What Does Leviticus 16:14 Mean?
He takes some of the blood of the bullock and sprinkles it with his finger upon the covering eastward, and before the covering he sprinkles some of the blood with his finger seven times.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward; and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times.THE KEY
The Hebrew calls the “mercy seat” a covering: one application marks its surface, then seven mark the space before it.
THE MEANING
The scene speaks of a covering approached through a precise act: the bull’s blood touches it once, then the space before it seven times. The repeated placement makes the covering and the approach to it one ritual movement.
THE ROOT
כַּפֹּרֶת
kappōret
GROWS FROM
כפר
Cover, cover over.
The Hebrew word translated “mercy seat” names a covering. The verse places blood on that covering and then seven times before it, giving the act of covering a precise location and repeated form.
ALSO GROWS
kippurim: Atonements; acts of covering.
כִּפֻּרִים
This word for atonements shares the root, joining the ritual’s covering with the act named by the rite.
kopher: Ransom; covering price.
כֹּפֶר
This branch carries the root from a physical cover to a price that covers a liability, showing how the root can name both covering and its cost.
THE PATTERN
Scripture brings blood to the place where covering and release from wrongdoing are enacted.
For the living soul of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make a covering for your living souls, for it is the blood that covers the living soul.And nearly all things are cleansed in blood according to the instruction, and without the pouring out of blood, no release comes.Whom God set forth as a covering through trust in his blood, to show his alignment through the passing over of the missed marks that came before, in the holding back of God.THE THREAD
Whom God set forth as a covering through trust in his blood, to show his alignment through the passing over of the missed marks that came before, in the holding back of God.The Greek noun ἱλαστήριον (hilastērion, “mercy seat” or “atonement cover”) names the Hebrew כַּפֹּרֶת (kappōret, “covering”) in the Greek Torah and is rendered “propitiation” here. The shared word ties this verse’s blood-marked covering to Romans’ language of blood and release.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us