Text -- Numbers 8:12 (NET)

8:12 When the Levites lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, offer the one for a purification offering and the other for a whole burnt offering to the Lord, to make atonement for the Levites.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Num 8:12

¹ tn The clause begins with a vav (ו) on the noun “the Levites,” indicating a disjunctive clause. Here it is clearly a subordinate clause prior to the instruction for Moses, and so translated as a circumstantial clause of time.

² tn The imperative is from the verb “to do; to make,” but in the sentence it clearly means to sacrifice the animals.

³ sn The “purification offering” cleansed the tabernacle from impurity, and the burnt offering atoned by nullifying and removing the effects of sin in the Levites.