Discovery BoxNumbers 16:37-38 
Context16:37 “Tell 1 Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to pick up 2 the censers out of the flame, for they are holy, and then scatter the coals of fire 3 at a distance. 16:38 As for the censers of these men who sinned at the cost of their lives, 4 they must be made 5 into hammered sheets for covering the altar, because they presented them before the Lord and sanctified them. They will become a sign to the Israelites.”
1 tn Heb “say to.”
2 tn The verb is the jussive with a vav (ו) coming after the imperative; it may be subordinated to form a purpose clause (“that he may pick up”) or the object of the imperative.
3 tn The Hebrew text just has “fire,” but it would be hard to conceive of this action apart from the idea of coals of fire.
4 tn The expression is “in/by/against their life.” That they sinned against their life means that they brought ruin to themselves.
5 tn The form is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive. But there is no expressed subject for “and they shall make them,” and so it may be treated as a passive (“they shall [must] be made”).
