Leviticus 10:1-9

The Sin of Nadab and Abihu

¹Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on the fire and offered strange fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. ²And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. ³Then Moses said to Aaron, “It is what the Lord spoke, saying,

‘By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy,

And before all the people I will be honored.’ ”

So Aaron, therefore, kept silent.

⁴Moses called also to Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Aaron’s uncle Uzziel, and said to them, “Come forward, carry your relatives away from the front of the sanctuary to an area outside of the camp.” ⁵So they came forward and carried them, still in their tunics, to an area outside the camp, just as Moses had said. ⁶Then Moses said to Aaron and to his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “Do not uncover your heads nor tear your clothes, so that you do not die and He does not become wrathful against all the congregation. But your kinsmen, the entire house of Israel, shall weep for the burning which the Lord has brought about. ⁷You shall not even go out from the doorway of the tent of meeting, or you will die; for the Lord’s anointing oil is upon you.” So they did according to the word of Moses.

⁸The Lord then spoke to Aaron, saying, ⁹“Do not drink wine or strong drink, neither you nor your sons with you, when you come into the tent of meeting, so that you do not die—it is a permanent statute throughout your generations—