Texts in Conversation
In Leviticus 16, the death of Aaron’s sons is mentioned without explaining the cause. The Greek Septuagint adds that they brought strange fire, echoing details from Leviticus 10, likely to harmonize the narrative and remove any ambiguity.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Leviticus 16:1
Hebrew Bible
1 The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of Aaron’s two sons when they approached the presence of the Lord and died, 2 and the Lord said to Moses: “Tell Aaron your brother that he must not enter at any time into the Holy Place inside the special curtain in front of the atonement lid that is on the ark so that he may not die, for I will appear in the cloud over the atonement lid. 3 “In this way Aaron is to enter into the sanctuary—with a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.
Date: 750–400 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
LXX Leviticus 16:1
Septuagint
1 And the Lord spoke to Moses after the two sons of Aaron died in bringing strange fire before the Lord, so they died. 2 And the Lord said to Moses, Speak to Aaron your brother, and let him not come in at all times into the holy place within the veil before the propitiatory, which is upon the ark of the testimony, and he shall not die; for I will appear in a cloud on the propitiatory. 3 Thus shall Aaron enter into the holy place; with a calf of the herd for a sin-offering, and having a ram for a whole burnt offering.
Date: 300–201 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... At 16:1 Greek Leviticus would perhaps seem to act as an exegete. For בקָרְבָתָם לפני יהוה (“when they drew near before the Lord”) Greek Leviticus has ἐν τῷ προσάγειν αὐτοὺς πῦρ ἀλλότριον ἔναντι κυρίου (= בהקריבם אש זרה לפני יהוה, “in their bringing strange fire before the Lord”; compare with Leviticus 10:1-2) ..."
Moshe A. Zipor, “The Nature of the Septuagint Version of the Book of Leviticus,” in The Text of Leviticus: Proceedings of the Third International Colloquium of the Dominique Barthélemy Institute, ed. Innocent Himbaza (Leuven: Peeters, 2020), 121–132.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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