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Nadab and Abihu Offer Strange Fire

¹ Then ^(C1)Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective ^(C2)firepans and put fire in them. Then they placed incense on it and offered strange fire before Yahweh, which He had not commanded them.^2 (C1)And fire came out from the presence of Yahweh and consumed them, and they died before Yahweh.³ Then Moses said to Aaron, "It is what Yahweh spoke, saying,

'By those who ^(C1)come near Me I ^(F1)(C2)will be treated as holy,
And before all the people I will ^(C3)be glorified.'"
So Aaron kept silent.

⁴ Then Moses called to ^(C1)Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Aaron's uncle Uzziel, and said to them, "Come near, carry your ^(F1)relatives away from the front of the sanctuary to the outside of the camp."⁵ So they came near and carried them still in their ^(C1)tunics to the outside of the camp, as Moses had said.⁶ Then Moses said to Aaron and to his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, "^(C1)Do not ^(F1)uncover your heads nor tear your clothes, so that you will not die and that He will not ^(C2)become wrathful against all the congregation. But your ^(F2)relatives, the whole house of Israel, shall weep over the burning which Yahweh has ^(F3)brought about.⁷ "You shall not even go out from the doorway of the tent of meeting, lest you die; for ^(C1)the anointing oil of Yahweh is upon you." So they did according to the word of Moses.

⁸ Yahweh then spoke to Aaron, saying,⁹ "^(C1)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 will not die—it is a perpetual statute throughout your generations—¹⁰ and ^(C1)so as to separate between the holy and the profane, and between the unclean and the clean,¹¹ and ^(C1)so as to instruct the sons of Israel in all the statutes which Yahweh has spoken to them through Moses."

¹² Then Moses spoke to Aaron and to his remaining sons, ^(C1)Eleazar and Ithamar, "^(C2)Take the remaining grain offering from the offerings to Yahweh by fire and eat it unleavened beside the altar, for it is most holy.¹³ "And you shall eat it in a holy place because it is a statute for you and a statute for your sons taken out of the offerings of Yahweh by fire; for thus I have been commanded.¹⁴ "^(C1)The breast of the wave offering, however, and the thigh of the ^(F1)contribution offering you may eat in a clean place, you and your sons and your daughters with you; for they have been given as a statute for you and a statute for your sons taken out of the sacrifices of the peace offerings of the sons of Israel.¹⁵ "^(C1)The thigh contributed by ^(F1)raising up and the breast offered by waving they shall bring along with the offerings by fire of the portions of fat, to wave as a wave offering before Yahweh; so it shall be a perpetual statute for you and your sons with you, just as Yahweh has commanded."

¹⁶ But Moses searched carefully for the ^(C1)goat of the sin offering, and behold, it had been burned up! So he was angry with Aaron's remaining sons Eleazar and Ithamar, saying,¹⁷ "Why ^(C1)did you not eat the sin offering at the holy place? For it is most holy, and ^(F1)He gave it to you to bear away ^(C2)the guilt of the congregation, to make atonement for them before Yahweh.¹⁸ "Behold, ^(C1)since its blood had not been brought inside, into the sanctuary, you should certainly have ^(C2)eaten it in the sanctuary, just as I commanded."¹⁹ But Aaron spoke to Moses, "Behold, this very day they ^(C1)brought near their sin offering and their burnt offering before Yahweh. Then things like these happened to me. So if I had eaten a sin offering today, would it have been good in the sight of Yahweh?"²⁰ So Moses heard this, and it was good in his sight.