⁹ As was the custom of the priests, he was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and burn incense.

¹¹ My sons, do not neglect your duties any longer! The Lord has chosen you to stand in his presence, to minister to him, and to lead the people in worship and present offerings to him.”

¹³ The sons of Amram were Aaron and Moses. Aaron and his descendants were set apart to dedicate the most holy things, to offer sacrifices in the Lord’s presence, to serve the Lord, and to pronounce blessings in his name forever.

⁷ “Every morning when Aaron maintains the lamps, he must burn fragrant incense on the altar. ⁸ And each evening when he lights the lamps, he must again burn incense in the Lord’s presence. This must be done from generation to generation.

²⁸ I chose your ancestor Aaron^[a] from among all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer sacrifices on my altar, to burn incense, and to wear the priestly vest^[b] as he served me. And I assigned the sacrificial offerings to you priests.

⁴⁰ This would warn the Israelites that no unauthorized person—no one who was not a descendant of Aaron—should ever enter the Lord’s presence to burn incense. If anyone did, the same thing would happen to him as happened to Korah and his followers. So the Lord’s instructions to Moses were carried out.

⁶ When these things were all in place, the priests regularly entered the first room^[a] as they performed their religious duties.

Uzziah’s Sin and Punishment

¹⁶ But when he had become powerful, he also became proud, which led to his downfall. He sinned against the Lord his God by entering the sanctuary of the Lord’s Temple and personally burning incense on the incense altar.

Aaron’s Descendants

⁴⁹ Only Aaron and his descendants served as priests. They presented the offerings on the altar of burnt offering and the altar of incense, and they performed all the other duties related to the Most Holy Place. They made atonement for Israel by doing everything that Moses, the servant of God, had commanded them.

Building the Incense Altar

²⁵ Then Bezalel made the incense altar of acacia wood. It was 18 inches square and 36 inches high,^[a] with horns at the corners carved from the same piece of wood as the altar itself. ²⁶ He overlaid the top, sides, and horns of the altar with pure gold, and he ran a gold molding around the entire altar. ²⁷ He made two gold rings and attached them on opposite sides of the altar below the gold molding to hold the carrying poles. ²⁸ He made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold.

²⁹ Then he made the sacred anointing oil and the fragrant incense, using the techniques of a skilled incense maker.