Nadab and Abihu Offer Strange Fire

10 Then ^(A)Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective ^(B)firepans and put fire in them. Then they placed incense on it and offered strange fire before Yahweh, which He had not commanded them. ^2 (C)And fire came out from the presence of Yahweh and consumed them, and they died before Yahweh. ³ Then Moses said to Aaron, “It is what Yahweh spoke, saying,

So Aaron kept silent.

⁴ Then Moses called to ^(G)Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Aaron’s uncle Uzziel, and said to them, “Come near, carry your ^[b]relatives away from the front of the sanctuary to the outside of the camp.” ⁵ So they came near and carried them still in their ^(H)tunics to the outside of the camp, as Moses had said. ⁶ Then Moses said to Aaron and to his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “^(I)Do not ^[c]uncover your heads nor tear your clothes, so that you will not die and that He will not ^(J)become wrathful against all the congregation. But your ^[d]relatives, the whole house of Israel, shall weep over the burning which Yahweh has ^[e]brought about. ⁷ You shall not even go out from the doorway of the tent of meeting, lest you die; for ^(K)the anointing oil of Yahweh is upon you.” So they did according to the word of Moses.

⁸ Yahweh then spoke to Aaron, saying, ⁹ “^(L)Do not drink wine or strong drink, neither you nor your sons with you, when you come into the tent of meeting, so that you will not die—it is a perpetual statute throughout your generations— ¹⁰ and ^(M)so as to separate between the holy and the profane, and between the unclean and the clean, ¹¹ and ^(N)so as to instruct the sons of Israel in all the statutes which Yahweh has spoken to them through Moses.”

¹² Then Moses spoke to Aaron and to his remaining sons, ^(O)Eleazar and Ithamar, “^(P)Take the remaining grain offering from the offerings to Yahweh by fire and eat it unleavened beside the altar, for it is most holy. ¹³ And you shall eat it in a holy place because it is a statute for you and a statute for your sons taken out of the offerings of Yahweh by fire; for thus I have been commanded. ^14 (Q)The breast of the wave offering, however, and the thigh of the ^[f]contribution offering you may eat in a clean place, you and your sons and your daughters with you; for they have been given as a statute for you and a statute for your sons taken out of the sacrifices of the peace offerings of the sons of Israel. ^15 (R)The thigh contributed by ^[g]raising up and the breast offered by waving they shall bring along with the offerings by fire of the portions of fat, to wave as a wave offering before Yahweh; so it shall be a perpetual statute for you and your sons with you, just as Yahweh has commanded.”

¹⁶ But Moses searched carefully for the ^(S)goat of the sin offering, and behold, it had been burned up! So he was angry with Aaron’s remaining sons Eleazar and Ithamar, saying, ¹⁷ “Why ^(T)did you not eat the sin offering at the holy place? For it is most holy, and ^[h]He gave it to you to bear away ^(U)the guilt of the congregation, to make atonement for them before Yahweh. ¹⁸ Behold, ^(V)since its blood had not been brought inside, into the sanctuary, you should certainly have ^(W)eaten it in the sanctuary, just as I commanded.” ¹⁹ But Aaron spoke to Moses, “Behold, this very day they ^(X)brought near their sin offering and their burnt offering before Yahweh. Then things like these happened to me. So if I had eaten a sin offering today, would it have been good in the sight of Yahweh?” ²⁰ So Moses heard this, and it was good in his sight.