1 And Nadab and Abiu, the sons of Aaron, taking their censers, put fire therein, and incense on it, offering before the Lord strange fire: which was not commanded them. 2 And fire coming out from the Lord destroyed them, and they died before the Lord. 3 And Moses said to Aaron: This is what the Lord hath spoken: I will be sanctified in them that approach to me, and I will be glorified in the sight of all the people. And when Aaron heard this, he held his peace. 4 And Moses called Misael and Elisaphan, the sons of Oziel, the uncle of Aaron, and said to them: Go and take away your brethren from before the sanctuary, and carry them without the camp. 5 And they went forthwith and took them as they lay, vested with linen tunicks, and cast them forth, as had been commanded them.

6 And Moses said to Aaron, and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his sons: Uncover not your heads, and rend not your garments, lest perhaps you die, and indignation come upon all the congregation. Let your brethren, and all the house of Israel, bewail the burning which the Lord has kindled: 7 But you shall not go out of the door of the tabernacle, otherwise you shall perish, for the oil of the holy unction is on you. And they did all things according to the precept of Moses.

Intoxication drinks forbidden

8 The Lord also said to Aaron: 9 You shall not drink wine nor any thing that may make drunk, thou nor thy sons, when you enter into the tabernacle of the testimony, lest you die: because it is an everlasting precept through your generations : 10 And that you may have knowledge to discern between holy and unholy, between unclean and clean: 11 And may teach the children of Israel all my ordinances which the Lord hath spoken to them by the hand of Moses.

Ritual for eating the priestly portions

12 And Moses spoke to Aaron, and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his sons that were left: Take the sacrifice that is remaining of the oblation of the Lord, and eat it without leaven beside the altar, because it is holy of holies. 13 And you shall eat it in a holy place: which is given to thee and thy sons of the oblations of the Lord, as it hath been commanded me. 14 The breast also that is offered, and the shoulder that is separated, you shall eat in a most clean place, thou and thy sons, and thy daughters with thee. For they are set aside for thee and thy children, of the victims of peace offerings of the children of Israel: 15 Because they have elevated before the Lord the shoulder and the breast, and the fat that is burnt on the altar, and they belong to thee and to thy sons by a perpetual law, as the Lord hath commanded.

Moses rebukes Eleazar and Ithamar

16 While these things were a doing, when Moses sought for the buck goat, that had been offered for sin, he found it burnt: and being angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons of Aaron that were left, he said: 17 Why did you not eat in the holy place the sacrifice for sin, which is most holy, and given to you, that you may bear the iniquity of the people, and may pray for them in the sight of the Lord, 18 Especially whereas none of the blood thereof hath been carried within the holy places, and you ought to have eaten it in the sanctuary, as was commanded me? 19 Aaron answered: This day hath been offered the victim for sin, and the holocaust before the Lord: and to me what thou seest has happened: how could I eat it, or please the Lord in the ceremonies, having a sorrowful heart? 20 Which when Moses had heard he was satisfied.

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10:1 strange fire: The Lord God ordered them not to allow this fire to die out but to feed it with wood night and day, so that man-made fire would never be mixed with the divine. (Theodoret of Cyrus)  God inflicted this punishment to teach us how many others will have even less right to leniency, if he did not spare them. See 1 Peter 4:18; Luke 12:48; Exod. 33:12 (St. Augustine Questions on Lev)  Fire, the instrument of their impiety being used for their punishment, and their destruction following at the very time and place of their sacrilege; and not even their father Aaron, who was next to Moses in the favor of God, could save them. (St. Cyril of Jerusalem Oration 2.93)  These events teach us not to quench the Spirit but to rekindle the grace we have received, not to introduce anything foreign into holy Scripture but to be content with the teaching of the Spirit, and to abhor heretics. (Theodoret of Cyrus)  The same penalty awaits those who bring strange water to a false baptism.  The censure and vengeance of God overtakes heretics who do, against the Church, what only the Church is allowed to do. (St. Cyprian Baptismal Controversy 73.8)

10:6-7 Moses forbids them to mourn, because the Lord was sanctified in their punishment... It is not that the death of the sons of Aaron was not worthy of being an object of mourning, because it was allowed for the others to do it; but that priests should not take part because of all that time of their sanctification before the end of seven days, during which they were forbidden to leave the tabernacle.  Nevertheless, it would be fine to believe that it was forbidden for them to mourn the death because of their consecration by the Holy oil. (St. Augustine Questions on Lev)

10:9 shall not drink wine: At that time the priests could not drink wine because they were performing their ministry where intercession must be made for others. (St. Augustine Questions on Lev)  He did not forbid it absolutely, but only at the time of service.  First one, then another group, served in consecutive shifts of a determined number of days.  The apostle also enjoined that the priest be "sober" and the deacons "not given to much drinking (1 Tim 3:2,8)."  But in a letter to Timothy, bade him a little wine for his chronic infirmities (1 Tim 5:23).  Indeed, the priest must be perfect because entrusted with intercession for the people. (Theodoret of Cyrus)  For abstinence from wine withal has honorable badges of its own. (Tertullian)  According to the Apostle (Titus 1), there is a recklessness in wine, and wherever there is gluttony and drunkenness, there lust rules. (Alcuin Commentary on Titus)

10:14 separated: These two portions of the victim are designated under different names; but the other one could be called 'the separation', since one and the other were separated for the priest,  they both could also be called 'removal' or 'deletion', in Greek aphairema as to be given to the priest, they were cut off and removed for which they were offered.  It is not without reason, however, we read above the chest of taxation and shoulder removal: no portion of the shoulder indeed, was laid on the altar, while the grease of the chest was deposited there. (St. Augustine Questions on Lev)  The words "and your daughters" are not added here without reason: because among victims portions reserved for priests, is that some women could not eat, while the men had to feed on it.

10:16 To refuse to obey belongs to obstinacy, while a feigned repentance belongs to impenitence. (St. Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologica)

10:19 The priests pleased God in the ceremonies by their obedience and devotion, and by their faith in the reality foreshadowed; not by reason of the things considered in themselves. (St. Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologica)