Common English Bible

Numbers 16:34-41 Common English Bible (CEB)

34. All the Israelites who were around them fled at their cry, for they said, "The earth may swallow us."

35. Then fire went out from the Lord and consumed the two hundred fifty men offering incense.

36. The Lord spoke to Moses:

37. Tell Eleazar, Aaron the priest’s son, to raise the censers from the fire and scatter the ashes about, because they are holy.

38. Hammer the censers of those who sinned and lost their lives into thin plates for the altar. Since they presented them in the Lord’s presence, they had become holy. They will be a sign for the Israelites.

39. Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers presented by those who had been consumed by fire and hammered them into a covering for the altar,

40. just as the Lord instructed him through Moses. This was a reminder for the Israelites that no outsider who isn’t one of Aaron’s descendants should approach to burn incense in the Lord’s presence, so as not to be like Korah and his community.

41. On the next day the entire Israelite community complained to Moses and Aaron, "You killed the Lord’s people."