Numbers 16:33

33 They went down alive to their graves with everything that belonged to them. The ground covered them, and so they disappeared from the assembly.

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 saying all this, the ground under them split,

32 and the earth opened up to swallow them, their families, the followers of Korah, and all their property.

33 They went down alive to their graves with everything that belonged to them. The ground covered them, and so they disappeared from the assembly.

34 All the Israelites around them ran away when they heard their screams. They thought the ground would swallow them, too.

35 Fire came from the LORD and consumed the 250 men who were offering incense.