Numbers 16:27

וַיֵּעָלוּ מֵעַל מִשְׁכַּן־קֹרֶח דָּתָן וַאֲבִירָם מִסָּבִיב וְדָתָן וַאֲבִירָם יָצְאוּ נִצָּבִים פֶּתַח אָֽהֳלֵיהֶם וּנְשֵׁיהֶם וּבְנֵיהֶם וְטַפָּֽם׃

✦ Hebrew interlinear

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✦ The same verse in five languages

Hebrew

וַיֵּעָל֗וּ מֵעַ֧ל מִשְׁכַּן־קֹ֛רֶח דָּתָ֥ן וַאֲבִירָ֖ם מִסָּבִ֑יב וְדָתָ֨ן וַאֲבִירָ֜ם יָצְא֣וּ נִצָּבִ֗ים פֶּ֚תַח אָֽהֳלֵיהֶ֔ם וּנְשֵׁיהֶ֥ם וּבְנֵיהֶ֖ם וְטַפָּֽם׃

Greek (Septuagint)

καὶ ἀπέστησαν ἀπὸ τῆς σκηνῆς κόρε κύκλῳ· καὶ Δαθὰν καὶ Ἀβειρὼν ἐξῆλθον, καὶ ἱστήκεισαν παρὰ τὰς θύρας τῶν σκηνῶν αὐτῶν, καὶ αἱ γυναῖκες αὐτῶν καὶ τὰ τέκνα αὐτῶν καὶ ἡ ἀποσκευὴ αὐτῶν.

Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0

Latin (Vulgate)

Cumque recessissent a tentoriis eorum per circuitum, Dathan et Abiron egressi stabant in introitu papilionum suorum cum uxoribus et liberis, omnique frequentia.

Spanish

Entonces la gente se alejó de los alrededores de las tiendas de Coré, Datán y Abiram. Por su parte, Datán y Abiram salieron y se quedaron de pie a la entrada de sus tiendas, junto con sus esposas, sus hijos y sus pequeños.

Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)

Y apartáronse de las tiendas de Coré, de Dathán, y de Abiram en derredor: y Dathán y Abiram salieron y pusiéronse á las puertas de sus tiendas, con sus mujeres, y sus hijos, y sus chiquitos.

English

So they moved away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Meanwhile, Dathan and Abiram had come out and stood at the entrances to their tents with their wives and children and infants. The Earth Swallows Korah

✦ What the text says

Summary

The verse describes the congregation withdrawing from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, while Dathan and Abiram themselves come out and stand at the entrances of their own tents together with their wives, sons, and young children. The passage sets the scene just before the earth opens beneath the rebels' households.

Key words

yeʿalu ("they took themselves up", H5927G) — niphal (passive/reflexive) verb, narrative form: describes the people withdrawing, with the niphal stem framing the action as something done to/by themselves rather than a plain active departure.
mishkan ("dwelling place of", H4908) — construct noun opening a chain ("dwelling of Korah, Dathan and Abiram"), linking the tent directly to the three named men.
yatzʾu ("they came out", H3318G) — qal perfect, marking a completed action distinct from the niphal verb used for the wider group's withdrawal.
nitzavim ("standing", H5324) — niphal participle, describing the ongoing posture of Dathan and Abiram after they came out, not a completed act but a resulting state.
tapam ("their little ones", H2945 + H9028) — construct noun with pronominal suffix, closing the list of household members named alongside wives and sons.

What the text says

The verse divides into two movements built on two different verb stems. First, an unnamed subject (understood from context as the congregation) performs the niphal verb yeʿalu, "they took themselves up," moving away me'al mishkan ("from at the dwelling of") a construct chain naming Korah, then continuing with Dathan and Abiram, followed by missaviv ("from around", H5439G) — indicating a withdrawal on all sides from the tent area. Second, the text pivots with ve-Datan va-Aviram, repeating the two names as the new grammatical subject of the qal perfect yatzʾu, "they came out." This perfect verb is immediately qualified by the niphal participle nitzavim, "standing" — the completed act of exiting resolves into a static posture at petach oholeihem, "the entrance of their tents" (construct chain with pronominal suffix "their"). The sentence then lists household members through a series of construct nouns with the same third-person plural suffix hem: neshei-hem ("their wives"), venei-hem ("their sons"), and tapam ("their little ones"), each attached by the conjunction ve, producing a cumulative listing effect rather than a single collective noun.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders yeʿalu with ἀπέστησαν ("they withdrew"), an active verb, where the Hebrew uses a niphal (reflexive/passive) form; it also attaches κύκλῳ ("around") to a single tent (τῆς σκηνῆς κόρε) rather than preserving three separate names in the construct chain. The Vulgate similarly collapses the three names into a plural "tentoriis eorum" ("their tents"). For tapam ("little ones"), the LXX gives ἡ ἀποσκευὴ αὐτῶν ("their baggage/dependents") and the Vulgate has "omnique frequentia" ("with the whole crowd"), both diverging from the Hebrew's specific term for young children.

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.