1 Nadab and Abihu, Aaron’s sons, each took his firepan. They put fire in them and placed incense on it. They presented unauthorized fire before the LORD, which he had not commanded them. 2 Fire came out from before the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD. 3 Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the LORD spoke, saying, ‘Among those who are near me I will be held holy, and before all the people I will be glorified.’ ” And Aaron was silent. 4 Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, sons of Uzziel, Aaron’s uncle, and said to them, “Come near and carry your relatives away from the front of the sanctuary to outside the camp.” 5 They came near and carried them in their tunics outside the camp, as Moses had said. 6 Moses said to Aaron and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his sons, “Do not uncover your heads or tear your garments, lest you die and wrath come upon the whole congregation. But let your brothers, the whole house of Israel, weep over the burning the LORD has caused. 7 You shall not go out from the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, lest you die, for the LORD’s anointing oil is on you.” And they did as Moses had said.

8 The LORD spoke to Aaron, saying, 9 “You and your sons with you shall drink no wine or intoxicating drink when you enter the Tent of Meeting, so that you do not die. This is a perpetual statute throughout your generations, 10 so that you may distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean, 11 and teach the Israelites all the statutes that the LORD has spoken to them through Moses.”

12 Moses spoke to Aaron and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his remaining sons, “Take the grain offering left from the offerings by fire to the LORD and eat it unleavened beside the altar, for it is most holy. 13 You shall eat it in a holy place, for it is your due and your sons’ due from the offerings by fire to the LORD, for so I have been commanded. 14 You shall eat the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the raised offering in a clean place, you and your sons and your daughters with you, for they have been given as your due and your sons’ due from the peace offerings of the Israelites. 15 They shall bring the thigh of the raised offering and the breast of the wave offering with the fat portions for the offerings by fire, to wave them as a wave offering before the LORD. It shall belong to you and your sons with you as a perpetual due, as the LORD has commanded.” 16 Moses inquired carefully about the goat of the sin offering, and behold, it had been burned. He became angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s remaining sons, saying, 17 “Why did you not eat the sin offering in the holy place? It is most holy, and he has given it to you to bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the LORD. 18 Look, its blood was not brought inside the sanctuary. You should certainly have eaten it in the sanctuary, as I commanded.” 19 Aaron said to Moses, “Look, today they have presented their sin offering and their burnt offering before the LORD, and things like these have happened to me. If I had eaten the sin offering today, would it have been good in the sight of the LORD?” 20 Moses heard, and it was good in his sight.