The Death of Nadab and Abihu

¹Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized1 fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. ²And fire came 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 those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.’” And Aaron held his peace.

⁴And Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel 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, “Do not let the hair of your heads hang loose, and do not tear your clothes, lest you die, and wrath come upon all the congregation; but let your brothers, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning that the Lord has kindled. ⁷And do not go outside the entrance of the tent of meeting, lest you die, for 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, ⁹“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 distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean, ¹¹and you 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 grain offering that is left of the Lord's food offerings, and eat it unleavened beside the altar, for it 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 so I am commanded. ¹⁴But the breast 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. ¹⁵The 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 the 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, ¹⁷“Why have you not eaten the sin offering in the place of the sanctuary, since it 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, its blood was not brought into the inner part of the sanctuary. You certainly ought to have eaten it in the sanctuary, as I commanded.” ¹⁹And Aaron said to Moses, “Behold, today 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, would the Lord have approved?” ²⁰And when Moses heard that, he approved.

The Lord Is in His Holy Temple

To the choirmaster. Of David.

¹In the Lord I take refuge;

how can you say to my soul,

“Flee like a bird to your mountain,

²for behold, the wicked bend the bow;

they have fitted their arrow to the string

to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart;

³if the foundations are destroyed,

what can the righteous do?”1

⁴The Lord is in his holy temple;

the Lord's throne is in heaven;

his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man.

⁵The Lord tests the righteous,

but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.

⁶Let him rain coals on the wicked;

fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.

⁷For the Lord is righteous;

he loves righteous deeds;

the upright shall behold his face.

The Faithful Have Vanished

To the choirmaster: according to The Sheminith.1 A Psalm of David.

¹Save, O Lord, for the godly one is gone;

for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man.

²Everyone utters lies to his neighbor;

with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.

³May the Lord cut off all flattering lips,

the tongue that makes great boasts,

⁴those who say, “With our tongue we will prevail,

our lips are with us; who is master over us?”

⁵“Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan,

I will now arise,” says the Lord;

“I will place him in the safety for which he longs.”

⁶The words of the Lord are pure words,

like silver refined in a furnace on the ground,

purified seven times.

⁷You, O Lord, will keep them;

you will guard us2 from this generation forever.

⁸On every side the wicked prowl,

as vileness is exalted among the children of man.

More Proverbs of Solomon

¹These also are proverbs of Solomon which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied.

²It is the glory of God to conceal things,

but the glory of kings is to search things out.

³As the heavens for height, and the earth for depth,

so the heart of kings is unsearchable.

⁴Take away the dross from the silver,

and the smith has material for a vessel;

⁵take away the wicked from the presence of the king,

and his throne will be established in righteousness.

⁶Do not put yourself forward in the king's presence

or stand in the place of the great,

⁷for it is better to be told, “Come up here,”

than to be put lower in the presence of a noble.

What your eyes have seen

⁸do not hastily bring into court,

for1 what will you do in the end,

when your neighbor puts you to shame?

⁹Argue your case with your neighbor himself,

and do not reveal another's secret,

¹⁰lest he who hears you bring shame upon you,

and your ill repute have no end.

¹¹A word fitly spoken

is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.

¹²Like a gold ring or an ornament of gold

is a wise reprover to a listening ear.

¹³Like the cold of snow in the time of harvest

is a faithful messenger to those who send him;

he refreshes the soul of his masters.

¹⁴Like clouds and wind without rain

is a man who boasts of a gift he does not give.

¹⁵With patience a ruler may be persuaded,

and a soft tongue will break a bone.

¹⁶If you have found honey, eat only enough for you,

lest you have your fill of it and vomit it.

¹⁷Let your foot be seldom in your neighbor's house,

lest he have his fill of you and hate you.

¹⁸A man who bears false witness against his neighbor

is like a war club, or a sword, or a sharp arrow.

¹⁹Trusting in a treacherous man in time of trouble

is like a bad tooth or a foot that slips.

²⁰Whoever sings songs to a heavy heart

is like one who takes off a garment on a cold day,

and like vinegar on soda.

²¹If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat,

and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink,

²²for you will heap burning coals on his head,

and the Lord will reward you.

²³The north wind brings forth rain,

and a backbiting tongue, angry looks.

²⁴It is better to live in a corner of the housetop

than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife.

²⁵Like cold water to a thirsty soul,

so is good news from a far country.

²⁶Like a muddied spring or a polluted fountain

is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked.

²⁷It is not good to eat much honey,

nor is it glorious to seek one's own glory.2

²⁸A man without self-control

is like a city broken into and left without walls.

A Life Pleasing to God

¹Finally, then, brothers,1 we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. ²For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. ³For this is the will of God, your sanctification:2 that you abstain from sexual immorality; ⁴that each one of you know how to control his own body3 in holiness and honor, ⁵not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; ⁶that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. ⁷For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. ⁸Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.

⁹Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, ¹⁰for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, ¹¹and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, ¹²so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.

The Coming of the Lord

¹³But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. ¹⁴For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁵For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord,4 that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. ¹⁸Therefore encourage one another with these words.