23. And the Lord said to Moses:
24. "Instruct the entire people to separate from the tents of Korah, and Dathan, and Abiram."
25. And Moses rose up and went to Dathan and Abiram. And the elders of Israel followed him,
26. and he said to the crowd, "Withdraw from the tabernacles of these impious men, and touch nothing which pertains to them, lest you become involved in their sins."
27. And when they had withdrawn from their tents all around, Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the entrance of their pavilions, with their wives and children, and with all their associates.
28. And Moses said: "By this shall you know that the Lord has sent me to do all that you discern, and that I have not brought these things out of my own heart:
29. If these men pass away by the common death of men, or if they will be visited by a scourge, of a kind by which others are often visited, then the Lord did not send me.
30. But if the Lord accomplishes something new, so that the earth opens its mouth and swallows them whole, along with everything that belongs to them, and they descend alive into the underworld, then you shall know that they have blasphemed the Lord."
31. Therefore, as soon as he had ceased to speak, the earth broke open under their feet.
32. And opening its mouth, it devoured them with their tabernacles and their entire substance.
33. And they descended alive, the ground closing around them, into the underworld, and they perished from the midst of the mulititude.
34. Yet truly, all of Israel, which was standing all around, took flight at the clamor of those who were perishing, saying, "Lest perhaps the earth may swallow us whole also."
35. Then, too, a fire, going forth from the Lord, put to death the two hundred fifty men who were offering the incense.
36. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
37. "Instruct Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, to take up the censers which lie in the burning, and to scatter the fire to one side and another, because they were sanctified
38. in the deaths of these sinners. And let him form them into plates, and affix them to the altar, because incense had been offered in them to the Lord, and they were sanctified, and so that the sons of Israel may discern in them a sign and a memorial."
39. Therefore, Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers, by which those whom the burning devoured had made an offering, and he formed them into plates, affixing them to the altar,
40. so that the sons of Israel would have, thereafter, something to admonish them, lest any stranger, or anyone who is not of the offspring of Aaron, might approach to offer incense to the Lord, and lest he endure what happened to Korah, and to all his congregation, when the Lord spoke to Moses.
41. Then, the following day, the entire multitude of the sons of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron, saying: "You have put to death the people of the Lord."