What Does Numbers 16:12 Mean in the King James?

And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab: which said, We will not come up:

Numbers 16:12 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

The call goes out, but the decisive movement is withheld: being summoned and coming up are not the same act.

THE MEANING

The verse places a summons and a refusal in the same movement: Moses sends the call, and Dathan and Abiram answer, “We will not come up.” It speaks now wherever a call is heard: a summons can be met with an explicit refusal to rise.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

A summons does not mean consent; being called does not mean you have already answered.

THE ROOT

שָׁלַח

shalach

GROWS FROM

שׁלח

Send forth; release or let go.

English “sent” can sound like mere dispatch, but ⁨שׁלח⁩ (shalach, send forth or release) carries the motion of sending away. Moses sets a summons in motion, yet the reply shows that sending the call does not make the hearer ascend.

ALSO GROWS

Sending away: A sending off or dismissal.

שִׁלּוּחַ

This branch brings out the releasing motion inside Moses’ act of sending the call.

Shiloach: The name of a watercourse; the name is linked to “sent.”

שִׁלֹחַ

The name keeps the root’s outward movement audible: something sent goes forth from its source, as Moses’ call goes out toward the two men.

עָלָה

ʿalah

GROWS FROM

עלה

Go up; ascend or rise.

Their reply names withheld upward movement, not simply disagreement. The same root appears in ⁨עֹלָה⁩ (ʿolah, an ascending offering) and ⁨מַעֲלָה⁩ (maʿalah, ascent), giving “come up” a wider field of rising.

ALSO GROWS

Ascending offering: An offering that goes up or ascends.

עֹלָה

It extends the root’s upward motion beyond this command to come up.

Ascent: An ascent, rising, or upward step.

מַעֲלָה

This branch makes the movement named in their refusal visible: they decline the upward step.

מֹשֶׁה

Moshe

GROWS FROM

משׁה

Draw out.

“Moses” in this verse is Moshe. The name is linked in Exodus to being drawn out of water. Here the one drawn out sends a call outward, while the reply refuses the upward movement the call requests.

ALSO GROWS

Draw out: To draw out.

מָשָׁה

This is the action behind the name Moses, adding the image of being brought out to the one who now sends the call.

Drawn out: Drawn out.

מָשׁוּי

This form holds the name’s nature as a received movement: Moses is the one drawn out, now speaking a summons.

THE PATTERN

A summons becomes visible through the answer it draws, whether assent or refusal.

And the LORD came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak; for thy servant heareth.

1 Samuel 3:10 · KJVSamuel answers the call with willingness, showing the response that Dathan and Abiram withhold.

Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

Isaiah 6:8 · KJVIsaiah’s answer turns a summons into willing movement: “send me.”

And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.

Matthew 22:3 · KJVThe sent call meets refusal, echoing the blunt answer, “We will not come up.”

THE THREAD

And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.

Exodus 5:1 · KJV

“Let my people go” uses ⁨שׁלח⁩ (shalach, send forth or release), the same root as “sent” here. In Numbers, Moses sends a call and meets refusal; in Exodus, he speaks release, opening the verse onto movement from constriction toward freedom.

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