The Wilderness Years

Therefore, it is you and all your followers who have conspired against the LORD! As for Aaron, who is he that you should grumble against him?”

Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come!

Is it not enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? Must you also appoint yourself as ruler over us?

Moreover, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you gouge out the eyes of these men? No, we will not come!”

Then Moses became very angry and said to the LORD, “Do not regard their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them or mistreated a single one of them.”

And Moses said to Korah, “You and all your followers are to appear before the LORD tomorrow—you and they and Aaron.

Each man is to take his censer, place incense in it, and present it before the LORD—250 censers. You and Aaron are to present your censers as well.”

So each man took his censer, put fire and incense in it, and stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

When Korah had gathered his whole assembly against them at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, the glory of the LORD appeared to the whole congregation.

And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

“Separate yourselves from this congregation so that I may consume them in an instant.”

But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, when one man sins, will You be angry with the whole congregation?”

Then the LORD said to Moses,

“Tell the congregation to move away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”

So Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him.

And he warned the congregation, “Move away now from the tents of these wicked men. Do not touch anything that belongs to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins.”

So they moved away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Meanwhile, Dathan and Abiram had come out and stood at the entrances to their tents with their wives and children and infants.

Then Moses said, “This is how you will know that the LORD has sent me to do all these things, for it was not my own doing:

If these men die a natural death, or if they suffer the fate of all men, then the LORD has not sent me.

But if the LORD brings about something unprecedented, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them and all that belongs to them so that they go down alive into Sheol, then you will know that these men have treated the LORD with contempt.”

As soon as Moses had finished saying all this, the ground beneath them split open,

and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households—all Korah’s men and all their possessions.

They went down alive into Sheol with all they owned. The earth closed over them, and they vanished from the assembly.

At their cries, all the people of Israel who were around them fled, saying, “The earth may swallow us too!”

And fire came forth from the LORD and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense.