Kappōret identifies the gold cover associated with the ark, rendered mercy seat in the selected BSB passages. Exodus 25 specifies its construction and position, with cherubim above it and the Testimony placed inside the ark.
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Full entry for כַּפֹּרֶת (H3727) · Open the biblical lexicon
Kappōret identifies the gold cover associated with the ark, rendered mercy seat in the selected BSB passages. Exodus 25 specifies its construction and position, with cherubim above it and the Testimony placed inside the ark.
The BSB source-word alignment has 27 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include the mercy seat (15), of the mercy seat (4), a mercy seat (2), - (1), and mercy seat (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Exodus 25:17. Its strongest book concentrations include Exodus (18), Leviticus (7), 1 Chronicles (1), Numbers (1).
Kappōret identifies the gold cover associated with the ark, rendered mercy seat in the selected BSB passages. Exodus 25 specifies its construction and position, with cherubim above it and the Testimony placed inside the ark. The Lord appoints this location for meeting with Moses and speaking His commands concerning Israel. The noun therefore names a particular sanctuary object, not a general emotional state of mercy.
Leviticus 16 sets access within serious restrictions and prescribed atonement rites. Incense covers the mercy seat, and blood is applied there and before it for the sanctuary's cleansing from Israel's impurities and sins. Christian teaching may follow Hebrews 9 in relating the sanctuary arrangement to Christ's work, but that connection must come from the argument of Hebrews. The Hebrew noun by itself does not encode every later account of atonement or authorize free access on terms different from those stated in its passage.
Construction, appointed speech and restricted atonement rites establish the cover's place in Israel's sanctuary. The selected passages distinguish a physical object, God's promised meeting there and the procedures governing the high priest's approach.
And you are to construct a mercy seat of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide.
The gold mercy seat is assigned exact dimensions within the ark instructions. Its material object identity should remain clear before discussing the theological significance of its location.
And I will meet with you there above the mercy seat, between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the Testimony; I will speak with you about all that I command you regarding the Israelites.
The Lord promises to meet Moses and speak commands above the cover between the cherubim. This appointed meeting does not make the object a device controlling God.
And the Lord said to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron not to enter freely into the Most Holy Place behind the veil in front of the mercy seat on the ark, or else he will die, because I appear in the cloud above the mercy seat.
Aaron is forbidden to enter freely before the mercy seat. The warning introduces the prescribed approach and resists making the word mercy imply unrestricted sanctuary access.
Aaron shall then slaughter the goat for the sin offering for the people and bring its blood behind the veil, and with its blood he must do as he did with the bull’s blood: He is to sprinkle it against the mercy seat and in front of it.
The goat's blood is brought behind the veil and applied against and before the mercy seat. The next verse explains the atonement in relation to Israel's impurities and sins.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. The mercy seat where God's presence dwells and atonement is enacted through blood sprinkled on the lid
The mercy seat where God's presence dwells and atonement is enacted through blood sprinkled on the lid
a lid (used only of the cover of the sacred Ark) BDB: propitiatory Usage: mercy seat.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 27 lexical occurrence verses.
כַּפֹּרֶת is built from this root:
Exodus 25 and Leviticus 16 answer different questions about the same sanctuary object. Exodus gives dimensions, cherubim and the promise of God's speech to Moses. Leviticus addresses the danger of an unappointed approach and sets out the high priest's rites, including blood for atonement concerning Israel's impurities and sins. The cover cannot be explained responsibly by choosing either its material design or its role in worship and ignoring the other.
Hebrews 9 names the mercy seat within its account of the first covenant sanctuary, then contrasts repeated restricted service with Christ's entrance by His own blood and the redemption He secures. That is a textually supplied Christian connection. It does not require a teacher to find a prediction in each dimension or assign a symbolic meaning to every architectural detail. The discussion should follow the named passage's contrasts and keep the Hebrew object's identity distinct from the full theological argument concerning Christ.
Exod.25.22
The noun identifies the ark's particular cover in these passages. Mercy seat is a translation convention rather than proof that the object is a chair; object identity and atonement function require the surrounding instructions.
Hebrews 9:5 explicitly mentions the mercy seat within the sanctuary description, while verses 6-12 contrast priestly access with Christ's entrance by His own blood. Romans 3:21-26 also presents God's provision through Christ, but this study does not settle every interpretation of its atonement expression by substituting a Hebrew dictionary gloss.