Numbers 16:33

33 So they went down alive to the world of the dead, with their possessions. The earth closed over them, and they vanished.

Numbers 16:33 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 16:33

They, and all that [appertained] unto them, went down alive
into the pit
The grave which the opening earth made for them, they and their families:

and the earth closed upon them;
and covered them over; this it did of itself, as Aben Ezra remarks: this was a wonderful instance of almighty power, that it should open in such large fissures as to swallow up such a number of men, with their tents, goods, and cattle, and then close again so firmly, as not to have the least appearance upon it of what had happened, as Josephus observes ^F26,

and they perished from among the congregation;
and had a name and a place no more with them.

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FOOTNOTES:

F26 Antiqu. ut supra, (l. 4. c. 3.) sect. 3.

Numbers 16:33 In-Context

31 As soon as he had finished speaking, the ground under Dathan and Abiram split open

32 and swallowed them and their families, together with all of Korah's followers and their possessions.

33 So they went down alive to the world of the dead, with their possessions. The earth closed over them, and they vanished.

34 All the people of Israel who were there fled when they heard their cry. They shouted, "Run! The earth might swallow us too!"

35 Then the Lord sent a fire that blazed out and burned up the 250 men who had presented the incense.