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27 So they got away from the homes of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram on every side, and Dathan and Abiram came out and stationed themselves[a] in the entrances of their tents with their wives, their children, and their toddlers. 28 Then Moses said, “This is how[b] you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them of my own will.[c] 29 If these men die a natural death,[d] or if they share the fate[e] of all men, then the Lord has not sent me.

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Footnotes

  1. Numbers 16:27 tn The verb נִצָּבִים (nitsavim) suggests a defiant stance, for the word is often used in the sense of taking a stand for or against something. It can also be somewhat neutral, having the sense of positioning oneself for a purpose.
  2. Numbers 16:28 tn Heb “in this.”
  3. Numbers 16:28 tn The Hebrew text simply has כִּי־לֹא מִלִּבִּי (ki loʾ millibbi, “for not from my heart”). The heart is the center of the will, the place decisions are made (see H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament). Moses is saying that the things he has done have not come “from the will of man” so to speak—and certainly not from some secret desire on his part to seize power.
  4. Numbers 16:29 tn Heb “if like the death of every man they die.”
  5. Numbers 16:29 tn The noun is פְּקֻדָּה (pequddah, “appointment, visitation”). The expression refers to a natural death, parallel to the first expression.