8:12 When17 the Levites lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, offer18 the one for a purification offering and the other for a whole burnt offering to the Lord,19 to make atonement for the Levites.
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.
18
tn The imperative is from the verb “to do; to make,” but in the sentence it clearly means to sacrifice the animals.
19
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.