Old Testament

Numbers

The Rebels Punished · 16:20–40

16:20 And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,

16:21 Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.

16:22 And they fell upon their faces, and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt thou be wroth with all the congregation?

16:23 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

16:24 Speak unto the congregation, saying, Get you up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.

16:25 And Moses rose up and went unto Dathan and Abiram; and the elders of Israel followed him.

16:26 And he spake unto the congregation, saying, Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest ye be consumed in all their sins.

16:27 So they gat up from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side: and Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood in the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their little children.

16:28 And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the LORD hath sent me to do all these works; for I have not done them of mine own mind.

16:29 If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men; then the LORD hath not sent me.

16:30 But if the LORD make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit; then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the LORD.

16:31 And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them:

16:32 And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods.

16:33 They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congregation.

16:34 And all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them: for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up also.

16:35 And there came out a fire from the LORD, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.

16:36 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

16:37 Speak unto Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, that he take up the censers out of the burning, and scatter thou the fire yonder; for they are hallowed.

16:38 The censers of these sinners against their own souls, let them make them broad plates for a covering of the altar: for they offered them before the LORD, therefore they are hallowed: and they shall be a sign unto the children of Israel.

16:39 And Eleazar the priest took the brasen censers, wherewith they that were burnt had offered; and they were made broad plates for a covering of the altar:

16:40 To be a memorial unto the children of Israel, that no stranger, which is not of the seed of Aaron, come near to offer incense before the LORD; that he be not as Korah, and as his company: as the LORD said to him by the hand of Moses.