron returned to Moses at the doorway of the tent of assembly, and the plague was stopped.