Numbers 26:9

Summary

The verse identifies the sons of Eliab — Nemuel, Dathan, and Abiram — then singles out Dathan and Abiram specifically as leaders who opposed Moses and Aaron during Korah's rebellion. The text emphasizes that this opposition was ultimately directed against Yehovah (H3068) himself.

Key words

• ben ("son of", H1121A) — construct plural, opens the genealogical note "sons of Eliab."
• hu ("he/that", H1931) — independent pronoun used emphatically to resume and highlight "Dathan and Abiram" after the list of names, marking them as the specific referents of what follows.
• qeru'ei ("called ones of", H7148) — masculine plural construct adjective, linking Dathan and Abiram to ha'edah ("the congregation", H5712) as men "called of" or designated by the assembly.
• hitzu ("they struggled/contended", H5327A) — hiphil perfect, a completed causative action describing their confrontation with Moses and Aaron.
• hatzotam ("in their struggling", H5327A) — hiphil infinitive with 3rd person plural suffix, same root as hitzu, used adverbially with the preposition be ("when/in", H9003) to mark the circumstance: "when they struggled against Yehovah."

What the text says

The verse begins with a straightforward genealogical list: u-vnei 'Eliav ("and the sons of Eliab", H1121A/H0446H) followed by three names — Nemuel, Dathan, Abiram. The syntax then shifts: the pronoun hu ("he/that", H1931) reintroduces Dathan and Abiram specifically, separating them from Nemuel for special comment. This construction — restating the names after the pronoun — functions to isolate these two figures as the subject of the following clause.

The clause describes them as qeru'ei ha'edah ("called ones of the congregation", H7148/H5712), a construct phrase indicating some form of recognized status within the assembly. The relative particle 'asher ("who", H0834A) introduces their action: hitzu 'al Mosheh ve'al Aharon ("they struggled against Moses and against Aaron", H5327A), using the hiphil perfect to mark a completed, causative act of contention.

The final clause repeats the same verbal root in infinitive form: be-hatzotam 'al Yehovah ("when they struggled against Yehovah", H5327A/H3068). The repetition of the root H5327A in two different grammatical forms (finite perfect, then infinitive with suffix) creates a structural echo: the struggle against Moses and Aaron in verse's earlier clause is restated as, ultimately, a struggle against Yehovah.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew qeru'ei ha'edah ("called ones of the congregation") is rendered by the LXX as ἐπίκλητοι τῆς συναγωγῆς ("summoned/called ones of the assembly"), closely matching the Hebrew sense of designation. The Vulgate instead reads principes populi ("princes/leaders of the people"), interpreting the same phrase in terms of leadership rank rather than "calling." For the repeated root H5327A, the Vulgate uses two distinct Latin verbs — surrexerunt ("they rose up") for the first occurrence and rebellaverunt ("they rebelled") for the second — where the Hebrew repeats the same root twice; the LXX preserves the repetition more closely with ἐπισυστάντες and ἐπισυστάσει, both built on the same Greek stem.