Leviticus 10

1 Now Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense, and offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, contrary to His command. 2 So fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died in the presence of the LORD. 3 Then Moses said to Aaron, “ This is what the LORD meant when He said: ‘ To those who come near Me I will show My holiness, and in the sight of all the people I will reveal My glory.’” But Aaron remained silent. 4 Moses summoned Mishael and Elzaphan, sons of Aaron’s uncle Uzziel, and said to them, “ Come here; carry the bodies of your cousins outside the camp, away from the front of the sanctuary.” 5 So they came forward and carried them, still in their tunics, outside the camp, as Moses had directed. 6 Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “ Do not let your hair become disheveled and do not tear your garments, or else you will die, and the LORD will be angry with the whole congregation. But your brothers, the whole house of Israel, may mourn on account of the fire that the LORD has ignited. 7 You shall not go outside the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, or you will die, for the LORD ’s anointing oil is on you.” So they did as Moses instructed. Restrictions for Priests 8 Then the LORD said to Aaron, 9 “ You and your sons are not to drink wine or strong drink when you enter the Tent of Meeting, or else you will die; this is a permanent statute for the generations to come. 10 You must distinguish between the holy and the common, between the clean and the unclean, 11 so that you may teach the Israelites all the statutes that the LORD has given them through Moses.” 12 And Moses said to Aaron and his remaining sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, “ Take the grain offering that remains from the offerings made by fire to the LORD and eat it without leaven beside the altar, because it is most holy. 13 You shall eat it in a holy place, because it is your share and your sons ’ share of the offerings made by fire to the LORD; for this is what I have been commanded. 14 And you and your sons and daughters may eat the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the contribution in a ceremonially clean place, because these portions have been assigned to you and your children from the peace offerings of the sons of Israel. 15 They are to bring the thigh of the contribution and the breast of the wave offering, together with the fat portions of the offerings made by fire, to wave as a wave offering before the LORD. It will belong permanently to you and your children, as the LORD has commanded.” 16 Later, Moses searched carefully for the goat of the sin offering, and behold, it had been burned up. He was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s remaining sons, and asked, 17 “ Why didn’t you eat the sin offering in the holy place? For it is most holy; it was given to you to take away the guilt of the congregation by making atonement for them before the LORD. 18 Since its blood was not brought inside the holy place, you should have eaten it in the sanctuary area, as I commanded.” 19 But Aaron replied to Moses, “ Behold, this very day they presented their sin offering and their burnt offering before the LORD. Since these things have happened to me, if I had eaten the sin offering today, would it have been acceptable in the sight of the LORD?” 20 And when Moses heard this explanation, he was satisfied.

✦ What the text says

## Summary Leviticus 10 narrates the death of Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu after they offered "strange fire" before Yahweh, followed by Moses's instructions on mourning protocol and priestly conduct. The chapter closes with a dispute between Moses and Aaron over why the sin offering's goat was burned rather than eaten, which Aaron resolves by explaining the circumstances of that day. ## Key words - *zarah* ("strange", H2114A) — feminine singular qal participle describing the *'esh* ("fire", H0784) that Nadab and Abihu presented; as a participle it characterizes the fire as an ongoing category ("the one being strange/foreign"), not matching what Yahweh had commanded. - *yiddom* ("he was silent", H1826H) — qal narrative form describing Aaron's single-word response in verse 3; the narrative chain (vav + verb) marks this silence as the next event in sequence, immediately following Moses's explanation of Yahweh's holiness. - *le-havdil* ("to separate", H0914) — hiphil (causative) infinitive in verse 10, expressing the purpose of the priestly restriction on wine: the priests' role is framed as an act of causing distinction *between* (*bein*, H0996G) categories, not merely observing them. - *qodesh qodashim* ("holy of holies things", H6944G, doubled) — construct chain used twice (vv. 12, 17) meaning "a holy thing of holy things," an intensifying superlative construction marking the grain offering and sin offering as maximally sacred. - *yiktzof* ("he was angry", H7107) — qal imperfect/narrative verb used both as a warning (v. 6, what could happen to the *'edah* "congregation") and as Moses's actual reaction (v. 16) toward Eleazar and Ithamar over the burned goat. ## What the text says The chapter's backbone is a chain of narrative *vav*-forms (*va-yiqrevu*, *va-yomer*, *va-yishma'*, etc.) that move the action forward in strict sequence: sons take censers, fire goes out from Yahweh, they die, Moses speaks, Aaron is silent, bodies are removed, Moses instructs the surviving priests. This chain structure gives the account a rapid, almost procedural cadence, with minimal narratorial commentary between events. The legal material in verses 9–15 shifts from narrative to direct address using imperatives (*qechu* "take," H3947G) and construct chains marking possession/portion (*chok-* "prescribed portion of," H2706H), establishing which parts of offerings belong to the priests and under what conditions of purity (*tahor*, H2889) they may be eaten. The infinitive constructions *le-havdil* ("to separate") and *le-horot* ("to teach," H3384B) in verses 10–11 present the priestly office in terms of two verbal duties — distinguishing categories and instructing the people — rather than as titles or static roles. The final exchange (vv. 16–20) turns on the phrase *chatta't* ("sin offering," H2403H) and Aaron's use of a rhetorical question (*ha-yitav be-'einei Yahweh*, "will it be good in the eyes of Yahweh?") to justify not eating it. Moses's closing reaction, *va-yishma' ... va-yitav be-'einav* ("he heard ... and it was good in his eyes," H3190), mirrors Aaron's own vocabulary, showing the resolution phrased in the text's own terms rather than through an external verdict.

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.