Discovery BoxNumbers 8:8 
Context8:8 Then they are to take a young bull with its grain offering of fine flour mixed with olive oil; and you are to take a second young bull for a purification offering. 1
Numbers 8:12
Context8:12 When 2 the Levites lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, offer 3 the one for a purification offering and the other for a whole burnt offering to the Lord, 4 to make atonement for the Levites.
1 sn The first sacrifice was for the purification of the Levites. The second animal, which Moses was to take, would be used for the purification of the tabernacle from all pollution.
2 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.
3 tn The imperative is from the verb “to do; to make,” but in the sentence it clearly means to sacrifice the animals.
4 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.
