1 Nadab and Abihu, sons of Aaron, each took his censer, put fire in it, and then incense. Then they offered unapproved fire before Yahweh, which he had not commanded them to offer. 2 So fire came out from before Yahweh and devoured them, and they died before Yahweh. 3 Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what Yahweh was talking about when he said, 'I will reveal my holiness to those who come near me. I will be glorified before all the people.'” Aaron did not say anything. 4 Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said to them, “Come here and carry your brothers out of the camp from before the tabernacle.” 5 So they came near and carried them, still wearing their priestly tunics, out of the camp, as Moses had instructed. 6 Then Moses said to Aaron and to Eleazar and to Ithamar, his sons, “Do not let your hair on your heads hang loosely, and do not tear your clothes, so that you may not die, and so that Yahweh may not be angry with all the assembly. But allow your relatives, the entire house of Israel, to mourn for those whom the fire of Yahweh has set ablaze. 7 You must not go out from the entrance of the tent of meeting, or you will die, for the anointing oil of Yahweh is on you.” So they acted according to Moses' instructions. 8 Yahweh spoke to Aaron, saying, 9 “Do not drink wine or strong drink, you, or your sons who remain with you, when you go into the tent of meeting, so you will not die. This will be a permanent statute throughout your people's generations, 10 to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean, 11 so that you may teach the people of Israel all the statutes that Yahweh has commanded through Moses.” 12 Moses spoke to Aaron and to Eleazar and to Ithamar, his remaining sons, “Take the grain offering that remains from the offerings to Yahweh made by fire, and eat it without yeast beside the altar, for it is most holy. 13 You must eat it in a holy place, because it is your share and your sons' share of the offerings to Yahweh made by fire, for this is what I have been commanded to tell you. 14 The breast that is waved and the thigh that is presented to Yahweh, you must eat in a clean place acceptable to God. You and your sons and daughters with you should eat those portions, for they are given as your share and your sons' share out of the sacrifices of the fellowship offerings of the people of Israel. 15 The thigh that is presented and the breast that is waved, they must bring with the offerings of fat made by fire, to wave before Yahweh. They will be yours and your sons' with you as a share forever, as Yahweh has commanded.” 16 Then Moses asked about the goat for the sin offering, and found that it was burned up. So he was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, the remaining sons of Aaron; he said, 17 “Why have you not eaten the sin offering in the area of the tabernacle, since it is most holy, and since Yahweh has given it to you to take away the iniquity of the assembly, to make atonement for them before him? 18 Look, its blood was not brought inside the tabernacle, so you should certainly have eaten it in the tabernacle area, as I commanded.” 19 Then Aaron answered Moses, “See, today they made their sin offering and burnt offering before Yahweh, and this thing has happened to me today. If I had eaten the sin offering today, would it have been pleasing in the sight of Yahweh?” 20 When Moses heard that, he was satisfied.
Leviticus · Unlocked Literal Bible
Leviticus 10 Unlocked Literal Bible
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Aaron
Moses' brother and spokesman, Israel's first high priest.
Cited in the guide: Exodus 4–40; Leviticus 8–10
Abihu
Aaron's son who died alongside Nadab for offering unauthorized fire in the sanctuary.
Cited in the guide: Exodus 6:23; Leviticus 10:1-2
Elzaphan
A son of Uzziel who with Mishael carried the bodies of Nadab and Abihu outside the camp, and who was later the leader of the Kohathite families.
Cited in the guide: Exodus 6:22; Leviticus 10:4; Numbers 3:30
Mishael
A son of Uzziel and cousin of Nadab and Abihu, who with Elzaphan carried their bodies outside the camp at Moses' command.
Cited in the guide: Exodus 6:22; Leviticus 10:4
Moses
Drawn from the Nile, he led Israel out of Egypt and received God's Law.
Cited in the guide: Exodus 2–Deuteronomy 34
Nadab
Aaron's eldest son, who died offering unauthorized fire before the LORD.
Cited in the guide: Exodus 6:23; Leviticus 10:1-2
Uzziel
Kohath's fourth-listed son, the uncle of Aaron, who fathered Mishael, Elzaphan and Sithri and founded the Uzzielite clan.
Cited in the guide: Exodus 6:18; Exodus 6:22; Leviticus 10:4
Cross references (19)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Numbers 26:61; Deuteronomy 12:32; Leviticus 16:12; Numbers 16:46; Exodus 6:23
- 2 Numbers 26:61; Leviticus 9:24; Numbers 16:35; Numbers 3:3–4; 2 Samuel 6:7
- 3 Exodus 19:22; Isaiah 49:3; Leviticus 21:6; Numbers 20:12; 1 Samuel 2:30
- 4 Exodus 6:22; Exodus 6:18; Numbers 3:30; Acts 5:9–10; Acts 5:6
- 5 Leviticus 8:13
- 6 Numbers 1:53; Numbers 16:22; Joshua 7:1; Joshua 22:18; 2 Samuel 24:1
- 7 Leviticus 21:12; 2 Corinthians 1:21; Acts 10:38; Leviticus 8:30; Exodus 28:41
- 9 Luke 1:15; 1 Timothy 3:3; Ephesians 5:18; Titus 1:7; Ezekiel 44:21
- 10 Ezekiel 22:26; 1 Peter 1:14–16; Leviticus 11:47; Titus 1:15; Ezekiel 44:23
- 11 Malachi 2:7; Matthew 28:20; Nehemiah 8:2; Nehemiah 8:8; Jeremiah 18:18
- 12 Leviticus 21:22; Numbers 18:9–10; Exodus 29:2; Leviticus 6:14–18; Leviticus 7:9
- 13 Leviticus 6:16; Leviticus 2:3; Numbers 18:10
- 14 Numbers 18:11; John 4:34; Leviticus 7:29–34; Leviticus 9:21; Exodus 29:24–28
- 15 Leviticus 7:34; Genesis 17:17; 1 Corinthians 9:13–14; Genesis 13:15; Leviticus 7:29–30
- 16 Leviticus 9:3; Leviticus 9:15; Matthew 5:22; Mark 3:5; Mark 10:14
- 17 Numbers 18:1; Leviticus 7:6–7; Leviticus 6:24–30; Exodus 28:38; John 1:29
- 18 Leviticus 6:30; Leviticus 6:26
- 19 Leviticus 9:12; Leviticus 9:8; Jeremiah 14:12; Jeremiah 6:20; Malachi 1:13
- 20 Matthew 12:20; Zechariah 7:8–9; 2 Chronicles 30:18–20; Matthew 12:3–7
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
And the heretics, indeed, who bring strange fire to the altar of God-- namely, strange doctrines--shall be burned up by the fire from heaven, as were Nadab and Abiud. But such as rise up in opposition to the truth, and exhort others against the Church of God, [shall] remain among those in hell (apud inferos), being swallowed up by an …