Numbers 16:29

29 If these men die a natural death and suffer the fate of all mankind, then the LORD has not sent me.

Numbers 16:29 in Other Translations

29 If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men; then the LORD hath not sent me.

29 If these men die as all men die, or if they are visited by the fate of all mankind, then the LORD has not sent me.

29 If these men die a natural death, or if nothing unusual happens, then the LORD has not sent me.

29 If these men die a natural death like all the rest of us, you'll know that it wasn't God who sent me.

29 If these men die [naturally] as all people would, and suffer the fate of all, then the Lord has not 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.

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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 come out and were standing with their wives, children and little ones at the entrances to their tents.

28 Then Moses said, “This is how you will know that the LORD has sent me to do all these things and that it was not my idea:

29 If these men die a natural death and suffer the fate of all mankind, then the LORD has not sent me.

30 But if the LORD brings about something totally new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them, with everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the realm of the dead, then you will know that these men have treated the LORD with contempt.”

31 As soon as he finished saying all this, the ground under them split apart

Cross References

• 1. Numbers 24:13; Job 31:2; Ecclesiastes 3:19