Bible Strands
1 Chronicles 24:2
But Nadab and Abihu died before their father did, and they had no sons; so Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The chronicler records this administrative detail during David’s reorganization of the priestly divisions, immediately after listing Aaron’s four sons. The words — The phrase לִפְנֵ֣י (li/f.Nei) = before and אֲבִיהֶ֔ם ('a.vi./Hem) = their father specifies that Nadab and Abihu’s deaths occurred prior to Aaron’s. The thread — The premature deaths of these two sons appear in Leviticus 10:2, Numbers 3:4, and Numbers 26:61, where the text records their demise and notes they left no sons. Why it lands — The verse requires the reader to recognize that priestly succession passed to Eleazar and Ithamar solely because Nadab and Abihu died without male heirs, establishing the structural basis for David’s subsequent division of service.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
But Nadab and Abihu died before their father, and had no children: therefore Eleazar and Ithamar executed the priest’s office.
Cross-references
- Leviticus 10:2 So fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died in the presence of the LORD.
- Numbers 3:4 Nadab and Abihu, however, died in the presence of the LORD when they offered unauthorized fire before the LORD in the Wilderness of Sinai. And since they had no sons, only Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests during the lifetime of their father Aaron.
- Numbers 26:61 but Nadab and Abihu died when they offered unauthorized fire before the LORD.
- Exodus 24:1 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Come up to the LORD—you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of Israel’s elders—and you are to worship at a distance.
- Exodus 24:9 Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel,
- Exodus 29:9 Wrap the sashes around Aaron and his sons and tie headbands on them. The priesthood shall be theirs by a permanent statute. In this way you are to ordain Aaron and his sons.
- Leviticus 10:12 And Moses said to Aaron and his remaining sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, “Take the grain offering that remains from the food offerings to the LORD and eat it without leaven beside the altar, because it is most holy.
- Numbers 16:39 So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers brought by those who had been burned up, and he had them hammered out to overlay the altar,
- Numbers 18:7 But only you and your sons shall attend to your priesthood for everything concerning the altar and what is inside the veil, and you are to perform that service. I am giving you the work of the priesthood as a gift, but any outsider who comes near the sanctuary must be put to death.”