Continued from yesterday. And Moses said to Korah, "Come here tomorrow before the Lord with all your friends; Aaron will be here too. Be sure to bring your censers with incense on them; a censer for each man, 250 in all; and Aaron will also be here with his." So they did. They came with their censers and lit them and placed the incense on them, and stood at the entrance of the Tabernacle with Moses and Aaron. Meanwhile, Korah had stirred up the entire nation against Moses and Aaron, and they all assembled to watch. Then the glory of Jehovah appeared to all the people, and Jehovah said to Moses and Aaron, "Get away from these people so that I may instantly destroy them."

   But Moses and Aaron fell face downward to the ground before the Lord. "O God, the God of all mankind," they pleaded, "must You be angry with all the people when one man sins?"

   And the Lord said to Moses, "Then tell the people to get away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram."

   So Moses rushed over to the tents of Dathan and Abiram, followed closely by the 250 Israeli leaders. "Quick!" he told the people, "get away from the tents of these wicked men, and don't touch anything that belongs to them, lest you be included in their sins [and be destroyed with them]."

   So all the people stood back from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. And Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the entrances of their tents with their wives and sons and little ones. And Moses said, "By this you shall know that Jehovah has sent me to do all these things that I have done - for I have not done them on my own. If these men die a natural death or from some ordinary accident or disease, then Jehovah has not sent me. But if the Lord does a miracle and the ground opens up and swallows them and everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you will know that these men have despised the Lord." He had hardly finished speaking the words when the ground suddenly split open beneath them, and a great fissure swallowed them up, along with their tents and families and the friends who were standing with them, and everything they owned. To be continued.

Taken from Numbers 16, The Living Bible. For free Lifescope book,
write to Box 1575, Carlsbad, NM 88221. Please send $1.00 for postage and handling.