Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

The Lord, the Psalmist’s Portion in Life and Salvation in Death.

A ^[a]Mikhtam of David.

²² Then Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and ^(A)blessed them, and he stepped down after making the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offerings. ²³ And Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting. When they came out and blessed the people, ^(B)the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. ^24 (C)Then fire went out from the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the portions of fat on the altar; and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell ^[a]face downward.

The Sin of Nadab and Abihu

10 Now ^(D)Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective ^(E)firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on ^[b]the fire and offered ^[c]strange fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. ^2 (F)And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. ³ Then Moses said to Aaron, “It is what the Lord spoke, saying,

So Aaron, therefore, kept silent.

⁴ Moses called also to ^(J)Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Aaron’s uncle Uzziel, and said to them, “Come forward, carry your relatives away from the front of the sanctuary to an area outside of the camp.” ⁵ So they came forward and carried them, still in their ^(K)tunics, to an area outside the camp, just as Moses had said. ⁶ Then Moses said to Aaron and to his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “^(L)Do not ^[e]uncover your heads nor tear your clothes, so that you do not die and He does not ^(M)become wrathful against all the congregation. But your ^[f]kinsmen, the entire house of Israel, shall weep for the burning which the Lord has ^[g]brought about. ⁷ You shall not even go out from the doorway of the tent of meeting, or you will die; for ^(N)the Lord’s anointing oil is upon you.” So they did according to the word of Moses.

⁸ The Lord then spoke to Aaron, saying, ⁹ “^(O)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 do not die—it is a permanent statute throughout your generations— ¹⁰ and ^(P)to make a distinction between the holy and the profane, and between the unclean and the clean, ¹¹ and ^(Q)so as to teach the sons of Israel all the statutes which the Lord has spoken to them through Moses.”

^5 (A)Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; ^(B)examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you ^[a](C)fail the test? ⁶ But I expect that you will realize that we ourselves ^[b]do not fail the test. ⁷ Now we pray to God that you do nothing wrong; not so that we ourselves may appear approved, but that you may do what is right, though we may ^[c]appear unapproved. ⁸ For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. ⁹ For we rejoice when we ourselves are ^(D)weak, but you are strong; this we also pray for, ^[d]that you ^(E)become mature. ¹⁰ For this reason I am writing these things while absent, so that when present ^(F)I need not use ^(G)severity, in accordance with the ^(H)authority which the Lord gave me for building up and not for tearing down.