Numbers 16:31

31 Therefore anon as he ceased to speak, the earth was broken under their feet, (And so as soon as he ceased to speak, the ground broke up under their feet,)

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 they perish by customable death of men, and wound, either pestilence, visit them, by which also other men be wont to be visited, the Lord sent not me; (If these men die by the customary deaths of people, or if a wound, or a pestilence, visit them, by which other people be wont to be visited, then the Lord did not send me;)

30 but if the Lord doeth a new thing, that the earth open his mouth, and swallow them, and all things that pertain to them, and they go down quick into hell, ye shall know that they blasphemed the Lord. (but if the Lord doeth a new thing, yea, and the earth open its mouth, and swallow them, and all things that pertain to them, and they go down alive into hell, or to Sheol, then ye shall know that they blasphemed against the Lord.)

31 Therefore anon as he ceased to speak, the earth was broken under their feet, (And so as soon as he ceased to speak, the ground broke up under their feet,)

32 and the earth opened his mouth, and devoured them, with their tabernacles, and all their chattel; (and the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them, and their tents, and all their possessions;)

33 and they went down quick, into hell, and were covered with earth, and they perished from the midst of the multitude. (and they went down alive into hell, or to Sheol, and then they were covered with earth, and so they perished from the midst of the multitude.)