Numbers 16:26-28 New English Translation

²⁶And he said to the community, “Move away from the tents of these wicked^[a] men, and do not touch anything they have, lest you be destroyed because^[b] of all their sins.”^[c] ²⁷So they got away from the homes of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram on every side, and Dathan and Abiram came out and stationed themselves^[d] in the entrances of their tents with their wives, their children, and their toddlers. ²⁸Then Moses said, “This is how^[e] you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them of my own will.^[f]

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Footnotes

Numbers 16:26 tn The word רָשָׁע (rashaʿ) has the sense of a guilty criminal. The word “wicked” sometimes gives the wrong connotation. These men were opposing the Lord, and so were condemned as criminals—they were guilty. The idea of “wickedness” therefore applies in that sense.
Numbers 16:26 tn The preposition ב (bet) in this line is causal—“on account of their sins.”
Numbers 16:26 sn The impression is that the people did not hear what the Lord said to Moses, but only what Moses said to the people as a result. They saw the brilliant cloud, and perhaps heard the sound of his voice, but the relaying of the instructions indicates they did not hear the actual instruction from the Lord himself.
Numbers 16:27 tn The verb נִצָּבִים (nitsavim) suggests a defiant stance, for the word is often used in the sense of taking a stand for or against something. It can also be somewhat neutral, having the sense of positioning oneself for a purpose.
Numbers 16:28 tn Heb “in this.”
Numbers 16:28 tn The Hebrew text simply has כִּי־לֹא מִלִּבִּי (ki loʾ millibbi, “for not from my heart”). The heart is the center of the will, the place decisions are made (see H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament). Moses is saying that the things he has done have not come “from the will of man” so to speak—and certainly not from some secret desire on his part to seize power.

New English Translation (NET)