28. Then Moses said, "What is about to happen wasn't my idea. The Lord has sent me to do everything I'm doing. Here is how you will know I'm telling you the truth.
29. Those men won't die a natural death. Something will happen to them that doesn't usually happen to people. If what I'm telling you isn't true, then you will know that the Lord hasn't sent me.
30. "But the Lord will make something totally new happen. The ground will open its mouth and swallow them up. It will swallow up everything that belongs to them. They will go down into the grave alive. When that happens, you will know that those men have made fun of the Lord."
31. As soon as Moses finished speaking all of those words, what he had said came true. The ground under them broke open.
32. It opened its mouth. It swallowed up those men. In fact, it swallowed up everyone who lived in their houses. It swallowed all of Korah's men. And it swallowed up everything they owned.
33. They went down into the grave alive. Everything they owned went down with them. The ground closed over them. They died. And so they disappeared from the community.
34. All of the people of Israel who were around them heard their cries. They ran away from them. They shouted, "The ground is going to swallow us up too!"
35. Then the Lord sent down fire. It burned up the 250 men who were offering the incense.
36. The Lord spoke to Moses. He said,
37. "Speak to the priest Eleazar. He is the son of Aaron. Remind him that the shallow cups are holy. He must take them out of the fire. He must scatter the burning coals away from there.
38. The men who sinned used those cups. And it cost them their lives. Hammer the cups into bronze sheets that will cover the altar. The cups were offered to the Lord. They have become holy. Let them serve as a warning to the people of Israel."
39. So the priest Eleazar collected the bronze incense cups. They had been brought by the men who had been burned up. He had them hammered out to cover the altar.