Numbers 16:23-34

23 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

24 "Speak to the congregation, saying, '¹Get back from around the dwellings of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.' "

25 Then Moses arose and went to Dathan and Abiram, with the elders of Israel following * him,

26 and he spoke to the congregation, saying, "²Depart now from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing * that belongs to them, ³or you will be swept away in all their sin."

27 So they got back from around the dwellings of Korah, Dathan and Abiram; and Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the doorway of their tents, along with their wives and ⁴their sons and their little ones.

28 Moses said, "By this you shall know that ⁵the LORD has sent me to do all these deeds; for this is not my doing *.

29 "If these men die the death of all men or if they suffer the ⁶fate of all men, then the LORD has not sent me.

30 "But ⁷if the LORD brings about an entirely new thing and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that is theirs, and they ⁸descend alive into Sheol, then you will understand that these men have spurned the LORD."

31 As he finished speaking all these words, the ground that was under them split open;

32 and ⁹the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and ¹⁰all the men who belonged to Korah with their possessions.

33 So they and all that belonged to them went down alive to Sheol; and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly.

34 All Israel who were around them fled at their outcry, for they said, "The earth may swallow us up!"

Numbers 16:23-34 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 16

This chapter gives an account of a sedition of Korah and others against Moses and Aaron, Nu 16:1-4, with whom Moses expostulates, and shows the unreasonableness of their clamour against Aaron, Nu 16:5-11; sends for Dathan and Abiram, who were in the confederacy, but refused to come, which greatly angered Moses, Nu 16:12-15; orders Korah and his company to appear before the Lord the next day, with Aaron, to have the controversy decided, Nu 16:16-18; when all the congregation gathered together would have been, consumed had it not been for the intercession of Moses and Aaron, Nu 16:19-22; and who, being separated from the rebels by the command of the Lord, some of the rebels were swallowed up in the earth, and others destroyed by fire from heaven, Nu 16:23-35; and their censers were made a covering for the altar, as a memorial of their sin, Nu 16:36-40; on which there was a new insurrection of the people, which brought a plague upon them, and destroyed 14,700 persons, and which was stopped at the intercession of Aaron, Nu 16:41-50.

Cross References

• 1. Numbers 16:45
• 2. Isaiah 52:11
• 3. Genesis 19:15, 17
• 4. Numbers 26:11
• 5. Exodus 3:12-15; Exodus 4:12, 15
• 6. Ecclesiastes 3:19
• 7. Job 31:2, 3
• 8. Psalms 55:15
• 9. Numbers 26:10; Deuteronomy 11:6; Psalms 106:17
• 10. Numbers 26:11

Footnotes

• [a] Lit "from my heart"
• [b] Lit "like the death"
• [c] Lit "the visitation of all men be visited upon them"
• [d] Lit "creates a new creation"
• [e] I.e. the nether world
• [f] I.e. the nether world
• [g] Or "voice"