Leviticus 10

Modern English Version

The Death of Nadab and Abihu

10 Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, and put incense on it, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which He did not command them to do. ² Then a fire came out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord. ³ Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord spoke, saying:

And Aaron held his peace.

⁴ Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said to them, “Come near, and carry your brothers from before the sanctuary out of the camp.” ⁵ So they went near, and carried them in their tunics out of the camp as Moses had said.

⁶ Moses said to Aaron, and to Eleazar and Ithamar his sons, “Do not let your hair be loosely disheveled, nor rend your clothes, lest you die, and lest wrath come upon all the people. Instead, let your brothers, the whole house of Israel, mourn the burning which the Lord has caused. ⁷ You shall not go out from the entrance of the tent of meeting, lest you die, for the anointing oil of the Lord is upon you.” And they did according to the word of Moses.

⁸ The Lord spoke to Aaron, saying: ⁹ Do not drink wine nor strong drink, you or your sons with you, when you go into the tent of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations, ¹⁰ so that you may differentiate between what is holy and common and between what is unclean and clean. ¹¹ And so you may teach the children of Israel all the statutes that the Lord has spoken to them by the hand of Moses.

¹² Moses spoke to Aaron, and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his sons who were left: Take the grain offering that remains of the food offerings of the Lord made by fire and eat it without leaven beside the altar. For it is most holy. ¹³ And you shall eat it in a holy place, because it is your due and your sons’ due from the food sacrifices of the Lord made by fire. For so I have been commanded. ¹⁴ The breast that is waved and the thigh that is contributed you shall eat in a clean place, you, and your sons, and your daughters with you, for they are your due and your sons’ due which are given out of the sacrifices of peace offerings of the children of Israel. ¹⁵ The thigh that is contributed and the breast that is waved they shall bring with the fat pieces of the food offerings made by fire to wave them as a wave offering before the Lord, and it shall be yours and your sons’ with you as a perpetual statute, as the Lord has commanded.

¹⁶ Moses diligently sought the goat of the sin offering and saw it was burned up. And he was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons of Aaron who were left alive, saying, ¹⁷ “Why have you not eaten the sin offering in the sacred area, knowing that it is most holy and God has given it to you to bear the iniquity of the congregation to make atonement for them before the Lord? ¹⁸ Its blood was not brought into the inner part of the sanctuary. Indeed you should have eaten it in the sanctuary as I commanded.”

¹⁹ Aaron said to Moses, “Today they have offered their sin offering and their burnt offering before the Lord, and such things have happened to me! If I had eaten the sin offering today, should it have been accepted in the sight of the Lord?” ²⁰ And when Moses heard that, he approved.