Then set it empty upon the coals thereof, that the brass of it may be hot, and may burn, and that the filthiness of it may be molten in it, that the scum of it may be consumed.
Set it empty upon the coals thereof, that the brass of it may be hot, and may burn, and that the filthiness of it may be molten in it, that the scum of it may be consumed. Even the consumption of the contents is not enough; the caldron itself, which is infected by the poisonous scum, must be destroyed - i:e., the city itself must be destroyed, not merely the inhabitants, just as the very house infected with leprosy was to be destroyed (Leviticus 14:34-45).