31
Now it came to pass, as he finished speaking all these words, that the ground split apart under them,
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and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the men with Korah, with all their goods.
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So they and all those with them went down alive into the pit; the earth closed over them, and they perished from among the assembly.
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Then all Israel who were around them fled at their cry, for they said, "Lest the earth swallow us up also!"
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And a fire came out from the Lord and consumed the two hundred and fifty men who were offering incense.
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Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
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"Tell Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, to pick up the censers out of the blaze, for they are holy, and scatter the fire some distance away.
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The censers of these men who sinned against their own souls, let them be made into hammered plates as a covering for the altar. Because they presented them before the Lord, therefore they are holy; and they shall be a sign to the children of Israel."
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So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers, which those who were burned up had presented, and they were hammered out as a covering on the altar,
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to be a memorial to the children of Israel that no outsider, who is not a descendant of Aaron, should come near to offer incense before the Lord, that he might not become like Korah and his companions, just as the Lord had said to him through Moses.
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On the next day all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron, saying, "You have killed the people of the Lord."
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Now it happened, when the congregation had gathered against Moses and Aaron, that they turned toward the tabernacle of meeting; and suddenly the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared.
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Then Moses and Aaron came before the tabernacle of meeting.
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And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
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"Get away from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment." And they fell on their faces.
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So Moses said to Aaron, "Take a censer and put fire in it from the altar, put incense on it, and take it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them; for wrath has gone out from the Lord. The plague has begun."
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Then Aaron took it as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the assembly; and already the plague had begun among the people. So he put in the incense and made atonement for the people.
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And he stood between the dead and the living; so the plague was stopped.
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Now those who died in the plague were fourteen thousand seven hundred, besides those who died in the Korah incident.
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So Aaron returned to Moses at the door of the tabernacle of meeting, for the plague had stopped.