Dual Panel1AARON'S sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them, threw incense on the fire, and presented before the LORD illicit fire, such as he had not commanded them to present.
2Fire came out from before the LORD and destroyed them; so they died in the presence of the LORD.
3Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the LORD meant when he said: Among those who approach me I must be treated as holy; in the presence of all the people I must be given honour.” Aaron kept silent.
4Moses sent for Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Aaron's uncle Uzziel, and said to them, “Come and carry your cousins outside the camp away from the sanctuary.”
5They came and carried them away in their tunics out of the camp, as Moses had told them.
6Moses said to Aaron and to his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “You are not to let your hair hang loose or tear your clothes in mourning, or you may die and the LORD be angry with the whole community. Your kinsmen, all the house of Israel, shall weep for the destruction by fire which the LORD has kindled.
7You must not leave the entrance to the Tent of Meeting; otherwise you may die, because the LORD's anointing oil is on you.” They did as Moses had said.
8WHEN the LORD spoke to Aaron he said:
9You and your sons with you must not drink wine or strong drink when you are to enter the Tent of Meeting, that you may not die. This is a rule binding on your descendants for all time,
10to make a distinction between sacred and profane, between clean and unclean,
11and to teach the Israelites all the decrees which the LORD has spoken to them through Moses.
12Moses said to Aaron and his surviving sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, “Take what is left over of the grain-offering out of the food-offerings of the LORD, and eat it unleavened beside the altar; it is most holy.
13Eat it in a sacred place; it is your due and that of your sons out of the LORD's food-offerings, for so I was commanded.
14You and your sons and daughters must eat in a clean place the breast of the dedicated portion and the leg which is a contribution for the priests, for they have been given to you and your children as your due out of the shared-offerings of the Israelites.
15The leg of the contribution and the breast of the dedicated portion must be brought, along with the food-offerings of fat, to be presented as a dedicated portion before the LORD; it will belong to you and your children as a due for all time; for so the LORD has commanded.”
16When Moses made searching enquiry about the goat of the purification-offering and found it had been burnt, he was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron's surviving sons, and said,
17“Why did you not eat the purification-offering in the sacred place? It is most holy. It was given to you to take away the guilt of the community by making expiation for them before the LORD.
18Since the blood was not brought within the sacred precincts, you should have eaten the purification-offering there as I was commanded.”
19But Aaron replied to Moses, “See, they have today presented their purification-offering and their whole-offering before the LORD, and this is what has happened to me! If I had eaten a purification-offering today, would the LORD have considered it right?”
20When Moses heard this, he considered Aaron was right.