But if Yahweh makes a new thing, and the ground opens its mouth, and swallows them up with all that belong to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall understand that these men have despised Yahweh.”
World English Bible
This verse is examined in more than one Scripture Analysis section. Each lens is shown on its own terms, in the section's own words; GEBible reaches no verdict of its own.
Show this verse in
Show this verse in
Showing
WEB World English Bible Public Domain ✓
But if Yahweh makes a new thing, and the ground opens its mouth, and swallows them up with all that belong to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall understand that these men have despised Yahweh.”
World English Bible
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Numbers 16:27-33 describes the earth opening and swallowing Korah, Dathan, Abiram, their wives, sons, and little children, with the families perishing alive. Numbers 26:11 then says, in passing, 'Notwithstanding the children of Korah died not.'
Critical scholarship: Widely regarded as a genuine contradiction.
The proposed answers and sources for each reading are on the question page.
Each section sets the viewpoints side by side; you weigh the evidence. Here, "critical scholarship" means academic study, not a value judgment. How this is built →
Within each section, grouped by shared field or question type — not a cross-section comparison.
This citation refers to this GEBible page — the verse and the analysis gathered here. To cite the underlying scholarship, cite those sources directly.
"Numbers 16:30 — Scripture Analysis" GEBible, https://gebible.app/analysis/verse/numbers/16/30?version=WEB (retrieved 27 August 2026).