Leviticus 9–10

The Lord Accepts Aaron’s Offering

9^rOn the eighth day Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel, ²and he said to Aaron, ^s“Take for yourself a bull calf for a sin offering and ^ta ram for a burnt offering, both without blemish, and offer them before the Lord. ³And say to the people of Israel, ^u‘Take a male goat for a sin offering, and a calf and a lamb, both a year old without blemish, for a burnt offering, ⁴and an ox and a ram for peace offerings, to sacrifice before the Lord, and ^va grain offering mixed with oil, for ^wtoday the Lord will appear to you.’ ” ⁵And they brought what Moses commanded in front of the tent of meeting, and all the congregation drew near and stood before the Lord. ⁶And Moses said, “This is the thing that the Lord commanded you to do, that the glory of the Lord may appear to you.” ⁷Then Moses said to Aaron, “Draw near to the altar and ^xoffer your sin offering and your burnt offering and ^ymake atonement for yourself and for the people, and bring the offering of the people and make atonement for them, as the Lord has commanded.”

⁸So Aaron drew near to the altar and killed the calf of the sin offering, which was for himself. ^9zAnd the sons of Aaron presented the blood to him, and he dipped his finger in the blood and ^aput it on the horns of the altar and poured out the blood at the base of the altar. ^10bBut the fat and the kidneys and the long lobe of the liver from the sin offering he burned on the altar, ^cas the Lord commanded Moses. ^11dThe flesh and the skin he burned up with fire outside the camp.

¹²Then he killed the burnt offering, and Aaron’s sons handed him the blood, and he ^ethrew it against the sides of the altar. ^13fAnd they handed the burnt offering to him, piece by piece, and the head, and he burned them on the altar. ^14gAnd he washed the entrails and the legs and burned them with the burnt offering on the altar.

^15hThen he presented the people’s offering and took the goat of the sin offering that was for the people and killed it and ⁱoffered it as a sin offering, ^jlike the first one. ¹⁶And he presented the burnt offering and offered it ^kaccording to the ^lrule. ¹⁷And he presented the ^mgrain offering, took a handful of it, and burned it on the altar, ⁿbesides the burnt offering of the morning.

¹⁸Then he killed the ox and the ram, ^othe sacrifice of peace offerings for the people. And Aaron’s sons handed him the blood, and he threw it against the sides of the altar. ¹⁹But the fat pieces of the ox and of the ram, the fat tail and that which covers ^pthe entrails and the kidneys and the long lobe of the liver— ²⁰they put the fat pieces on the breasts, ^qand he burned the fat pieces on the altar, ²¹but the breasts and the right thigh Aaron waved ^rfor a wave offering before the Lord, as Moses commanded.

²²Then Aaron ^slifted up his hands toward the people and ^tblessed them, and he came down from offering the sin offering and the burnt offering and the peace offerings. ²³And Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting, and when they came out they blessed the people, and ^uthe glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. ²⁴And ^vfire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the pieces of fat on the altar, and when all the people saw it, ^wthey shouted and ^xfell on their faces.

The Death of Nadab and Abihu

10Now ^yNadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, ^zeach took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered ^aunauthorized¹ fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. ²And fire ^bcame out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. ³Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Among ^cthose who are near me ^dI will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.’ ” ^eAnd Aaron held his peace.

⁴And Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of ^fUzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said to them, “Come near; carry your brothers away from the front of the sanctuary and out of the camp.” ⁵So they came near and carried them in their coats out of the camp, as Moses had said. ⁶And Moses said to Aaron and to Eleazar and Ithamar his sons, ^g“Do not let the hair of your heads hang loose, and do not tear your clothes, lest you die, and ^hwrath come upon all the congregation; but let your brothers, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning that the Lord has kindled. ⁷ⁱAnd do not go outside the entrance of the tent of meeting, lest you die, ^jfor the anointing oil of the Lord is upon you.” And they did according to the word of Moses.

⁸And the Lord spoke to Aaron, saying, ^9k“Drink no wine or strong drink, you or your sons with you, when you go into the tent of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. ¹⁰You are to ^ldistinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean, ¹¹and ^myou are to teach the people of Israel all the statutes that the Lord has spoken to them by Moses.”

¹²Moses spoke to Aaron and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his surviving sons: “Take the ⁿgrain offering that is left of the Lord’s food offerings, and eat it unleavened beside the altar, for ^oit is most holy. ¹³You shall eat it in a holy place, because it is your due and your sons’ due, from the Lord’s food offerings, for ^pso I am commanded. ¹⁴But the ^qbreast that is waved and the thigh that is contributed you shall eat in a clean place, you and your sons and your daughters with you, for they are given as your due and your sons’ due from the sacrifices of the peace offerings of the people of Israel. ^15rThe thigh that is contributed and the breast that is waved they shall bring with the food offerings of the fat pieces to wave for a wave offering before the Lord, and it shall be yours and your sons’ with you as a due forever, as the Lord has commanded.”

¹⁶Now Moses diligently inquired about ^sthe goat of the sin offering, and behold, it was burned up! And he was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, the surviving sons of Aaron, saying, ^17t“Why have you not eaten the sin offering in the place of the sanctuary, since ^oit is a thing most holy and has been given to you that you may bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the Lord? ¹⁸Behold, ^uits blood was not brought into the inner part of the sanctuary. You certainly ought to have eaten it in the sanctuary, ^vas I commanded.” ¹⁹And Aaron said to Moses, “Behold, ^wtoday they have offered their sin offering and their burnt offering before the Lord, and yet such things as these have happened to me! If I had eaten the sin offering today, ^xwould the Lord have approved?” ²⁰And when Moses heard that, he approved.