³⁶The 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 a long distance away. But the incense pans are still holy. ³⁸Take the pans of these men who sinned and lost their lives, and hammer them into flat sheets that will be used to cover the altar. They are holy, because they were presented to the Lord, and they will be a sign to the Israelites.”

³⁹So Eleazar the priest gathered all the bronze pans that had been brought by the men who were burned up. He had the pans hammered into flat sheets to put on the altar, ⁴⁰as 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.

Aaron Saves the People

⁴¹The next day all the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron and said, “You have killed the Lord’s people.”

⁴²When the people gathered to complain against Moses and Aaron, they turned toward the Meeting Tent, and the cloud covered it. The glory of the Lord appeared. ⁴³Then Moses and Aaron went in front of the Meeting Tent.

⁴⁴The Lord said to Moses, ⁴⁵“Move away from these people so I can destroy them quickly.” So Moses and Aaron bowed facedown.

⁴⁶Then Moses said to Aaron, “Get your pan, and put fire from the altar and incense in it. Hurry to the people and remove their sin. The Lord is angry with them; the sickness has already started.” ⁴⁷So Aaron did as Moses said. He ran to the middle of the people, where the sickness had already started among them. So Aaron offered the incense to remove their sin. ⁴⁸He stood between the dead and the living, and the sickness stopped there. ⁴⁹But 14,700 people died from that sickness, in addition to those who died because of Korah. ⁵⁰Then Aaron went back to Moses at the entrance to the Meeting Tent. The terrible sickness had been stopped.

Aaron’s Walking Stick Buds

17The Lord said to Moses, ²“Speak to the people of Israel and get twelve walking sticks from them—one from the leader of each tribe. Write the name of each man on his stick, and ³on the stick from Levi, write Aaron’s name. There must be one stick for the head of each tribe. ⁴Put them in the Meeting Tent in front of the Ark of the Agreement, where I meet with you. ⁵I will choose one man whose walking stick will begin to grow leaves; in this way I will stop the Israelites from always complaining against you.”

⁶So Moses spoke to the Israelites. Each of the twelve leaders gave him a walking stick—one from each tribe—and Aaron’s walking stick was among them. ⁷Moses put them before the Lord in the Tent of the Agreement.

⁸The next day, when Moses entered the Tent, he saw that Aaron’s stick (which stood for the family of Levi) had grown leaves. It had even budded, blossomed, and produced almonds. ⁹So Moses brought out to the Israelites all the walking sticks from the Lord’s presence. They all looked, and each man took back his stick.

¹⁰Then the Lord said to Moses, “Put Aaron’s walking stick back in front of the Ark of the Agreement. It will remind these people who are always turning against me to stop their complaining against me so they won’t die.” ¹¹So Moses obeyed what the Lord commanded him.

¹²The people of Israel said to Moses, “We are going to die! We are destroyed. We are all destroyed! ¹³Anyone who even comes near the Holy Tent of the Lord will die. Will we all die?”

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