Imamat 16:2

16:2 and the Lord said to Moses: “Tell Aaron your brother that he must not enter at any time into the holy place inside the veil-canopy ¹  in front of the atonement plate ²  that is on the ark so that he may not die, for I will appear in the cloud over the atonement plate.

Imamat 16:16

16:16 So ³  he is to make atonement for the holy place from the impurities of the Israelites and from their transgressions with regard to all their sins, ⁴  and thus he is to do for the Meeting Tent which resides with them in the midst of their impurities.

Imamat 20:3

20:3 I myself will set my face ⁵  against that man and cut him off from the midst of his people, ⁶  because he has given some of his children to Molech and thereby defiled my sanctuary and profaned my holy name. ⁷ 

[16:2]  ¹ tn Heb “into the holy place from house to the veil-canopy.” In this instance, the Hebrew term “the holy place” refers to “the most holy place” (lit. “holy of holies”), since it is the area “inside the veil-canopy” (cf. Exod 26:33-34). The Hebrew term פָּרֹכֶת (parokhet) is usually translated “veil” or “curtain,” but it seems to have stretched not only in front of but also over the top of the ark of the covenant which stood behind and under it inside the most holy place, and thus formed more of a canopy than simply a curtain (see R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 3:687-89).

[16:2]  ² tn Heb “to the faces of the atonement plate.” The exact meaning of the Hebrew term כַּפֹּרֶת (kapporet) here rendered “atonement plate” is much debated. The traditional “mercy seat” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV) does not suit the cognate relationship between this term and the Piel verb כִּפֶּר (kipper, “to make atonement, to make expiation”). The translation of the word should also reflect the fact that the most important atonement procedures on the Day of Atonement were performed in relation to it. Since the Lord would “appear in the cloud over the atonement plate,” and since it was so closely associated with the ark of the covenant (the ark being his “footstool”; cf. 1 Chr 28:2 and Ps 132:7-8), one could take it to be the place of his throne at which he accepts atonement. See J. Milgrom, Leviticus (AB), 1:1014; J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (WBC), 234-35; and R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:691, 699. Cf. NIV “the atonement cover”; NCV “the lid on the Ark”; NLT “the Ark’s cover – the place of atonement.”

[16:16]  ³ tn Heb “And.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative or even inferential force here.

[16:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “to all their sins.”

[20:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “And I, I shall give my faces.”

[20:3]  ⁶ sn On the “cut off” penalty see the notes on Lev 7:20 and 17:4.

[20:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “for the sake of defiling my sanctuary and to profane my holy name.”