They rose up before Moses, with some of the children of Israel, two hundred fifty princes of the congregation, called to the assembly, men of renown.
Parallel Translations
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They rose up before Moses, with some of the children of Israel, two hundred fifty princes of the congregation, called to the assembly, men of renown.
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And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown:
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and they rose up in face of Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty men; they were princes of the congregation, the elect men of the assembly, men of renown;
Cross-references (6)
Passages linked to Numbers 16:2 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Numbers 26:9 The sons of Eliab: Nemuel, Dathan, and Abiram. These are that Dathan and Abiram who were called by the congregation, who rebelled against Moses and against Aaron in the company of Korah when they rebelled against Yahweh;
- Ezekiel 23:10 These uncovered her nakedness. They took her sons and her daughters; and they killed her with the sword. She became a byword among women; for they executed judgments on her.
- Genesis 6:4 The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when God’s sons came in to men’s daughters and had children with them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
- Numbers 1:16 These are those who were called of the congregation, the princes of the tribes of their fathers; they were the heads of the thousands of Israel.
- 1 Chronicles 5:24 These were the heads of their fathers’ houses: even Epher, Ishi, Eliel, Azriel, Jeremiah, Hodaviah, and Jahdiel, mighty men of valor, famous men, heads of their fathers’ houses.
- 1 Chronicles 12:30 Of the children of Ephraim: twenty thousand eight hundred, mighty men of valor, famous men in their fathers’ houses.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (11 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Or, before Moses.
Or, before Moses.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Num 16:2 And they rose up before Moses, with…
Num 16:2 And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown:
Ver. 2. Princes of the assembly.] A very dangerous conspiracy: for as in a beast the body follows the head, so in that bellua multorum capitum, the multitude. Great men are the looking glasses of the country, according to which most men dress themselves: their sins do as seldom go unattended as their persons: height of place ever adds two wings to sin, example and scandal, whereby it soars higher, and flies much further.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain They, i.e. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, last mentioned.
They, i.e. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, last mentioned.
Rose up, i.e. conspired together, and put their seditious design in execution.
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Before Moses; not privily and obscurely, but openly and boldly, not fearing nor regarding the presence of Moses, who was an eye-witness of their conspiracy.
Famous, for place and birth.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And they rose up before Moses,.... To his face,…
And they rose up before Moses,.... To his face, openly and publicly, in a bold and audacious manner; with impudence, as the Targum of Jonathan:
with certain of the children of Israel; some out of the several tribes, but perhaps chiefly of the tribe of Reuben, as Jarchi:
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two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly; or "congregation" (i), who were princes in the several tribes to which they belonged, heads of houses and families of their fathers, rulers of thousands, hundreds, &c.
famous in the congregation; or "called" (k) to the tabernacle of the congregation; who, when the great men among the people were gathered together to consult about any affair, were called, as Ben Melech observes:
men of renown, or "of name" (l); in high esteem among the people for their birth and rank, their wealth and riches, wisdom and prudence; and were so before they came out of Egypt, as Aben Ezra remarks; so that the persons concerned in this rebellion were not the mob and dregs of the people, but men of the greatest figure and fame, and therefore was likely to be of bad consequence.
(i) "congregationis", Pagninus. (k) "vocati", Montanus, Drusius. (l) "viri nominis", Montanus, Drusius.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Rose up - That is, conspired together, and put…
Rose up - That is, conspired together, and put their design in execution. Before Moses - Not obscurely, but openly and boldly, not fearing nor regarding the presence of Moses.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain The “princes” appear to have belonged to the other…
The “princes” appear to have belonged to the other tribes (compare Num 27:3).
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Rose up. The crime of these men, which was…
Rose up. The crime of these men, which was punished in so remarkable a manner, was that of schism, and of rebellion against the authority established by God in the Church; and their pretending to the priesthood without being lawfully called and sent: the same is the case of all modern sectaries. (Challoner) --- Let them dread a similar punishment; not only the authors of such wicked pretensions, but those also who consent to them, Romans i. 32. For we find that Core and all his adherents were buried in hell; (ver. 33,) and those likewise who complained that their punishment was too severe, fell victims to the raging fire, ver. 49. With what earnestness ought we not therefore, to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints! (Jude 3.) For if those be so severely punished who rise up in opposition to lawful superiors, either in church or state, what swift destruction do they not bring upon their own heads who deny God, who bought them, and make him a liar, by calling in question his most sacred truths? (2 Peter ii. 1.) (Haydock) --- Core and his companions impugned not the law directly, but resisted Moses and Aaron. (St. Ignatius of Antioch, ep. ad Magnes.) They believed in the same God; yet, because they took upon themselves to sacrifice, they were forthwith punished by God, and their unlawful sacrifices could do them no service. (St. Cyprian, ep. i. 6.) Thus we are warned to keep in the true Church, and to obey those who are set over us; and never, for any temporal consideration whatever, to encourage, by our presence, the sermons or meetings of heretics, or of schismatics, lest we perish with them, ver. 26. (Worthington) --- Assembly. Hebrew, "famous in the assembly, men of name," and distinction, senators. It seems Hom left the rest of the conspirators, as he is mentioned no more. The princes of Ruben were desirous of obtaining the temporal power only. But the Levites aspired at that sacred pre-eminence, which had been given by God to Aaron and his sons. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 2. Two hundred and fifty princes — The formidable…
2. Two hundred and fifty princes — The formidable nature of this revolt may be inferred from the great number of princes implicated therein. These must have had adherents enough among the common people to have constituted a majority. If these leaders had not been summarily overthrown the whole camp would have been swept into this wicked revolution.
Before Moses — They organized a meeting before his eyes.
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Princes — Heads of the tribes, or of large divisions.
Famous — Men of name. See chap. Num_1:16, notes. The movement assumed very large proportions, and evinced widespread disaffection through jealousy and disappointed ambition.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 2. called to the assembly] Selected from the congregation…
2. called to the assembly] Selected from the congregation to meet in assembly. LXX. σύνκλητοι βουλῆς explains that they met to give counsel.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (2) And they rose up . . . —i.e.,…
(2) And they rose up . . . —i.e., in rebellion.
Two hundred and fifty princes . . . —It has been inferred from Num_27:3, where it is stated that Zelophehad, the Manassite, did not take part in the rebellion, that these princes, or chief men of the congregation, belonged to the other tribes of Israel as well as that of Levi. They are called Korah’s company because he was their leader, and it is probable from Num_16:8 that a large number of them belonged to the tribe of Levi.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain And they rose up before Moses. It is suggested…
And they rose up before Moses. It is suggested that the Reubenites were aggrieved because their father had been deprived of his birthright in favour of Judah, and that Korah was aggrieved because the Uzzielites had been preferred in the person of Elizaphan to the Izharites. (Num_3:30) These accusations have nothing whatever in the narrative to support them, and are suspicious because they are so easy and so sure to be made in such cases. In all ecclesiastical history the true reformer, as well as the heretic and the demagogue, has always been charged with being actuated by motives of disappointed ambition. Without these gratuitous suppositions there was quite enough to excite the anger and opposition of such discontented and insubordinate minds as are to be found in every community. With certain of the children of Israel. These were gathered front the tribes at large, as implied in the statement that Zelophehad a Manassite was not amongst them. (Num_27:8) Famous in the congregation. Literally, "called men of the congregation." Septuagint, sugklhtoi boulhv , representatives of the host in the great council. (cf. Num_1:16 Num_26:9)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.