What Does Numbers 16:32 Mean in the King James?
And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods.
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 earth’s opening (וַתִּפְתַּח, wattiphtaḥ) and mouth (פִּיהָ, piha) echo the same פ sound, as the ground itself swallows the people, their homes, and everything they own.
THE MEANING
The ground acts as an open mouth, swallowing people, households, and possessions together. Nothing named in the scene escapes the engulfing: the people associated with Korah, their houses, and all their goods go down with them. The violence is total and bodily, carried out by the earth itself.
THE ROOT
וַתִּפְתַּח
wattiphtaḥ
GROWS FROM
פתח
p-t-ḥ
To open.
The verb וַתִּפְתַּח (wattiphtaḥ, “opened”) sits beside פִּיהָ (piha, “her mouth”), echoing the same פ sound. The earth’s opening is pictured as a mouth opening, preparing the image of engulfment.
ALSO GROWS
petaḥ: Opening, entrance, or doorway
פֶּתַח
The opened earth becomes an entrance that leads directly into the swallowing.
maphtēaḥ: Key
מַפְתֵּחַ
This related word names what opens a way; here, the earth’s opening is a way into the ground’s consuming force.
וַתִּבְלַע
vattivlaʿ
GROWS FROM
בלע
b-l-ʿ
To swallow, engulf, or devour.
The root presents the ground as an agent that takes its objects wholly into itself. The verse names not just the people but their houses and goods as swallowed too, extending the engulfing through everything attached to them.
ALSO GROWS
balaʿ: To swallow or devour
בָּלַע
The same verb-root describes the earth’s action: people and possessions alike are taken in.
belaʿ: A gulp or act of swallowing
בֶּלַע
This noun form gives the engulfing the shape of one consuming act, rather than a mere crack in the ground.
THE PATTERN
Scripture depicts the earth as an active mouth that receives blood or swallows what is poured into it.
And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand;And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.THE THREAD
The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the company of Abiram.Psalm 106:17 repeats בָּלַע (balaʿ, “swallow”) alongside the opened-earth image and names Dathan and Abiram in the same line. The shared root keeps the force concrete: the ground does not merely crack; it engulfs a company.
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