Numbers 16:31

31 Just as he finished speaking all these words, the ground beneath them split open.

Numbers 16:31 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 16:31

And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all
these things
As soon as he had finished his discourse, which was addressed to the congregation, and, according to Josephus ^F21, after a long prayer to God, which that writer gives at large; immediately so it was,

that the ground clave asunder that [was] under them;
on which they stood, not from any natural cause, as by subterranean volcano, forcibly making their way and bursting the earth, and so getting vent, which has been thought to be the cause of earthquakes; but this was by the immediate hand and almighty power of God, and came to pass just as Moses suggested it would, and as soon as he had uttered his words, which made it the more observable.

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FOOTNOTES:

F21 Antiqu. l. 4. c. 3. Sect. 2.

Numbers 16:31 In-Context

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

30 But if the Lord brings about something unprecedented, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them along with all that belongs to them so that they go down alive into Sheol, then you will know that these men have despised the Lord."

31 Just as he finished speaking all these words, the ground beneath them split open.

32 The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households, all Korah's people, and all [their] possessions.

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