¹ Then Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, took each man his censer and placed therein fire, and put thereon incense,—and brought near before Yahweh strange fire, which he had not commanded them.

² Then came there forth fire from before Yahweh, and consumed them,—and they died before Yahweh.

³ Then said Moses unto Aaron—The very thing, that Yahweh spake, saying—In them that draw near to me, must I be hallowed, And before the faces of all the people, must I get myself honour,—And Aaron, was dumb.

⁴ Then called Moses unto Mishael, and unto Elzaphan, sons of Uzziel, uncle of Aaron,—and said unto them—Draw near bear away your brethren from before the sanctuary, unto the outside of the camp.

⁵ So they drew near and bare them away, in their tunics, unto the outside of the camp,—as spake Moses.

⁶ Then said Moses unto Aaron and to Eleazar and to Ithamar, his sons—Your heads, ye may not bare and your garments, ye shall not rend so shall ye not die, neither against all the assembly, will he be wroth,—but let, your brethren the whole house of Israel, bewail the consuming fire wherewith Yahweh hath consumed.

⁷ But, from the entrance of the tent of meeting, shall ye not go forth, lest ye die, for, the anointing oil of Yahweh is upon you. And they did according to the word of Moses.

⁸ Then spake Yahweh unto Aaron, saying:

⁹ Wine and strong drink, thou mayest not drink,—thou nor thy sons with thee when ye enter into the tent of meeting, so shall ye not die,—an age-abiding statute to your generations;

¹⁰ That ye may make a difference, between the sacred and the common,—and between the unclean and the clean;

¹¹ And may teach the sons of Israel,—all the statutes which Yahweh hath spoken unto them, by the mediation of Moses.

¹² Then spake Moses unto Aaron and unto Eleazar and unto Ithamar his sons that were left, Take ye the meal-offering that is left of the altar-flames of Yahweh, and eat it unleavened beside the altar,—for, most holy, it is;

¹³ therefore shall ye eat it in a holy place, for, thine by statute, and thy sons’ by statute, it is, from among the altar-flames of Yahweh,—for, so, am I commanded.

¹⁴ And the wave-breast, and the heave-shoulder, shall ye eat in clean place, thou, and thy sons and thy daughters with thee,—for as thine by statute and thy sons’ by statute, have they been given, from among the peace-offerings of the sons of Israel.

¹⁵ The heave-shoulder and the wave-breast upon the altar-flames of the fat portions, shall they bring in, to wave as a wave-offering, before Yahweh,—so shall they be thine, and thy sons’ with thee, by an age-abiding statute, As Yahweh hath commanded.

¹⁶ Now, as for the sin-bearing goat, Moses diligently sought it but lo! it had been burnt up,—then was he wroth against Eleazar and against Ithamar, the sons of Aaron that were left, saying:

¹⁷ Wherefore did ye not eat the sin-bearer in the holy place? for most, holy, it is,—and thee same, hath he given you that ye may bear the iniquity of the assembly, to put a propitiatory-covering over them before Yahweh.

¹⁸ Lo! the blood thereof had not been taken into the holy place, within,—ye should have, indeed eaten, it, in a holy place, as I commanded.

¹⁹ Then spake Aaron unto Moses—Lo! this very day, when they had brought near their own sin-bearer, and their own ascending-sacrifice, there befell me such things as these,—if, then, I had eaten of the sin-bearer this day, would it have been well-pleasing in the eyes of Yahweh?

²⁰ And, when Moses heard that, then was it well-pleasing in his eyes.