International Children’s Bible

Numbers 16:27-35 International Children’s Bible (ICB)

27. So they moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram were standing outside their tents with their wives, children and little babies.

28. Then Moses said, “Now you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these things. It was not my idea.

29. If these men die a normal death—the way men usually die—then the Lord did not really send me.

30. But if the Lord does something new, you will know they have insulted the Lord. The earth will open and swallow them. Alive, they will go to where the dead are. And everything that belongs to them will go with them.”

31. When Moses finished saying these things, the ground under the men opened up.

32. The earth seemed to open its mouth and swallow them. All their families, all Korah’s men and everything they owned went down.

33. They were buried alive, going to where the dead are. And everything they owned went with them. Then the earth closed over them. They died and were gone from the community.

34. The people of Israel around them heard their screams. They ran away and said, “The earth will swallow us, too!”

35. Then a fire came down from the Lord. It destroyed the 250 men who had presented the incense.