Leviticus 10:1

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

Nadab and Abihu Then Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, each took his fire pan and put fire in it, set incense on it, and presented strange fire before the LORD, which he had not commanded them to do.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

וַיִּקְח֣וּ בְנֵֽי־אַ֠הֲרֹן נָדָ֨ב וַאֲבִיה֜וּא אִ֣ישׁ מַחְתָּת֗וֹ וַיִתְּנ֤וּ בָהֵן֙ אֵ֔שׁ וַיָּשִׂ֥ימוּ עָלֶ֖יהָ קְטֹ֑רֶת וַיַּקְרִ֜בוּ לִפְנֵ֤י יְהוָה֙ אֵ֣שׁ זָרָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֧ר לֹ֦א צִוָּ֖ה אֹתָֽם

Transliteration

And wə-yiqqəḥû bənê-ʾahărōn nāḏāḇ and-ʾăḇîhûʾ ʾîš maḥtātô and-wə-yittənû in-them ʾēš and-wə-yāśîmû upon-it qəṭōreṯ and-wə-yaqqriḇû before YHWH ʾēš zārâ which not ṣiwwâ them

Grammar Details

• *wə-yiqqəḥû*: waw-consecutive + Qal imperfect, 3rd masculine plural - and they took
• *bənê*: construct state, masculine plural - sons of
• *ʾahărōn*: proper noun, masculine singular - Aaron
• *nāḏāḇ*: proper noun, masculine singular - Nadab
• *ʾăḇîhûʾ*: proper noun, masculine singular - Abihu
• *ʾîš*: noun, masculine singular, absolute - each man
• *maḥtātô*: noun, feminine singular with 3rd masculine singular possessive suffix - his censer
• *wə-yittənû*: waw-consecutive + Qal imperfect, 3rd masculine plural - and they put
• *ʾēš*: noun, feminine singular, absolute - fire
• *wə-yāśîmû*: waw-consecutive + Qal imperfect, 3rd masculine plural - and they placed
• *qəṭōreṯ*: noun, feminine singular, absolute - incense
• *wə-yaqqriḇû*: waw-consecutive + Hiphil imperfect, 3rd masculine plural - and they offered/brought near
• *YHWH*: proper noun - the LORD
• *zārâ*: adjective, feminine singular - strange/unauthorized
• *ṣiwwâ*: Piel perfect, 3rd masculine singular - he commanded

Word Meanings

• *ʾîš*: each/man/each man
• *maḥtātô*: his censer/fire-pan
• *ʾēš*: fire/flame
• *qəṭōreṯ*: incense/smoke offering
• *zārâ*: strange/foreign/unauthorized/profane

Referenced Verses

• Lev 16:12 : 12 and take a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the LORD and a full double handful of finely ground fragrant incense, and bring them inside the curtain.
• Num 26:61 : 61 But Nadab and Abihu died when they offered strange fire before the LORD.
• Exod 24:1 : 1 The Lord Ratifies the Covenant But to Moses the LORD said,“Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from a distance.
• Num 16:46 : 46 Then Moses said to Aaron,“Take the censer, put burning coals from the altar in it, place incense on it, and go quickly into the assembly and make atonement for them, for wrath has gone out from the LORD– the plague has begun!”
• Exod 24:9 : 9 Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up,
• Exod 6:23 : 23 Aaron married Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab and sister of Nahshon, and she bore him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.
• Lev 16:1 : 1 The Day of Atonement The LORD spoke to Moses after the death of Aaron’s two sons when they approached the presence of the LORD and died,
• Exod 28:1 : 1 The Clothing of the Priests“And you, bring near to you your brother Aaron and his sons with him from among the Israelites, so that they may minister as my priests– Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s sons.
• Exod 30:1-9 : 1 The Altar of Incense“You are to make an altar for burning incense; you are to make it of acacia wood. 2 Its length is to be a foot and a half and its width a foot and a half; it will be square. Its height is to be three feet, with its horns of one piece with it. 3 You are to overlay it with pure gold– its top, its four walls, and its horns– and make a surrounding border of gold for it. 4 You are to make two gold rings for it under its border, on its two flanks; you are to make them on its two sides. The rings will be places for poles to carry it with. 5 You are to make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. 6 “You are to put it in front of the curtain that is before the ark of the testimony(before the atonement lid that is over the testimony), where I will meet you. 7 Aaron is to burn sweet incense on it morning by morning; when he attends to the lamps he is to burn incense. 8 When Aaron sets up the lamps around sundown he is to burn incense on it; it is to be a regular incense offering before the LORD throughout your generations. 9 You must not offer strange incense on it, nor burnt offering, nor meal offering, and you must not pour out a drink offering on it.
• Exod 30:34-36 : 34 The LORD said to Moses:“Take spices, gum resin, onycha, galbanum, and pure frankincense of equal amounts 35 and make it into an incense, a perfume, the work of a perfumer. It is to be finely ground, and pure and sacred. 36 You are to beat some of it very fine and put some of it before the ark of the testimony in the tent of meeting where I will meet with you; it is to be most holy to you.
• Exod 31:11 : 11 the anointing oil, and sweet incense for the Holy Place. They will make all these things just as I have commanded you.”
• Exod 37:29 : 29 He made the sacred anointing oil and the pure fragrant incense, the work of a perfumer.
• Exod 38:3 : 3 He made all the utensils of the altar– the pots, the shovels, the tossing bowls, the meat hooks, and the fire pans– he made all its utensils of bronze.
• Exod 40:27 : 27 and he burned fragrant incense on it, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.
• Lev 9:24 : 24 Then fire went out from the presence of the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the fat parts on the altar, and all the people saw it, so they shouted loudly and fell down with their faces to the ground.
• Exod 27:3 : 3 You are to make its pots for the ashes, its shovels, its tossing bowls, its meat hooks, and its fire pans– you are to make all its utensils of bronze.
• Lev 22:9 : 9 They must keep my charge so that they do not incur sin on account of it and therefore die because they profane it. I am the LORD who sanctifies them.
• Num 3:2-4 : 2 These are the names of the sons of Aaron: Nadab, the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. 3 These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the anointed priests, whom he consecrated to minister as priests. 4 Nadab and Abihu died before the LORD when they offered strange fire before the LORD in the desert of Sinai, and they had no children. So Eleazar and Ithamar ministered as priests in the presence of Aaron their father.
• Num 16:6-7 : 6 Do this, Korah, you and all your company: Take censers, 7 put fire in them, and set incense on them before the LORD tomorrow, and the man whom the LORD chooses will be holy. You take too much upon yourselves, you sons of Levi!”
• Num 16:16-18 : 16 Then Moses said to Korah,“You and all your company present yourselves before the LORD– you and they, and Aaron– tomorrow. 17 And each of you take his censer, put incense in it, and then each of you present his censer before the LORD: 250 censers, along with you, and Aaron– each of you with his censer.” 18 So everyone took his censer, put fire in it, and set incense on it, and stood at the entrance of the tent of meeting, with Moses and Aaron.
• Deut 4:2 : 2 Do not add a thing to what I command you nor subtract from it, so that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I am delivering to you.
• Deut 12:32 : 32 Idolatry and False Prophets(13:1) You must be careful to do everything I am commanding you. Do not add to it or subtract from it!
• Deut 17:3 : 3 by serving other gods and worshiping them– the sun, moon, or any other heavenly bodies which I have not permitted you to worship.
• 1 Kgs 13:1-2 : 1 Just then a prophet arrived from Judah with the LORD’s message for Bethel, as Jeroboam was standing near the altar ready to offer a sacrifice. 2 He cried out against the altar with the LORD’S message,“O altar, altar! This is what the LORD has said,‘Look, a son named Josiah will be born to the Davidic dynasty. He will sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who offer sacrifices on you. Human bones will be burned on you.’”
• 2 Chr 26:16-20 : 16 But once he became powerful, his pride destroyed him. He disobeyed the LORD his God. He entered the LORD’s temple to offer incense on the incense altar. 17 Azariah the priest and eighty other brave priests of the LORD followed him in. 18 They confronted King Uzziah and said to him,“It is not proper for you, Uzziah, to offer incense to the LORD. That is the responsibility of the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who are consecrated to offer incense. Leave the sanctuary, for you have disobeyed and the LORD God will not honor you!” 19 Uzziah, who had an incense censer in his hand, became angry. While he was ranting and raving at the priests, a skin disease appeared on his forehead right there in front of the priests in the LORD’s temple near the incense altar. 20 When Azariah the high priest and the other priests looked at him, there was a skin disease on his forehead. They hurried him out of there; even the king himself wanted to leave quickly because the LORD had afflicted him.
• Ps 141:2 : 2 May you accept my prayer like incense, my uplifted hands like the evening offering!
• Jer 7:31 : 31 They have also built places of worship in a place called Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom so that they can sacrifice their sons and daughters by fire. That is something I never commanded them to do! Indeed, it never even entered my mind to command such a thing!
• Jer 19:5 : 5 They have built places here for worship of the god Baal so that they could sacrifice their children as burnt offerings to him in the fire. Such sacrifices are something I never commanded them to make! They are something I never told them to do! Indeed, such a thing never even entered my mind!
• Jer 32:35 : 35 They built places of worship for the god Baal in the valley of Ben Hinnom so that they could sacrifice their sons and daughters to the god Molech. Such a disgusting practice was not something I commanded them to do! It never even entered my mind to command them to do such a thing! So Judah is certainly liable for punishment.’
• Jer 44:8 : 8 That is what will result from your making me angry by what you are doing. You are making me angry by sacrificing to other gods here in the land of Egypt where you live. You will be destroyed for doing that! You will become an example used in curses and an object of ridicule among all the nations of the earth.
• Jer 44:15 : 15 Then all the men who were aware that their wives were sacrificing to other gods, as well as all their wives, answered Jeremiah. There was a great crowd of them representing all the people who lived in northern and southern Egypt. They answered,
• Jer 44:19-21 : 19 The women added,“We did indeed sacrifice and pour out drink offerings to the Queen of Heaven. But it was with the full knowledge and approval of our husbands that we made cakes in her image and poured out drink offerings to her.” 20 Then Jeremiah replied to all the people, both men and women, who responded to him in this way. 21 “The LORD did indeed remember and call to mind what you did! He remembered the sacrifices you and your ancestors, your kings, your leaders, and all the rest of the people of the land offered to other gods in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem.
• Luke 1:9-9 : 9 he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the holy place of the Lord and burn incense. 10 Now the whole crowd of people were praying outside at the hour of the incense offering. 11 An angel of the Lord, standing on the right side of the altar of incense, appeared to him.
• Heb 9:4 : 4 It contained the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered entirely with gold. In this ark were the golden urn containing the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant.
• Rev 8:3-5 : 3 Another angel holding a golden censer came and was stationed at the altar. A large amount of incense was given to him to offer up, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar that is before the throne. 4 The smoke coming from the incense, along with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand. 5 Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it on the earth, and there were crashes of thunder, roaring, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.