Leviticus - Chapter 10

¹ Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu each took his censer, put fire in it and incense on the fire, and presented unauthorised fire before Yahweh, which was not in accordance with his orders.

² At this a flame leapt out from Yahweh's presence and swallowed them up, and they perished before Yahweh.

³ Moses then said to Aaron, 'That is what Yahweh meant when he said: In those who are close to me I show my holiness, and before all the people I show my glory.' Aaron remained silent.

⁴ Moses summoned Mishael and Elzaphan, sons of Aaron's uncle Uzziel, and said to them, 'Come here and take your brothers away from the sanctuary, out of the camp.'

⁵ They came and carried them away, still in their tunics, out of the camp, as Moses had said.

⁶ Moses said to Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, 'Do not disorder your hair or tear your clothes; or you may incur death and his retribution may overtake the whole community. No, it is for the entire House of Israel to lament your brothers who have been the victims of Yahweh's fire.

⁷ To avoid incurring death, do not leave the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, for Yahweh's anointing oil is on you.' And they did as Moses said.

⁸ Yahweh spoke to Aaron and said:

⁹ 'When you come to the Tent of Meeting, you and your sons with you, to avoid incurring death you may not drink wine or any other fermented liquor. This is a perpetual law for all your descendants.

¹⁰ And so shall it be also when you separate the sacred from the profane, the unclean from the clean,

¹¹ and when you teach the Israelites any of the decrees that Yahweh has pronounced for them through Moses.'

¹² Moses said to Aaron and his surviving sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, 'Take the cereal offering left over from the food burnt for Yahweh. Eat the unleavened part of it beside the altar, since it is especially holy.

¹³ Eat it in the holy place, since it is the portion of the food burnt for Yahweh that is prescribed for you and your sons; this is the order I have received.

¹⁴ 'You, your sons and daughters with you, will eat in a clean place the forequarter offered and the thigh presented, for these have been given to you and your children as your due from the Israelites' communion sacrifices.

¹⁵ The thigh presented and the forequarter offered, once the fat has been burnt, revert to you and your sons with you, after they have been presented before Yahweh with the gesture of offering, in virtue of a perpetual law as Yahweh has ordered.'

¹⁶ Moses then enquired carefully about the goat offered as a sacrifice for sin, and found that they had burnt it. He was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron's surviving sons, and said,

¹⁷ 'Why did you not eat this victim for sin in the holy place, since it is especially holy and was given to you to take away the community's guilt, by performing the rite of expiation for them before Yahweh?

¹⁸ Since its blood was not taken inside the sanctuary, you should have eaten its meat there, as I ordered you.'

¹⁹ Aaron said to Moses, 'Look, today they offered their sacrifice for sin and their burnt offering before Yahweh, and these disasters have befallen me. If I had eaten the sin offering today, would this have met with Yahweh's approval?'

²⁰ And when Moses heard this, he was satisfied.

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