1. Now Nadab and Abihu, two of Aaron’s sons, each took an incense pan. They put fire and incense on them and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them.
2. Then fire flew out from before the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.
3. Moses said to Aaron, "When the Lord said, ‘I will show that I am holy among those near me, and before all the people I will manifest my glorious presence,’ this is what he meant!" But Aaron was silent.
4. Then Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan the sons of Uzziel, Aaron’s uncle, and told them, "Go carry your relatives out from the front of the sanctuary to a place outside the camp."
5. So they went forward and carried Nadab and Abihu out by their tunics to a place outside the camp, just as Moses had ordered.
6. Moses then said to Aaron and his sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, "Don’t dishevel your hair and don’t rip your clothes into pieces, or you will die and bring anger upon the whole community. Your family—all of Israel’s house—will mourn the burning the Lord has done.
7. But you must not leave the meeting tent, or you will die because the Lord’s anointing oil is on you." So they did what Moses ordered.
8. The Lord said to Aaron:
9. Both you and your sons must not drink wine or beer when you enter the meeting tent so that you don’t die—this is a permanent rule throughout your future generations—
10. so that you can distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean,