Numbers 16:37-50
16:37 “Tell
Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to pick up
the censers out of the flame, for they are holy, and then scatter the coals of fire
at a distance.
16:38 As for the censers of these men who sinned at the cost of their lives,
they must be made
into hammered sheets for covering the altar, because they presented them before the
Lord and sanctified them. They will become a sign to the Israelites.”
16:39 So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers presented by those who had been burned up, and they were hammered out as a covering for the altar.
16:40 It was a memorial for the Israelites, that no outsider who is not a descendant of
Aaron should approach to burn incense before the
Lord, that he might not become like Korah and his company – just as the
Lord had spoken by the authority
of Moses.
16:41 But on the next day the whole community of Israelites murmured against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the
Lord’s people!”
16:42 When the community assembled
against Moses and Aaron, they turned toward the tent of meeting – and
the cloud covered it, and the glory of the
Lord appeared.
16:43 Then Moses and Aaron stood before the tent of meeting.
16:44 The Lord spoke to Moses:
16:45 “Get away from this community, so that I can consume them in an instant!” But they threw themselves down with their faces to the ground.
16:46 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Take the censer, put burning coals from the altar in it, place incense on it, and go quickly into the assembly and make atonement for them, for wrath has gone out from the Lord – the plague has begun!”
16:47 So Aaron did as Moses commanded and ran into the middle of the assembly, where the plague was just beginning among the people. So he placed incense on the coals and made atonement for the people.
16:48 He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped.
16:49 Now 14,700 people died in the plague, in addition to those who died in the event with Korah.
16:50 Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and the plague was stopped.