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Leviticus 10 :: New International Version (NIV)

The Death of Nadab and Abihu

Lev 10:1Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, contrary to his command.
Lev 10:2So fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD.
Lev 10:3Moses then said to Aaron, “This is what the LORD spoke of when he said: “ ‘Among those who approach me I will be proved holy; in the sight of all the people I will be honored.’ ” Aaron remained silent.
Lev 10:4Moses summoned Mishael and Elzaphan, sons of Aaron’s uncle Uzziel, and said to them, “Come here; carry your cousins outside the camp, away from the front of the sanctuary.”
Lev 10:5So they came and carried them, still in their tunics, outside the camp, as Moses ordered.
Lev 10:6Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “Do not let your hair become unkempt[fn] and do not tear your clothes, or you will die and the LORD will be angry with the whole community. But your relatives, all the Israelites, may mourn for those the LORD has destroyed by fire.
Lev 10:7Do not leave the entrance to the tent of meeting or you will die, because the LORD’s anointing oil is on you.” So they did as Moses said.
Lev 10:8Then the LORD said to Aaron,
Lev 10:9“You and your sons are not to drink wine or other fermented drink whenever you go into the tent of meeting, or you will die. This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come,
Lev 10:10so that you can distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean,
Lev 10:11and so you can teach the Israelites all the decrees the LORD has given them through Moses.”
Lev 10:12Moses said to Aaron and his remaining sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, “Take the grain offering left over from the food offerings prepared without yeast and presented to the LORD and eat it beside the altar, for it is most holy.
Lev 10:13Eat it in the sanctuary area, because it is your share and your sons’ share of the food offerings presented to the LORD; for so I have been commanded.
Lev 10:14But you and your sons and your daughters may eat the breast that was waved and the thigh that was presented. Eat them in a ceremonially clean place; they have been given to you and your children as your share of the Israelites’ fellowship offerings.
Lev 10:15The thigh that was presented and the breast that was waved must be brought with the fat portions of the food offerings, to be waved before the LORD as a wave offering. This will be the perpetual share for you and your children, as the LORD has commanded.”
Lev 10:16When Moses inquired about the goat of the sin offering[fn] and found that it had been burned up, he was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s remaining sons, and asked,
Lev 10:17“Why didn’t you eat the sin offering in the sanctuary area? It is most holy; it was given to you to take away the guilt of the community by making atonement for them before the LORD.
Lev 10:18Since its blood was not taken into the Holy Place, you should have eaten the goat in the sanctuary area, as I commanded.”
Lev 10:19Aaron replied to Moses, “Today they sacrificed their sin offering and their burnt offering before the LORD, but such things as this have happened to me. Would the LORD have been pleased if I had eaten the sin offering today?”
Lev 10:20When Moses heard this, he was satisfied.
NIV Footnotes
Or Do not uncover your heads
Or purification offering; also in verses 17 and 19
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Leviticus Chapter 10 — Additional Translations: