Numbers 16:10

Summary

The verse states that someone (grammatically unspecified in this clause, but contextually God, per the wider narrative) has brought Korah and all his fellow Levites near, and yet — introduced by a shift in the narrative chain — they now seek the priesthood as well. The sentence contrasts a granted status ("brought near") with an additional demand ("also priesthood").

Key words

• va-yakrev ("and he has brought near", H7126) — hiphil (causative) verb: someone caused Korah "to draw near," a technical term for cultic access, not self-initiated approach.
• 'oteka ("you", H0853+H9031) — direct object marker with 2ms suffix, marking Korah as the one who received this action, not the agent.
• 'acheikha ("your brothers", H0251H) — plural construct with 2ms suffix, extending the action to "all your brothers," widening the scope from Korah alone to the Levite group.
• u-viqashtem ("but you have sought", H1245) — piel (intensive) verb, sequential perfect; the vav here is glossed "but," marking a turn in the narrative from what was given to what is now being demanded.
• gam-kehunah ("also priesthood", H1571+H3550) — adverb + noun; gam signals addition, framing the priesthood as something sought beyond what was already granted.

What the text says

The clause opens with a hiphil verb, va-yakrev, whose subject is not stated within this verse itself — the causative form indicates an external agent "brought near" Korah, distinguishing this from a simple verb of approach. The object markers ('et...'oteka, ve-'et-kol-'acheikha) stack up the recipients of this action: first Korah, then "all your brothers, the sons of Levi," reinforced by the preposition 'itakh ("with you"). This construction shows the granted nearness applies collectively to the Levite group, not to Korah individually.

The second half of the verse pivots with the conjunction u- attached to viqashtem, a piel perfect functioning as a sequential form ("and now you have sought" / "but you seek"). The piel stem intensifies the verb baqash ("to seek"), suggesting deliberate, active pursuit rather than passive reception. The adverb gam ("also") attached directly to kehunah ("priesthood") marks this as an addition to what was already given — the text sets "brought near" against "seeking also," structurally opposing a granted status with an actively pursued one.

Differences between versions

The Septuagint (Swete) frames the second clause as a question ("καὶ ζητεῖτε καὶ ἱερατεύειν;" — "do you also seek to serve as priests?"), using an infinitive (hierateuein, "to be a priest") rather than a noun, and punctuating the whole verse interrogatively. The Vulgate instead renders the clause as a purpose statement — "ut vobis etiam sacerdotium vindicetis" ("so that you might also claim the priesthood for yourselves") — turning the Hebrew's sequential perfect into a subordinate purpose clause dependent on the act of drawing near, rather than a separate contrasting statement as in the Hebrew.