diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/jruby/ir/IRBuilder.java b/core/src/main/java/org/jruby/ir/IRBuilder.java
index 70fc9e1dd81..33e783f56a5 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/jruby/ir/IRBuilder.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/jruby/ir/IRBuilder.java
@@ -782,7 +782,7 @@ public Operand buildAnd(final AndNode andNode) {
     public Operand buildArray(Node node) {
         List<Operand> elts = new ArrayList<>();
         for (Node e: node.childNodes())
-            elts.add(build(e));
+            elts.add(copyAndReturnValue(build(e)));
 
         return copyAndReturnValue(new Array(elts));
     }