Numbers 16:31

31 And it came to pass when he had ended speaking all these words, that the ground clave apart that was under them.

Numbers 16:31 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 16:31

And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all
these things
As soon as he had finished his discourse, which was addressed to the congregation, and, according to Josephus ^F21, after a long prayer to God, which that writer gives at large; immediately so it was,

that the ground clave asunder that [was] under them;
on which they stood, not from any natural cause, as by subterranean volcano, forcibly making their way and bursting the earth, and so getting vent, which has been thought to be the cause of earthquakes; but this was by the immediate hand and almighty power of God, and came to pass just as Moses suggested it would, and as soon as he had uttered his words, which made it the more observable.

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FOOTNOTES:

F21 Antiqu. l. 4. c. 3. Sect. 2.

Numbers 16:31 In-Context

29 if these men die as all men die, and are visited with the visitation of all men, Jehovah has not sent me;

30 but if Jehovah make a new thing, and the ground open its mouth, and swallow them up, and all that they have, and they go down alive into Sheol, then ye shall know that these men have despised Jehovah.

31 And it came to pass when he had ended speaking all these words, that the ground clave apart that was under them.

32 And the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and all the men that belonged to Korah, and all their property.

33 And they went down, they and all that they had, alive into Sheol, and the earth covered them; and they perished from among the congregation.