Numbers 16:21-49

²¹Be ye separated from the midst of this congregation, that I lose them suddenly.

²²The which fell down low upon their faces, and said, Most strong God of the spirits of all flesh, whether thy wrath shall be fierce against all men, for one man sinneth?

²³And the Lord said to Moses,

²⁴Command thou to all the people, that it be separated from the tabernacles of Korah, and of Dathan, and of Abiram.

²⁵And Moses rose, and went to Dathan and Abiram; and while the elder men of Israel followed him,

²⁶he said to the company, Go ye away from the tabernacles of the wicked men, and do not ye touch those things that pertain to them, lest ye be wrapped in the sins of them.

²⁷And when they had gone away from their tents by compass, Dathan and Abiram went out, and stood in the entry of their tents, with their wives, and their free children, and with all the multitude.

²⁸And Moses said, In this ye shall know that the Lord sent me, that I should do all things which ye see, and that I brought them not forth of mine own heart.

²⁹If they perish by customable death of men, and wound, either pestilence, visit them, by which also other men be wont to be visited, the Lord sent not me;

³⁰but if the Lord doeth a new thing, that the earth open his mouth, and swallow them, and all things that pertain to them, and they go down quick into hell, ye shall know that they blasphemed the Lord.

³¹Therefore anon as he ceased to speak, the earth was broken under their feet,

³²and the earth opened his mouth, and devoured them, with their tabernacles, and all their chattel;

³³and they went down quick, into hell, and were covered with earth, and they perished from the midst of the multitude.

³⁴And soothly all Israel that stood about, fled from the cry of men perishing, and said, Lest peradventure the earth swallow also us.

³⁵But also fire went out from the Lord, and killed twain or two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.

³⁶And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

³⁷Command thou to Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, that he take, or gather up, the censers that lie in the burning, and that he scatter the fire hither and thither; for those censers be hallowed

³⁸in the deaths of sinners; and that he bring forth those censers into plates, and nail them to the altar, for incense is offered in those or them to the Lord, and those be hallowed, that the sons of Israel see them for a sign and a memorial.

³⁹Therefore Eleazar, the priest, took the brazen censers, in which they, which the burning had devoured had offered, and he beat out those censers into plates, and nailed them to the altar;

⁴⁰that the sons of Israel should have those censers with them afterward, by which they should remember this great vengeance of God, lest any alien, and which is not of the seed of Aaron, nigh to offer incense to the Lord; lest he suffer, as Korah suffered, and all his multitude, while the Lord spake to Moses.

⁴¹Forsooth all the multitude of the sons of Israel grutched in the day pursuing or following against Moses and Aaron, and said, Ye have slain the people of the Lord.

⁴²And when dissension arose, and the noise increased, Moses and Aaron fled to the tabernacle of the bond of peace; and after that they entered into it, a cloud covered the tabernacle, and the glory of the Lord appeared.

⁴³(See verse 42 above.)

⁴⁴And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron,

⁴⁵Go ye away from the midst of this multitude, also now I shall do away them. And when they lay in the earth,

⁴⁶Moses said to Aaron, Take thy censer, and when the fire is taken up from the altar, cast thou incense above, and go thou forth soon to the people, that thou pray for them; for now wrath is gone out from the Lord, and the vengeance is fierce.

⁴⁷And when Aaron had done this, and had run to the midst of the multitude, which the burning wasted then, he offered incense;

⁴⁸and he stood betwixt the dead men and the living, and he prayed for the people, and the vengeance ceased.

⁴⁹Soothly they that were slain were fourteen thousand of men and seven hundred, without them that perished in the dissension of Korah.