🔢WEB · Numbers 16:49
What does Numbers 16:49 mean?
"Now those who died by the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, besides those who died about the matter of Korah."
— Numbers 16:49 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, and put fire from off the altar in it, and lay incense on it, and carry it quickly to the congregation, and make atonement for them; for wrath has gone out from Yahweh! The plague has begun.”
Aaron did as Moses said, and ran into the middle of the assembly. The plague had already begun among the people. He put on the incense, and made atonement for the people.
He stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed.
Now those who died by the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, besides those who died about the matter of Korah.
Aaron returned to Moses to the door of the Tent of Meeting, and the plague was stopped.
Explanation
Numbers 16:49 reports the grim final tally from a plague that swept through the Israelite camp: fourteen thousand seven hundred people died from this plague alone, a number separate from those who had already perished in Korah's rebellion itself. The verse functions as a stark bookkeeping note at the close of a dramatic and tragic chapter, letting the reader see the full scope of loss that resulted from the people's continued rebellion against God's appointed leadership.
The context is essential to understanding the weight of this verse. Numbers 16 recounts the rebellion of Korah, along with Dathan, Abiram, and 250 prominent Israelite leaders, who challenged the authority of Moses and Aaron, accusing them of exalting themselves above the rest of the congregation. God vindicated Moses and
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