CHAPTER 10
Now Aaron’s
sons
Nadab
and Abihu
took
their censers,
put
fire
in them,
placed
incense
on them,
and offered
unauthorized
fire
before
the LORD,
contrary to
His command.
Then Moses
said
to
Aaron,
“This
is what
the LORD
meant
when He said:
‘To those who come near Me
I will show My holiness,
and in
the sight of
all
the people
I will reveal My glory.’”
But Aaron
remained silent.
Moses
summoned
Mishael
and Elzaphan,
sons
of Aaron’s
uncle
Uzziel,
and said
to them,
“Come here;
carry
the bodies of your cousins
outside
the camp,
away from the front
of the sanctuary.”
So they came forward
and carried them,
still in their tunics,
outside
the camp,
as
Moses
had directed.
Then Moses
said
to
Aaron
and his sons
Eleazar
and Ithamar,
“Do not
let your hair
become disheveled
and do not
tear
your garments,
or else
you will die,
and the LORD will be angry
with
the whole
congregation.
But your brothers,
the whole
house
of Israel,
may mourn on account of
the fire
that
the LORD
has ignited.
You shall not
go outside
the entrance
to the Tent
of Meeting,
or
you will die,
for
the LORD’s
anointing
oil
is on you.”
So they did
as Moses
instructed.
“You
and your sons
are not
to drink
wine
or strong drink
when you enter
the Tent
of Meeting,
or else
you will die;
this is a perpetual
statute
for the generations to come.
so that you may teach
the Israelites
all
the statutes
that
the LORD
has given
them
through
Moses.”
And Moses
said
to
Aaron
and his remaining
sons,
Eleazar
and Ithamar,
“Take
the grain offering
that remains
from the offerings made by fire
to the LORD
and eat it
without leaven
beside
the altar,
because
it is
most
holy.
You shall eat
it in a holy
place,
because
it
is your share
and your sons’ share
of the offerings made by fire
to the LORD;
for
this is what
I have been commanded.
And you
and your sons
and daughters
may eat
the breast
of the wave offering
and the thigh
of the contribution
in a clean
place,
because
these portions
have been assigned
to you and your children
from the peace offerings
of the sons
of Israel.
They are to bring
the thigh
of the contribution
and the breast
of the wave offering,
together with
the fat portions
of the offerings made by fire,
to wave
as a wave offering
before
the LORD.
It will belong permanently
to
you and your children,
as
the LORD
has commanded.”
Later,
Moses
searched
carefully
for the goat
of the sin offering,
and behold,
it had been burned up.
He was angry
with
Eleazar
and Ithamar,
Aaron’s
surviving
sons,
and asked,
“Why
did you not
eat
the sin offering
in the holy
place?
For
it
is most
holy;
it was given
to you
to take away
the guilt
of the congregation
by making atonement
for them
before
the LORD.
Since
its blood
was not
brought
inside
the holy place,
you should have eaten
it in the sanctuary area,
as
I commanded.”
But Aaron
replied
to
Moses,
“Behold,
this very day
they presented
their sin offering
and their burnt offering
before
the LORD.
Since these things
have happened to me,
if I had eaten
the sin offering
today,
would it have been acceptable
in the LORD’s
sight?”