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Did Korah’s children die with him, or did they survive?

Hard question · The law of Moses · raised by 1 of the lists sceptics circulate

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The passages

Numbers 16:27–33

Dathan and Abiram stand at their tent doors with their wives, sons and little children; the earth swallows them, their houses and “all the men that appertained unto Korah”.

So they gat up from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side: and Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood in the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their little children. And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the Lord hath sent me to do all these works; for I have not done them of mine own mind. 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. But if the Lord make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit; then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord. And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them: 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. …

Numbers 26:9–11

Recalling the rebellion, Numbers adds: “Notwithstanding the children of Korah died not.”

And the sons of Eliab; Nemuel, and Dathan, and Abiram. This is that Dathan and Abiram, which were famous in the congregation, who strove against Moses and against Aaron in the company of Korah, when they strove against the Lord: And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up together with Korah, when that company died, what time the fire devoured two hundred and fifty men: and they became a sign. Notwithstanding the children of Korah died not.

1 Chronicles 6:33–38

Heman, one of David’s chief singers, traces his descent from Levi through Korah.

And these are they that waited with their children. Of the sons of the Kohathites: Heman a singer, the son of Joel, the son of Shemuel, The son of Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Eliel, the son of Toah, The son of Zuph, the son of Elkanah, the son of Mahath, the son of Amasai, The son of Elkanah, the son of Joel, the son of Azariah, the son of Zephaniah, The son of Tahath, the son of Assir, the son of Ebiasaph, the son of Korah, The son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, the son of Israel.

The objection

Numbers 16 says that when the earth opened it swallowed the rebels “and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah”. But Numbers 26:11 says, “Notwithstanding the children of Korah died not.” Did Korah’s children die with him or not?

The answer

Numbers 16 does not say that Korah’s sons died. The families who stood at their tent doors and were swallowed up were those of Dathan and Abiram: “Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood in the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their little children” (16:27). Korah’s sons are not mentioned there. What 16:32 adds is “all the men that appertained unto Korah”, literally ‘every person who belonged to Korah’. That describes the people attached to his household and his cause, and it need not include his sons. Keil and Delitzsch take it of his servants.

Numbers 26:11 makes the point explicit, so that no one would read chapter 16 as the end of Korah’s line: “Notwithstanding the children of Korah died not.” Later history bears it out. The Korahite clan appears in the next census (26:58); Korahites served as gatekeepers (1 Chronicles 9:19) and singers (2 Chronicles 20:19); Heman, one of David’s chief musicians, was descended from Korah (1 Chronicles 6:33-37); and eleven psalms carry the heading ‘for the sons of Korah’ (Psalms 42, 44-49, 84-85 and 87-88). Why the sons were spared is not said. Gill (on Numbers 26:11) suggests that they kept out of their father’s rebellion, or repented and left him in time.

Still open

The same chapter says that Dathan’s and Abiram’s wives and little children perished with them (16:27, 32-33). That raises the harder question of children sharing in their parents’ judgment, which this entry does not try to settle.

From the classic commentators

"All the men belonging to Korah" were his servants; for, according to Numbers 26:11, his sons did not perish with him, but perpetuated his family (Numbers 26:58), to which the celebrated Korahite singers of David's time belonged (1 Chronicles 6:18-22; 1 Chronicles 9:19).C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament: Numbers 16, at Bible Hub

Sources

Further reading

Raised by: The Skeptic’s Annotated Bible. Only the verse references come from these lists.

Checked 2026-10-22. All hard questions