Numbers 16:1

Summary

Numbers 16:1 opens the narrative by naming the men who will act: Korah, identified through a three-generation genealogy back to Levi, and three Reubenites — Dathan, Abiram, and On — identified through their fathers. The verse consists of a single verb, vayyiqqach ("and he took", H3947G), followed by a chain of proper names linked by construct genealogical phrases.

Key words

• vayyiqqach ("he took", H3947G) — qal narrative form, third person masculine singular. Only one grammatical subject is marked despite the list of several names that follows.
• ben ("son of", H1121A) — masculine singular construct, repeated (Korah ben Izhar ben Kohath ben Levi) to form a genealogical chain reaching back to Levi.
• benei ("sons of", H1121A) — masculine plural construct, used twice to introduce groups of brothers (sons of Eliab; sons of Reuben), distinguishing plural filiation from the singular ben chains.
• Qorach ("Korah", H7141I) — proper name, grammatical subject of vayyiqqach.
• Re'uven ("Reuben", H7205) — proper name, closing the verse as the ancestral reference point for On, and by the plural construct benei, possibly for Dathan and Abiram as well.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built on a single finite verb, vayyiqqach, in the third person masculine singular. Grammatically this verb has one subject, Korah, whose ancestry is traced through three successive singular construct phrases (ben + name) up to Levi. The rest of the verse — "and Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth" — is attached with the conjunction ve- ("and", H9002) rather than governed by a new verb, so these names extend the sentence's subject rather than starting a new clause. The verse ends with benei Re'uven ("sons of Reuben", H7205 + H1121A) in the plural construct, which functions as a summarizing genealogical label; because it is plural, it can be read as applying to the whole group of Reubenites just named (Dathan, Abiram, On) rather than to On alone.

The Hebrew text does not supply a direct object for vayyiqqach within this verse; the object of "he took" is left for the following verses to complete the sense of the sentence.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the verb as elalēsen ("he spoke") rather than "he took," producing a different opening action for Korah. The Vulgate omits an equivalent finite verb altogether, opening instead with "Ecce autem" ("But behold"), presenting the names as a descriptive introduction rather than completing the Hebrew's verbal clause.