Numbers 16:24

Summary

Numbers 16:24 records a divine command to Moses to instruct the congregation to distance itself from the dwelling place associated with Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. The verse uses two imperative verb forms to convey both the command to speak and the action the congregation must take.

Key words

• da.Ber ("speak", H1696G) — piel imperative, an intensive command form directing Moses to communicate this instruction.
• ha.'e.Dah ("the congregation", H5712) — feminine singular noun with definite article, referring to the assembled community as the recipient of the message.
• he.'a.Lu ("take yourselves up", H5927G) — niphal imperative, a passive/reflexive form indicating the congregation must remove themselves, plural "you all" addressed.
• mish.kan- ("dwelling place of", H4908) — construct form, meaning it is grammatically bound to the following names, producing "dwelling place of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram."
• sa.Viv ("round about", H5439G) — common gender noun functioning adverbially, describing the spatial extent of the withdrawal ("from all around").

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence divides into two commands. The first, da.Ber ("speak") plus the infinitive le.Mor ("saying", H0559), instructs Moses to deliver a message to ha.'e.Dah ("the congregation"). The content of that message is itself an imperative: he.'a.Lu ("take yourselves up"), a niphal form addressed to the congregation as a group ("you all"). This verb, built on the root H5927 (to go up), in the niphal stem carries a reflexive or passive nuance — the congregation is to remove itself, rather than being removed by another agent.

The phrase mi.sa.Viv le.mish.kan-Ko.rach Da.tan va.'A.vi.Ram specifies the object of the withdrawal: "from around the dwelling place of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram." The construct chain mish.kan- ("dwelling place of") links grammatically to all three names, indicating one shared mishkan rather than three separate ones. The preposition mi. ("from") combined with sa.Viv ("round about") indicates a circular or surrounding distance to be kept, not simply proximity avoidance.

Differences between versions

The Septuagint (LXXSWETE) renders the command as "depart from the synagoge" (Ἀναχωρήσατε κύκλῳ ἀπὸ τῆς συναγωγῆς) and mentions only Κόρε ("Korah"), omitting Dathan and Abiram from this verse. This differs from the Hebrew, which explicitly names all three figures in the construct chain governed by mishkan ("dwelling place"). The Vulgate (VULCLEM) follows the Hebrew more closely, naming "Core et Dathan et Abiron" and using "tabernaculis" (dwellings, plural) rather than the singular construct implied by the Hebrew mishkan.