Numbers 26:61

Summary

The verse reports the death of Nadab and Abihu, explaining that it occurred when they brought "strange fire" before Yehovah. It is a brief narrative notice embedded in the genealogical census of Numbers 26.

Key words

• va-yamot ("and he died", H4191) — qal narrative verb, third person masculine singular, opening the clause with the classic wayyiqtol form that advances the storyline ("and then he died").
• hakriv ("brought near", H7126H) — hiphil infinitive construct, causative in sense ("to cause to approach/offer"), used with the preposition be ("when", H9003) to form a temporal clause: "when they offered."
• -am ("their/they", H9048) — pronominal suffix attached to the infinitive, supplying the subject of the offering action (Nadab and Abihu) since the infinitive itself has no independent subject marker.
• zarah ("strange", H2114A) — qal participle, feminine singular, agreeing with 'esh ("fire", H0784), describing the fire as one that is foreign, unauthorized, or not of the prescribed kind.
• lifnei ("before", H6440G) — construct plural noun ("face of") with preposition, a common Hebrew idiom meaning "in the presence of," here referring to Yehovah.

What the text says

The sentence is built as a main clause followed by a temporal clause. The main clause, va-yamot Nadav va-Avihu' ("and Nadab and Abihu died"), uses the wayyiqtol verb form typical of Hebrew narrative sequence, presenting the death as the next reported event. The temporal clause, introduced by be-hakriv-am ("when they brought near"), explains the circumstance of the death: an infinitive construct with a pronominal suffix functioning as its subject, a construction common in Biblical Hebrew for expressing "when X did Y."

The object of their action is 'esh zarah ("strange fire"), a noun-participle pair where the participle zarah modifies 'esh by describing it as foreign or not sanctioned. This phrase is not further defined within the verse itself — the text states only that the fire was "strange," without specifying in what way. The final phrase lifnei Yehovah ("before Yehovah") locates the action spatially/relationally in the divine presence, using the idiomatic construct noun panim ("face") governed by the preposition le.

Differences between versions

The Septuagint (LXXSWETE) adds a geographical note absent from the Hebrew and the Vulgate: ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ Σεινά ("in the wilderness of Sinai"), specifying a location not present in the Masoretic text of this verse. The Vulgate (VULCLEM) and Hebrew agree in structure, rendering the temporal clause with cum obtulissent ("when they had offered"), matching the Hebrew's temporal infinitive construction. Some modern translations (e.g., BSB "unauthorized fire") interpret zarah ("strange", H2114A) with a legal/procedural nuance not explicit in the Hebrew participle itself, which simply denotes "strange" or "foreign."