Numbers 16:29

29 Those men won't die a natural death. Something will happen to them that doesn't usually happen to people. If what I'm telling you isn't true, then you will know that the LORD hasn't sent me.

Numbers 16:29 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 16:29

If these men die the common death of all men
Or "as every man dies" F18, or the generality of men, who for the most part die of one disease or another, as a fever, and the like, or through old age:

or if they be visited after the visitation of all men;
with such visitations as men in all ages for their sins are visited with, meaning public calamities, such as pestilence, famine, and sword:

[then] the Lord hath not sent me;
it may be concluded that I had no mission nor commission from the Lord to do what I have done, but may be reckoned a deceiver and an impostor; and I am content to be accounted so, should either of the above things be the case of these men.


FOOTNOTES:

F18 (Mdah lk twmk) "ut moriuntur omnes homines", Pagninus; "reliqui homines", Junius & Tremellius; "alii homines", Piscator.

Numbers 16:29 In-Context

27 So they moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram had already come out. They were standing at the entrances to their tents. Their wives, children and little ones were standing there with them.
28 Then Moses said, "What is about to happen wasn't my idea. The LORD has sent me to do everything I'm doing. Here is how you will know I'm telling you the truth.
29 Those men won't die a natural death. Something will happen to them that doesn't usually happen to people. If what I'm telling you isn't true, then you will know that the LORD hasn't sent me.
30 "But the LORD will make something totally new happen. The ground will open its mouth and swallow them up. It will swallow up everything that belongs to them. They will go down into the grave alive. When that happens, you will know that those men have made fun of the Lord."
31 As soon as Moses finished speaking all of those words, what he had said came true. The ground under them broke open.
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