If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men; then the LORD hath not sent me.
Parallel translations
- WEB If these men die the common death of all men, or if they experience what all men experience, then Yahweh hasn’t sent me.
- BSB If these men die a natural death, or if they suffer the fate of all men, then the LORD has not sent me.
- NKJV If these men die naturally like all men, or if they are visited by the common fate of all men, then the Lord has not sent me.
- NASB If these men die the death of all mankind, or if they suffer the fate of all mankind, then the Lord has not sent me.
- NLT If these men die a natural death, or if nothing unusual happens, then the Lord has not sent me.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Moses declared that if these men died ordinary deaths, then the LORD had not sent him. He let God's judgment be the test of his calling.
Overview
Moses sets a clear criterion: a natural death for the rebels would disprove his commission. By framing the test this way, he places his authority entirely under God's verdict. This bold confidence rests on his trust that God will publicly defend the truth of his calling.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Lam 4:22The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion; he will no more carry thee away into captivity: he will visit thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom; he will discover thy sins.
- 1 Kgs 22:28And Micaiah said, If thou return at all in peace, the LORD hath not spoken by me. And he said, Hearken, O people, every one of you.
- Jer 5:9Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
- Isa 10:3And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory?
- Eccl 3:19For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.
- Job 35:15But now, because it is not so, he hath visited in his anger; yet he knoweth it not in great extremity:
- 2 Chr 18:27And Micaiah said, If thou certainly return in peace, then hath not the LORD spoken by me. And he said, Hearken, all ye people.
- Exod 32:34Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine Angel shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them.
- Exod 20:5Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
In the wilderness Christ is the water from the rock, the bronze serpent lifted up that the dying might look and live (John 3:14), and the star and scepter that Balaam saw rising out of Jacob.
How Numbers 16:29 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.