Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and On turned against Moses. (Korah was the son of Izhar. Izhar was the son of Kohath, and Kohath was the son of Levi. Dathan and Abiram were brothers, the sons of Eliab. And On was the son of Peleth. Dathan, Abiram, and On were descendants of Reuben.)
These four men gathered 250 other men from Israel together and came against Moses. They were leaders who had been chosen by the people. All the people knew them.
They came as a group to speak against Moses and Aaron and said, "You have gone too far—you are wrong! All the Israelites are holy—the Lord still lives among them. You are making yourselves more important than the rest of the Lord's people."
Then Moses said to Korah and all his followers, "Tomorrow morning the Lord will show who belongs to him. He will show who is holy, and he will bring that man near to him. He will choose him and bring that man near to him.
Tomorrow put fire and incense in some special pans. Then bring those pans before the Lord. He will choose the man who is holy. You Levites have gone too far—you are wrong!"
You should be happy that the God of Israel chose you and made you special. You are different from the rest of the Israelites. The Lord brought you near to him to do the special work in the Lord's Holy Tent to help the Israelites worship him. Isn't that enough?
You have brought us out of a land filled with many good things. You brought us to the desert to kill us. And now you want to show that you have even more power over us.
Why should we follow you? You did not bring us into the new land filled with many good things. You did not give us the land God promised. You did not give us the fields or the vineyards. Will you make these men your slaves? No! We will not come."
So Moses became very angry. He said to the Lord, "I never did anything wrong to these people. I never took anything from them—not even a donkey! Don't accept their gifts!"
Each of you must bring a pan, put incense on it, and present it to the Lord. There will be 250 pans for the leaders and one pan for you and one pan for Aaron."
But Moses and Aaron bowed to the ground and cried out, "God, you know what people are thinking. Please don't be angry with all these people. Only one man really sinned."
Moses warned the people, "Move away from the tents of these evil men. Don't touch anything that belongs to them! If you do, you will be destroyed because of their sins."
So the men moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram went to their tents. They stood outside of their tents with their wives, children, and little babies.
Then Moses said, "I will show you proof that the Lord sent me to do all the things I told you. I will show you that all these things were not my own idea.
But if the Lord causes them to die in a different way—something new—then you will know that these men have sinned against the Lord. This is the proof: the earth will open and swallow them. They will go down to their grave still alive. And everything that belongs to these men will go down with them."
"Tell Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to get all the incense pans from the fire. Tell him to scatter the coals and ashes. These men sinned against me, and their sin cost them their lives. But the incense pans are still holy. The pans became holy when people gave them to the Lord. Hammer the pans into flat sheets. Use the metal sheets to cover the altar. This will be a warning to all of the Israelites."
So Eleazar the priest gathered together all the bronze pans that the men had brought. These men were all burned up, but the pans were still there. Then Eleazar told some men to hammer the pans into flat metal. Then he put the metal sheets on the altar.
He did this the way the Lord commanded him through Moses. This was a sign to help the Israelites remember that only someone from the family of Aaron should burn incense before the Lord. Any other person who burns incense before the Lord will die like Korah and his followers.
Moses and Aaron were standing at the entrance of the Meeting Tent. The people gathered together at that place to complain against Moses and Aaron. But when they looked toward the Meeting Tent, the cloud covered it and the Glory of the Lord appeared there.
Then Moses said to Aaron, "Get your bronze pan and some fire from the altar. Then put incense on it. Hurry to the people and do the things that will make them pure. The Lord is angry with them. The trouble has already started."
So Aaron did what Moses said. Aaron got the incense and the fire, and he ran to the middle of the people. But the sickness had already started among them. So Aaron stood between the dead and those who were still alive. He did the things to make the people pure, and the sickness stopped there.