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.
36. The Lord said to Moses,
37. “Tell Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest, to take all the incense pans out of the fire. Have him scatter the coals. But the incense pans are still holy.
38. These men sinned and lost their lives. Take their pans and hammer them into flat sheets. Cover the altar with them. They are holy because they were presented to the Lord. It will be a sign to the Israelites.”
39. So Eleazar the priest gathered all the bronze pans. These were the pans brought by the men who were burned up. Eleazar had the pans hammered into flat sheets to put on the altar.
40. This is what the Lord had commanded him through Moses. These sheets were to remind the Israelites that only descendants of Aaron should burn incense before the Lord. Anyone else would die like Korah and his followers.
41. The next day all the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron. They said, “You have killed the Lord’s people.”