Numbers 16:33

33 They went down alive into Sheol with all they owned. The earth closed over them, and they vanished 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.

---

FOOTNOTES:

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

Numbers 16:33 In-Context

31 As soon as Moses had finished saying all this, the ground beneath them split open,

32 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households—all Korah’s men and all their possessions.

33 They went down alive into Sheol with all they owned. The earth closed over them, and they vanished from the assembly.

34 At their cries, all the people of Israel who were around them fled, saying, “The earth may swallow us too!”

35 And fire came forth from the LORD and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense.