¹⁸ “Do not let the Kohathite clans be destroyed from among the Levites!

²³ All your wives and children will be led out to the Babylonians, and you will not escape. You will be seized by the king of Babylon, and this city will be burned down.”

⁶ But when they arrived at the threshing floor of Nacon, the oxen stumbled, and Uzzah reached out his hand and steadied the Ark of God. ⁷ Then the Lord’s anger was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him dead because of this.^[a] So Uzzah died right there beside the Ark of God.

The Ark Moved to Kiriath-Jearim

¹⁹ But the Lord killed seventy men^[a] from Beth-shemesh because they looked into the Ark of the Lord. And the people mourned greatly because of what the Lord had done.

⁵ “You yourselves must perform the sacred duties inside the sanctuary and at the altar. If you follow these instructions, the Lord’s anger will never again blaze against the people of Israel.

¹⁰ And the Lord said to Moses: “Place Aaron’s staff permanently before the Ark of the Covenant^[a] to serve as a warning to rebels. This should put an end to their complaints against me and prevent any further deaths.”

³² The earth opened its mouth and swallowed the men, along with their households and all their followers who were standing with them, and everything they owned.

The Sin of Nadab and Abihu

10 Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu put coals of fire in their incense burners and sprinkled incense over them. In this way, they disobeyed the Lord by burning before him the wrong kind of fire, different than he had commanded. ² So fire blazed forth from the Lord’s presence and burned them up, and they died there before the Lord.

²¹ Then the Lord told Moses, “Go back down and warn the people not to break through the boundaries to see the Lord, or they will die.