Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A Prayer of Confidence^[a]

^22 (A)When Aaron had finished all the sacrifices, he raised his hands over the people and blessed them, and then stepped down. ²³ Moses and Aaron went into the Tent of the Lord's presence, and when they came out, they blessed the people, and the dazzling light of the Lord's presence appeared to all the people. ²⁴ Suddenly the Lord sent a fire, and it consumed the burnt offering and the fat parts on the altar. When the people saw it, they all shouted and bowed down with their faces to the ground.

The Sin of Nadab and Abihu

10 Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu, each took his fire pan, put live coals in it, added incense, and presented it to the Lord. But this fire was not holy, because the Lord had not commanded them to present it. ² Suddenly the Lord sent fire, and it burned them to death there in the presence of the Lord. ³ Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord was speaking about when he said, ‘All who serve me must respect my holiness; I will reveal my glory to my people.’”^[a] But Aaron remained silent.

⁴ Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel, Aaron's uncle, and said to them, “Come here and carry your cousins' bodies away from the sacred Tent and put them outside the camp.” ⁵ So they came and took hold of the clothing on the corpses and carried them outside the camp, just as Moses had commanded.

⁶ Then Moses said to Aaron and to his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “Do not leave your hair uncombed or tear your clothes to show that you are in mourning. If you do, you will die, and the Lord will be angry with the whole community. But all other Israelites are allowed to mourn this death caused by the fire which the Lord sent. ⁷ Do not leave the entrance of the Tent or you will die, because you have been consecrated by the anointing oil of the Lord.” So they did as Moses said.

Rules for Priests

⁸ The Lord said to Aaron, ⁹ “You and your sons are not to enter the Tent of my presence after drinking wine or beer; if you do, you will die. This is a law to be kept by all your descendants. ¹⁰ You must distinguish between what belongs to God and what is for general use, between what is ritually clean and what is unclean. ¹¹ You must teach the people of Israel all the laws which I have given to you through Moses.”

⁵ Put yourselves to the test and judge yourselves, to find out whether you are living in faith. Surely you know that Christ Jesus is in you?—unless you have completely failed. ⁶ I trust you will know that we are not failures. ⁷ We pray to God that you will do no wrong—not in order to show that we are a success, but so that you may do what is right, even though we may seem to be failures. ⁸ For we cannot do a thing against the truth, but only for it. ⁹ We are glad when we are weak but you are strong. And so we also pray that you will become perfect. ¹⁰ That is why I write this while I am away from you; it is so that when I arrive I will not have to deal harshly with you in using the authority that the Lord has given me—authority to build you up, not to tear you down.