Numbers 16

## Summary Numbers 16 narrates the rebellion of Korah, a Levite, together with Dathan, Abiram, and 250 leaders, against Moses and Aaron's exclusive priestly authority. After a test with censers before the *ohel mo'ed* ("tent of meeting", H4150), the ground opens and swallows Korah's group, fire consumes the 250 men, and a subsequent plague among the grumbling congregation is stopped only when Aaron makes atonement. ## Key words - *qadosh* ("holy", H6918) — used both by the rebels (v.3, "all the congregation are holy") and regarding the man Yahweh will choose (v.7); the same adjective is applied to the whole people and to the specially chosen individual, framing the dispute over who counts as "holy." - *hitnasse'u* ("you exalt yourselves", H5375, hithpael imperfect) — the reflexive/hithpael stem marks self-exaltation as a deliberate, ongoing action attributed to Moses and Aaron by the rebels. - *yaqrib* ("he will bring near", H7126, hiphil imperfect) — the causative hiphil recurs throughout (vv.5,9,10,17) describing Yahweh's action of "bringing near" chosen individuals to priestly service, contrasted with the rebels' own attempt to approach. - *tibla'*/*batal'ah* ("it swallowed", H1104, qal) — the simple qal verb for the earth's action in vv.30,32,34 presents the swallowing as a straightforward, singular event, not intensified or repeated grammatically. - *nagef* ("plague", H5063) and *maggefah* ("plague", H4046) — two related nouns from the same root area used for the same event in vv.46–50, the first tied to its onset ("the plague has begun") and the second to its ongoing/completed state ("the plague was restrained"). ## What the text says The chapter's Hebrew syntax is built on chains of narrative *vav*-forms ("and he took," "and they rose," "and he spoke") that drive the story forward in strict sequence, occasionally interrupted by direct speech introduced by *lemor* ("saying", H0559, infinitive). The rebels' accusation in verse 3 uses a nominal clause — *kol ha'edah kullam qedoshim* ("all the congregation, all of them, are holy") — with no verb "to be," which in Hebrew gives the statement a flat, declarative force rather than a hedged one. Moses' response in verse 9 uses the interrogative particle *ha* ("is it too small...?") twice (also in v.13, spoken by Dathan and Abiram), a rhetorical pattern in which both sides frame their grievance as "is it not enough" — Moses about the Levites' privilege, the rebels about their exodus experience. The test itself hinges on the hiphil verb *yiqrab*/*yaqrib* ("bring near," H7126), a causative form indicating that priestly access is granted by Yahweh's action upon a person, not seized by that person's own approach — a grammatical point underlying Moses' complaint in verse 10 that the Levites, already brought near, now "seek" (*biqqashtem*, piel) the priesthood for themselves. The final judgment (vv.30–33) is narrated with sequential perfect verbs (*ve-qatal* forms: "it will open... it will swallow... they will go down") that in the initial prediction (v.30) function as consequence-chains, then shift to plain narrative *vav*-forms once the event occurs (vv.31–33), marking the transition from foretold to realized action. ## Differences between versions The LXX renders Hebrew *qorbanam* type language for "offering" in verse 15 as θυσία ("sacrifice"), where the Hebrew has *minchah* ("offering", H4503), a broader term not specifically sacrificial. In verse 30 the LXX renders the Hebrew idiom "if Yahweh will create a creation" (*beri'ah yivra*, an emphatic construction pairing noun and verb from the same root, H1254/H1278) as "ἐν φάσματι" ("by a spectacle/apparition"), a rendering that shifts the emphasis from Yahweh's creative act to a visible sign, while the Vulgate's "novam rem" ("a new thing") stays closer to the sense of an unprecedented act. In verse 1, the LXX has Korah "speaking" (ἐλάλησεν) rather than the Hebrew's *vayyiqqach* ("he took", H3947), a divergence in the verb describing his initial action.