Numbers 16:24-50

²⁴'Speak unto the company, saying, Go ye up from round about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.'

²⁵And Moses riseth, and goeth unto Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel go after him,

²⁶and he speaketh unto the company, saying, 'Turn aside, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men, and come not against anything that they have, lest ye be consumed in all their sins.'

²⁷And they go up from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan and Abiram, from round about, and Dathan, and Abiram have come out, standing at the opening of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their infants.

²⁸And Moses saith, 'By this ye do know that Jehovah hath sent me to do all these works, that they are not from my own heart;

²⁹if according to the death of all men these die — or the charge of all men is charged upon them — Jehovah hath not sent me;

³⁰and if a strange thing Jehovah do, and the ground hath opened her mouth and swallowed them, and all that they have, and they have gone down alive to Sheol — then ye have known that these men have despised Jehovah.'

³¹And it cometh to pass at his finishing speaking all these words, that the ground which is under them cleaveth,

³²and the earth openeth her mouth, and swalloweth them, and their houses, and all the men who are for Korah, and all the goods,

³³and they go down, they, and all that they have, alive to Sheol, and the earth closeth over them, and they perish from the midst of the assembly;

³⁴and all Israel who are round about them have fled at their voice, for they said, 'Lest the earth swallow us;'

³⁵and fire hath come out from Jehovah, and consumeth the two hundred and fifty men bringing near the perfume.

³⁶And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying,

³⁷'Say unto Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, and he lifteth up the censers from the midst of the burning, and the fire scatter thou yonder, for they have been hallowed,

³⁸even the censers of these sinners against their own souls; and they have made them spread-out plates, a covering for the altar, for they have brought them near before Jehovah, and they are hallowed; and they are become a sign to the sons of Israel.'

³⁹And Eleazar the priest taketh the brazen censers which they who are burnt had brought near, and they spread them out, a covering for the altar —

⁴⁰a memorial to the sons of Israel, so that a stranger who is not of the seed of Aaron doth not draw near to make a perfume before Jehovah, and is not as Korah, and as his company, — as Jehovah hath spoken by the hand of Moses to him.

⁴¹And all the company of the sons of Israel murmur, on the morrow, against Moses and against Aaron, saying, 'Ye — ye have put to death the people of Jehovah.'

⁴²And it cometh to pass, in the company being assembled against Moses and against Aaron, that they turn towards the tent of meeting, and lo, the cloud hath covered it, and the honour of Jehovah is seen;

⁴³and Moses cometh — Aaron also — unto the front of the tent of meeting.

⁴⁴And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying,

⁴⁵'Get you up from the midst of this company, and I consume them in a moment;' and they fall on their faces,

⁴⁶and Moses saith unto Aaron, 'Take the censer, and put on it fire from off the altar, and place perfume, and go, hasten unto the company, and make atonement for them, for the wrath hath gone out from the presence of Jehovah — the plague hath begun.'

⁴⁷And Aaron taketh as Moses hath spoken, and runneth unto the midst of the assembly, and lo, the plague hath begun among the people; and he giveth the perfume, and maketh atonement for the people,

⁴⁸and standeth between the dead and the living, and the plague is restrained;

⁴⁹and those who die by the plague are fourteen thousand and seven hundred, apart from those who die for the matter of Korah;

⁵⁰and Aaron turneth back unto Moses, unto the opening of the tent of meeting, and the plague hath been restrained.