1 The beginning [of the facts] of the good news (the Gospel) of Jesus Christ, ^[a]the Son of God.

^2 [b]Just as it is written in the prophet Isaiah: Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, who will make ready Your way—^(A)

³ A voice of one crying in the wilderness [shouting in the desert], Prepare the way of the Lord, make His ^[c]beaten tracks straight (level and passable)!^(B)

⁴ John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness (desert), preaching a baptism [^[d]obligating] repentance (^[e]a change of one’s mind for the better, heartily amending one’s ways, with abhorrence of his past sins) in order ^[f]to obtain forgiveness of and release from sins.

⁵ And there kept going out to him [continuously] all the country of Judea and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, ^[g]as they were confessing their sins.

⁶ And John wore clothing woven of camel’s hair and had a leather girdle around his loins and ate locusts and wild honey.

⁷ And he preached, saying, After me comes He Who is stronger (more powerful and more valiant) than I, the strap of Whose sandals I am not worthy or fit to stoop down and unloose.

⁸ I have baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.

⁹ In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

¹⁰ And when He came up out of the water, at once he [John] saw the heavens torn open and the [Holy] Spirit like a dove coming down [^[h]to enter] ^[i]into Him.^(C)

¹¹ And there came a voice ^[j]out from within heaven, You are My Beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.^(D)

¹² Immediately the [Holy] Spirit [from within] drove Him out into the wilderness (desert),

¹³ And He stayed in the wilderness (desert) forty days, being tempted [all the while] by Satan; and He was with the wild beasts, and the angels ministered to Him [continually].

10 And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, and put incense on it, and offered strange and unholy fire before the Lord, as He had not commanded them.

² And there came forth fire from before the Lord and killed them, and they died before the Lord.

³ Then Moses said to Aaron, This is what the Lord meant when He said, I ^[a][and My will, not their own] will be acknowledged as hallowed by those who come near Me, and before all the people I will be honored. And Aaron said nothing.

⁴ Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, sons of Uzziel uncle of Aaron, and said to them, Come near, carry your brethren from before the sanctuary out of the camp.

⁵ So they drew near and carried them in their undertunics [stripped of their priestly vestments] out of the camp, as Moses had said.

⁶ And Moses said to Aaron and Eleazar and Ithamar, his sons [the father and brothers of the two priests whom God had slain for offering false fire], Do not uncover your heads or let your hair go loose or tear your clothes, lest you die [also] and lest God’s wrath should come upon all the congregation; but let your brethren, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning which the Lord has kindled.

⁷ And you shall not go out from the door of the Tent of Meeting, lest you die, for the Lord’s anointing oil is upon you. And they did according to Moses’ word.

⁸ And the Lord said to Aaron,

⁹ Do not drink wine or strong drink, you or your sons, when you go into the Tent of Meeting, lest you die; it shall be a statute forever in all your generations.

¹⁰ You shall make a distinction and recognize a difference between the holy and the common or unholy, and between the unclean and the clean;

¹¹ And you are to teach the Israelites all the statutes which the Lord has spoken to them by Moses.

¹² And Moses said to Aaron and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his sons who were left, Take the cereal offering that remains of the offerings of the Lord made by fire and eat it without leaven beside the altar, for it is most holy.

¹³ You shall eat it in a sacred place, because it is your due and your sons’ due, from the offerings made by fire to the Lord; for so I am commanded.

¹⁴ But the breast that is waved and the thigh that is offered you shall eat in a clean place, you and your sons and daughters with you; for they are your due and your sons’ due, given out of the sacrifices of the peace offerings of the Israelites.

¹⁵ The thigh that is offered and the breast that is waved they shall bring with the offerings made by fire of the fat, to wave for a wave offering before the Lord; and it shall be yours and your sons’ with you as a portion or due perpetually, as the Lord has commanded.

¹⁶ And Moses diligently tried to find [what had become of] the goat [that had been offered] for the sin offering, and behold, it was burned up [as waste]! And he was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons of Aaron who were left alive, and said,

¹⁷ Why have you not eaten the sin offering in the Holy Place? It is most holy; and God has given it to you to bear and take away the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the Lord.

¹⁸ Behold, the blood of it was not brought within the Holy Place; you should indeed have eaten [the flesh of it] in the Holy Place, as I commanded.

¹⁹ But Aaron said to Moses, Behold, this very day in which they have [obediently] offered their sin offering and their burnt offering before the Lord, such [terrible calamities] have befallen me [and them]! If I [and they] had eaten the most holy sin offering today [humbled as we have been by the sin of our kinsmen and God’s judgment upon them], would it have been acceptable in the sight of the Lord?^(A)

²⁰ And when Moses heard that, he was pacified.