Numbers 16:33

33 And they went down and all that they had, alive into Hades; and the ground covered them, and they perished from the midst of the congregation.

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.


FOOTNOTES:

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

Numbers 16:33 In-Context

31 And when he ceased speaking all these words, the ground clave asunder beneath them.
32 And the ground opened, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that were with Core, and their cattle.
33 And they went down and all that they had, alive into Hades; and the ground covered them, and they perished from the midst of the congregation.
34 And all Israel round about them fled from the sound of them, for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up .
35 And fire went forth from the Lord, and devoured the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.

The Brenton translation of the Septuagint is in the public domain.