What Does Numbers 26:61 Mean in the King James?

And Nadab and Abihu died, when they offered strange fire before the LORD.

Numbers 26:61 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

What is brought near can still be foreign to the one it is brought before.

THE MEANING

The verse speaks now with an unsettling boundary: being brought before the LORD does not make something belong there. It holds the consequence plainly, Nadab and Abihu die while bringing fire the text calls foreign.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that calling an act an offering is enough to make it acceptable to God.

THE ROOT

בְּהַקְרִיבָם

bəhaqrīvām

GROWS FROM

קרב

q-r-b

to approach, draw near, or bring near

The verb translated “offered” is built from the word for drawing near: they bring the fire close. The same root names a korban, an offering as a drawing near, so the verse’s tension lies in what is brought into that closeness.

ALSO GROWS

qorbān: offering; something brought near

קָרְבָּן

This branch makes the act of offering itself an act of approach, sharpening the force of “before the LORD.”

qārōb: near, close

קָרוֹב

The same root behind “offered” also names nearness, linking the action to the closeness it creates.

זָרָה

zārāh

GROWS FROM

זור

z-w-r

to be foreign or outside; to turn aside

“strange” in this verse is zārāh. The adjective marks the fire as foreign or outside, not merely unusual. Alongside q-r-b, it creates a sharp tension: they bring near what remains alien to the encounter.

ALSO GROWS

zār: a stranger, outsider, or foreign person

זָר

This related word shows that “strange” carries the sense of being outside a relationship or place, not just unfamiliar.

zûr: to be a stranger or turn aside

זוּר

This verbal branch gives the root a movement into foreignness, illuminating the fire’s place outside the encounter.

THE PATTERN

Approach to God has a shape and boundaries given by God; presenting something as worship does not make it fitting.

Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering; neither shall ye pour drink offering thereon.

Exodus 30:9 · KJVThe verse sets a clear boundary around what may be brought to the altar, showing that proximity alone does not make an offering fitting.

For because ye did it not at the first, the LORD our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not after the due order.

1 Chronicles 15:13 · KJVThe breach is tied to seeking the LORD outside the due order, echoing the boundary carried by the strange fire.

Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:

Hebrews 12:28 · KJVService before God is described as needing reverence and godly fear, giving approach a fitting shape.

THE THREAD

Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the LORD spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace.

Leviticus 10:3 · KJV

The Hebrew behind “offered” in Numbers comes from q-r-b, “draw near”; Leviticus uses the same root in “come nigh me.” That shared root brings the tension into focus: the fire is brought near, and nearness itself stands at stake.

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