Numbers 16:31

31 And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground cleaved asunder that was under them;

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 the common death of all men, or if they be visited according to the visitation of all men, then the LORD hath not sent me.

30 But if the LORD make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth and swallow them up with all that appertain unto them, and they go down alive into the pit, then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the LORD."

31 And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground cleaved asunder that was under them;

32 and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up, and their houses and all the men who appertained unto Korah, and all their goods.

33 They and all that appertained to them went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them; and they perished from among the congregation.