So they, and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol. The earth closed on them, and they perished from among the assembly. All Israel that were around them fled at their cry; for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us up!” Fire came out from Yahweh, and devoured the two hundred fifty men who offered the incense.
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Numbers 16:33-35 sits inside this longer paragraph.
As he finished speaking all these words, the ground that was under them split apart. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their households, all of Korah’s men, and all their goods. So they, and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol. The earth closed on them, and they perished from among the assembly. All Israel that were around them fled at their cry; for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us up!” Fire came out from Yahweh, and devoured the two hundred fifty men who offered the incense.
Parallel Translations
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So they, and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol. The earth closed on them, and they perished from among the assembly.
All Israel that were around them fled at their cry; for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us up!”
Fire came out from Yahweh, and devoured the two hundred fifty men who offered the incense.
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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.
And all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them: for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up also.
And there came out a fire from the LORD, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.
Show all 3 translations
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So 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 assembly.
And all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them; for they said: 'Lest the earth swallow us up.'
And fire came forth from the LORD, and devoured the two hundred and fifty men that offered the incense.
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Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (19)
- Leviticus 10:2 (v35) Fire came out from before Yahweh, and devoured them, and they died before Yahweh.
- Numbers 26:10 (v35) and the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them up together with Korah when that company died; at the time the fire devoured two hundred…
- Psalms 106:18 (v35) A fire was kindled in their company. The flame burned up the wicked.
- Numbers 11:1-3 (v35) The people were complaining in the ears of Yahweh. When Yahweh heard it, his anger burned; and Yahweh’s fire burned among them, and…
- Numbers 16:2 (v35) They rose up before Moses, with some of the children of Israel, two hundred fifty princes of the congregation, called to the assembly, men…
Show all 19 cross-references
- Numbers 16:17 (v35) Each man take his censer and put incense on it, and each man bring before Yahweh his censer, two hundred fifty censers; you also, and…
- Numbers 17:12-13 (v34) The children of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, “Behold, we perish! We are undone! We are all undone! Everyone who keeps approaching…
- Psalms 9:15 (v33) The nations have sunk down in the pit that they made. In the net which they hid, their own foot is taken.
- Psalms 55:23 (v33) But you, God, will bring them down into the pit of destruction. Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days, but I…
- Psalms 69:15 (v33) Don’t let the flood waters overwhelm me, neither let the deep swallow me up. Don’t let the pit shut its mouth on me.
- Psalms 143:7 (v33) Hurry to answer me, Yahweh. My spirit fails. Don’t hide your face from me, so that I don’t become like those who go down into the pit.
- Isaiah 14:9 (v33) Sheol from beneath has moved for you to meet you at your coming. It stirs up the departed spirits for you, even all the rulers of the…
- Isaiah 14:15 (v33) Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the pit.
- Isaiah 33:3 (v34) At the noise of the thunder, the peoples have fled. When you lift yourself up, the nations are scattered.
- Ezekiel 32:18 (v33) “Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and cast them down, even her and the daughters of the famous nations, to the lower parts of…
- Ezekiel 32:30 (v33) “There are the princes of the north, all of them, and all the Sidonians, who have gone down with the slain. They are put to shame in the…
- Zechariah 14:5 (v34) You shall flee by the valley of my mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azel; yes, you shall flee, just like you fled…
- Jude 1:11 (v33) Woe to them! For they went in the way of Cain, and ran riotously in the error of Balaam for hire, and perished in Korah’s rebellion.
- Revelation 6:15-17 (v34) The kings of the earth, the princes, the commanding officers, the rich, the strong, and every slave and free person, hid themselves in the…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (16 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv33–35 Num 16:33 They, and all that [appertained] to them,…
Num 16:33 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.
Ver. 33. And they perished from among.] So the gun powder plotters here; and before them the northern rebels. That rebellion, saith one, like the bubbles, which children blow up into the air, was no sooner blown up than blown out, and fell into the eyes of those who with blasts of ambition and superstition held it up.
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 On vv33, 35 Into the pit, i.e. into the earth, which first…
Into the pit, i.e. into the earth, which first opened itself to receive them, and then shut itself to destroy them, and transmit them to further punishment.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v35 We must now look back to the door of…
We must now look back to the door of the tabernacle, where we left the pretenders to the priesthood with their censers in their hands ready to offer incense; and here we find,
I. Vengeance taken on them, Num 16:35. It is probable that when the earth opened in the camp to swallow up Dathan and Abiram a fire went out from the Lord and consumed the 250 men that offered incense, while Aaron that stood with them was preserved alive. This punishment was not indeed so new a thing as the former, for Nadab and Abihu thus died; but it was not less strange or dreadful, and in it it appeared, 1. That our God is a consuming fire. Is thunder a sensible indication of the terror of his voice? Lightning is also the power of his hand. We must see in this his fiery indignation which devours the adversaries, and infer from it what a fearful thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God, Heb 10:27-31. 2. That it is at our peril if we meddle with that which does not belong to us. God is jealous of the honour of his own institutions, and will not have them invaded. It is most probable that Korah himself was consumed with those 250 that presumed to offer incense; for the priesthood was the thing he aimed at, and therefore we have reason to think that he would not quit his post at the door of the tabernacle. But, behold, those are made sacrifices to the justice of God who flattered themselves with the hopes of being priests. Had they been content with their office as Levites, which was sacred and honourable, and better than they deserved, they might have lived and died with joy and reputation; but, like the angels that sinned, leaving their first estate, and aiming at the honours that were not appointed them, they were thrust down to Hades, their censers struck out of their hands, and their breath out of their bodies, by a burning which typified the vengeance of eternal fire.
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II. Care is taken to perpetuate the remembrance of this vengeance. No mention is made of the taking up of their carcases: the scripture leaves them as dung upon the face of the earth; but orders are given about their censers, 1. That they be secured, because they are hallowed. Eleazar is charged with this, Num 16:37. Those invaders of the priesthood had proceeded so far, by the divine patience and submission, as to kindle their incense with fire from off the altar, which they were suffered to use by way of experiment: but, as soon as they had kindled their fire, God kindled another, which put a fatal final period to their pretensions; now Eleazar is ordered to scatter the fire, with the incense that was kindled with it, in some unclean place without the camp, to signify God's abhorrence of their offering as a polluted thing: The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord. But he is to gather up the censers out of the mingled burning, God's fire and theirs, because they are hallowed. Having been once put to a holy use, and that by God's own order (though only for trial), they must not return to common service; so some understand it: rather, they are devoted, they are an anathema; and therefore, as all devoted things, they must be made some way or other serviceable to the glory of God. 2. That they be used in the service of the sanctuary, not as censers, which would rather have put honour upon the usurpers whose disgrace was intended; nor was there occasion for brazen censers, the golden altar was served with golden ones; but they must be beaten into broad plates for a covering of the brazen altar, Num 16:38-40. These pretenders thought to have ruined the altar, by laying the priesthood in common again; but to show that Aaron's office was so far from being shaken by their impotent malice that it was rather confirmed by it, their censers, which offered to rival his, were used both for the adorning and for the preserving of the altar at which he ministered. Yet this was not all; this covering of the altar must be a memorial to the children of Israel, throughout their generations, of this great event. Though there was so much in it astonishing, and though Moses was to record it in his history, yet there was danger of its being forgotten in process of time; impressions that seem deep are not always durable; therefore it was necessary to appoint this record of the judgment, that the Levites who attended this altar, and had their inferior services appointed them, might learn to keep within their bounds, and be afraid of transgressing them, lest they should be made like Korah and his company, who were Levites, and would have been priests. These censers were preserved in terrorem, that others might hear and fear, and do no more presumptuously. Thus God has provided that his wonderful works, both in mercy and judgment, should be had in everlasting remembrance, that the end of them may be answered, and they may serve for instruction and admonition to those on whom the ends of the world are come.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv33–35 They, and all that appertained unto them, went down…
They, and all that appertained unto them, went down alive into the pit,.... The grave which the opening earth made for them, they and their families:
and the earth closed upon them; and covered them over; this it did of itself, as Aben Ezra remarks: this was a wonderful instance of almighty power, that it should open in such large fissures as to swallow up such a number of men, with their tents, goods, and cattle, and then close again so firmly, as not to have the least appearance upon it of what had happened, as Josephus observes (z):
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and they perished from among the congregation; and had a name and a place no more with them.
(z) Antiqu. ut supra, (l. 4. c. 3.) sect. 3.
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 On vv33, 35 Into the pit - Into the earth, which first…
Into the pit - Into the earth, which first opened itself to receive them, and then shut itself to destroy them.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v33 Verse 33. They, and all that appertained to them]…
Verse 33. They, and all that appertained to them] Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and all that appertained to their respective families, went down into the pit caused by this supernatural earthquake; while the fire from the Lord consumed the 250 men that bare censers. Thus there were two distinct punishments, the pit and the fire, for the two divisions of these rebels.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v35 Num 16:35. From the Lord — From the cloud,…
Num 16:35. From the Lord — From the cloud, wherein the glory of the Lord appeared.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v35 Compare the marginal references The fire came out from…
Compare the marginal references The fire came out from the sanctuary or the altar.
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 On vv33, 35 Hell. Hebrew adds, "they, and whatsoever belonged to them,…
Hell. Hebrew adds, "they, and whatsoever belonged to them, descended into hell, or the pit." Sale. --- The souls of the impenitent into the former, the bodies of the cattle, &c., into the bowels of the earth. (Haydock)
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).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v35 there came out a fire from the Lord--that is,…
there came out a fire from the Lord--that is, from the cloud. This seems to describe the destruction of Korah and those Levites who with him aspired to the functions of the priesthood. (See Num 26:11, Num 26:58; Ch1 6:22, Ch1 6:37).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv33–35 33. Alive into the pit — As the time…
33. Alive into the pit — As the time for the clear revelation of the doctrine of future eternal rewards and punishments had not yet arrived, temporal judgments, sudden and awful, must be applied as motives to divine obedience. Sheol, the pit, is a word which is used sixty-five times in the Old Testament. In the A.V., it is translated “grave” thirty-one times, “hell” thirty-one times, and “pit” three times. Its widest meaning is the place of disembodied spirits. It here has the narrower meaning of the abode of the wicked, as the term hades has in Luk_16:23.
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 On v35 35. The sin of Korah’s company was the same…
35. The sin of Korah’s company was the same as that of Nadab and Abihu (Lev_10:1-2), and their punishment was the same. ‘The gainsaying of Korah’ is referred to as a typical sin in Judges 11.
36–40 [Heb. 17:1–15]. The fire-pans were made into a covering of the altar, as a memorial of the incident. As Num_16:40 shews, this section is written from the later point of view found in Num_16:8-11; Num_16:16-17. The writer who inserted them took the test of the fire-pans as proving the superiority of priests to Levites, not of Levites to laymen. (In the Heb. Bible Num_16:36 forms the beginning of ch. 17)
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 On v35 (35) And there came out a fire from the…
(35) And there came out a fire from the Lord . . . —It was thus, as Bishop Wordsworth has observed, that “Korah and his company were punished by the same element as that by which they had sinned.”
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 On vv34–35 At the cry of them. "at the noise of…
At the cry of them. "at the noise of them;" at the mingled sound of their shrieks and of the natural convulsion amidst which they disappeared.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v33 went down alive into Sheol
went down alive into Sheol
A similar phrase occurs in Numbers 16:30. See how you translated it there.
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They exclaimed
"They" refers to "All Israel."
The earth may swallow us up also
The people speak of the earth as if it were alive. AT: "The earth might open up and we too will fall into it" or "If the earth opens up again, we too will fall into it and be buried" (See: Metaphor)
fire flashed out from Yahweh and devoured the 250 men
Being destroyed by fire is spoken of as if they were eaten by the fire. AT: "fire flashed out from Yahweh and destroyed the 250 men" (See: Metaphor)
250 men
"two hundred and fifty men" (See: Numbers)
translationWords
Hades
perish
Israel
fire
devour
incense
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v34 16:34-35 The 250 Israelite leaders who attempted to offer…
16:34-35 The 250 Israelite leaders who attempted to offer incense shared the fate of Nadab and Abihu (Lev 10:1-2) and of those who complained about the hardships of the wilderness (Num 11:1; cp. 2 Kgs 1:10).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.