Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and
put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire
before the LORD, which he had not commanded them. And fire came out
from before the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the
LORD. Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the LORD has said:
‘Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all
the people I will be glorified.’” And Aaron held his peace.
And Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel the
uncle of Aaron, and said to them, “Come near; carry your brothers
away from the front of the sanctuary and out of the camp.” So they
came near and carried them in their coats out of the camp, as Moses
had said. And Moses said to Aaron and to Eleazar and Ithamar his
sons, “Do not let the hair of your heads hang loose, and do not
tear your clothes, lest you die, and wrath come upon all the
congregation; but let your brothers, the whole house of Israel,
bewail the burning that the LORD has kindled. And do not go outside
the entrance of the tent of meeting, lest you die, for the
anointing oil of the LORD is upon you.” And they did according to
the word of Moses.
And the LORD spoke to Aaron, saying, “Drink no wine or strong
drink, you or your sons with you, when you go into the tent of
meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout
your generations. You are to distinguish between the holy and the
common, and between the unclean and the clean, and you are to teach
the people of Israel all the statutes that the LORD has spoken to
them by Moses.”
Moses spoke to Aaron and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his surviving
sons: “Take the grain offering that is left of the LORD's food
offerings, and eat it unleavened beside the altar, for it is most
holy. You shall eat it in a holy place, because it is your due and
your sons' due, from the LORD's food offerings, for so I am
commanded. But the breast that is waved and the thigh that is
contributed you shall eat in a clean place, you and your sons and
your daughters with you, for they are given as your due and your
sons' due from the sacrifices of the peace offerings of the people
of Israel. The thigh that is contributed and the breast that is
waved they shall bring with the food offerings of the fat pieces to
wave for a wave offering before the LORD, and it shall be yours and
your sons' with you as a due forever, as the LORD has commanded.”
Now Moses diligently inquired about the goat of the sin offering,
and behold, it was burned up! And he was angry with Eleazar and
Ithamar, the surviving sons of Aaron, saying, “Why have you not
eaten the sin offering in the place of the sanctuary, since it is a
thing most holy and has been given to you that you may bear the
iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the
LORD? Behold, its blood was not brought into the inner part of the
sanctuary. You certainly ought to have eaten it in the sanctuary,
as I commanded.” And Aaron said to Moses, “Behold, today they have
offered their sin offering and their burnt offering before the
LORD, and yet such things as these have happened to me! If I had
eaten the sin offering today, would the LORD have approved?” And
when Moses heard that, he approved.
