Exodus 25:17
New International Version
“Make an atonement cover of pure gold—two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide.

New Living Translation
“Then make the Ark’s cover—the place of atonement—from pure gold. It must be 45 inches long and 27 inches wide.

English Standard Version
“You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold. Two cubits and a half shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth.

Berean Standard Bible
And you are to construct a mercy seat of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide.

King James Bible
And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof.

New King James Version
“You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold; two and a half cubits shall be its length and a cubit and a half its width.

New American Standard Bible
“And you shall make an atoning cover of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and one and a half cubits wide.

NASB 1995
“You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and one and a half cubits wide.

NASB 1977
“And you shall make a mercy seat of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and one and a half cubits wide.

Legacy Standard Bible
“You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and one and a half cubits wide.

Amplified Bible
“You shall make a mercy seat (cover) of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and one and a half cubits wide.

Christian Standard Bible
Make a mercy seat of pure gold, forty-five inches long and twenty-seven inches wide.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Make a mercy seat of pure gold, 45 inches long and 27 inches wide.

American Standard Version
And thou shalt make a mercy-seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And make the Mercy Seat of pure gold, two cubits and a half its length and a cubit and a half its width.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And thou shalt make a propitiatory, a lid of pure gold; the length of two cubits and a half, and the breadth of a cubit and a half.

Contemporary English Version
Make the lid of the chest out of pure gold.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Thou shalt make also a propitiatory of the purest gold: the length thereof shall be two cubits and a half, and the breadth a cubit and a half.

English Revised Version
And thou shalt make a mercy-seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
"Make a throne of mercy to cover the ark out of pure gold 45 inches long and 27 inches wide.

Good News Translation
"Make a lid of pure gold, 45 inches long and 27 inches wide.

International Standard Version
"You are to make a Mercy Seat of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and one and a half cubits wide.

JPS Tanakh 1917
And thou shalt make an ark-cover of pure gold: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof.

Literal Standard Version
And you have made a propitiatory covering of pure gold, two cubits and a half its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth;

Majority Standard Bible
And you are to construct a mercy seat of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide.

New American Bible
You shall then make a cover of pure gold, two and a half cubits long, and one and a half cubits wide.

NET Bible
"You are to make an atonement lid of pure gold; its length is to be three feet nine inches, and its width is to be two feet three inches.

New Revised Standard Version
Then you shall make a mercy seat of pure gold; two cubits and a half shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its width.

New Heart English Bible
You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold. Three feet eight inches shall be its length, and two feet three inches its breadth.

Webster's Bible Translation
And thou shalt make a mercy-seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth.

World English Bible
You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold. Two and a half cubits shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its width.

Young's Literal Translation
'And thou hast made a mercy-seat of pure gold, two cubits and a half its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth;

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Mercy Seat
17And you are to construct a mercy seat of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. 18Make two cherubim of hammered gold at the ends of the mercy seat,…

Cross References
Hebrews 9:5
Above the ark were the cherubim of glory, overshadowing the mercy seat. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.

Exodus 25:18
Make two cherubim of hammered gold at the ends of the mercy seat,

Exodus 37:6
He constructed a mercy seat of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide.

1 Chronicles 28:11
Then David gave his son Solomon the plans for the portico of the temple, its buildings, storehouses, upper rooms, inner rooms, and the room for the mercy seat.

Ezekiel 28:14
You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for I had ordained you. You were on the holy mountain of God; you walked among the fiery stones.


Treasury of Scripture

And you shall make a mercy seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof.

mercy seat

Exodus 26:34
And thou shalt put the mercy seat upon the ark of the testimony in the most holy place.

Exodus 37:6
And he made the mercy seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half was the length thereof, and one cubit and a half the breadth thereof.

Exodus 40:20
And he took and put the testimony into the ark, and set the staves on the ark, and put the mercy seat above upon the ark:

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Ark-Cover Atonement Best Breadth Cover Cubit Cubits Gold Half Length Mercy Mercy-Seat Pure Seat Thereof Wide
Exodus 25
1. What the Israelites were to offer for the building of the tabernacle
10. The dimensions of the ark
17. The mercy seat, with the cherubim
23. The table of show bread, with the furniture thereof
31. The golden candlestick, with the instruments thereof














THE MERCY SEAT.

(17) A mercy seat.--Those critics to whom the idea of expiation is unsatisfactory, as Knobel and Gesenius, render kapporeth, the word here used, by "lid" or "cover." Kaphar, it may be Admitted, has the physical meaning of "to cover" (Genesis 6:14); but kipper, the Piel form of the same verb, has never any other meaning than that of "covering," or "expiating sins." And kapporeth is not formed from kaphar, but from kipper. Hence the ?????????? of the LXX., the propitiatorium of the Vulg., and the "mercy seat" of the Authorised Version are correct translations. (Comp. 1Chronicles 28:11, where the Holy of Holies is called beyth-hak-kapporeth, which is certainly not" the house of the cover,' but "the house of expiation.")

Of pure gold.--Not of shittim wood, overlaid with a plating of gold, but a solid mass of the pure metal. It has been calculated that the weight would be 750 lbs. Troy, and the value above 25,000 of our money. It was intended to show by this lavish outlay, that the "mercy seat" was that object in which the accessories of worship culminated, the crowning glory of the material tabernacle.

Verse 17. - Thou shalt make a mercy seat. Modern exegesis has endeavoured to empty the word kapporeth of its true meaning, witnessed to by the Septuagint, as well as by the Epistle to the Hebrews (Hebrews 9:5). It tells us that a kapporeth is simply a cover, "being derived from kaphar, to cover," - used in Genesis 5:14, with respect to covering the ark with pitch. But the truth is that kapporeth is not derived from kaphar, but from kipper, the Piel form of the same verb, which has never any other sense than that of covering, or forgiving sins. In this sense it is used in the Old Testament some seventy times. Whether the mercy seat was the real cover of the ark of the covenant, or whether that had its own lid of acacia wood, as Kalisch supposes, is uncertain. At any rate, it was not called kipporeth because it was a cover, but because it was a seat of propitiation. On the importance of the mercy seat, as in some sort transcending the ark itself, see Leviticus 16:2, and 1 Chronicles 28:11. Atonement was made by sprinkling the blood of expiation upon it (Leviticus 16:14, 15). Of pure gold, Not of wood, plated with metal, or richly gilt, but of solid gold - an oblong slab, three feet nine inches long, two feet three inches wide, and probably not less than an inch thick. The weight of such a slab would be above 750 lbs. troy, and its value above 25,000l. of our money. The length and breadth were exactly those of the ark itself, which the mercy seat thus exactly covered (ver. 10).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
And you are to make
וְעָשִׂ֥יתָ (wə·‘ā·śî·ṯā)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - second person masculine singular
Strong's 6213: To do, make

a mercy seat
כַפֹּ֖רֶת (ḵap·pō·reṯ)
Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 3727: Propitiatory

of pure
טָה֑וֹר (ṭā·hō·wr)
Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 2889: Clean, pure

gold,
זָהָ֣ב (zā·hāḇ)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 2091: Gold, something gold-colored, as oil, a clear sky

two
אַמָּתַ֤יִם (’am·mā·ṯa·yim)
Noun - fd
Strong's 520: A mother, a cubit, a door-base

and a half cubits
וָחֵ֙צִי֙ (wā·ḥê·ṣî)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 2677: The half, middle

long
אָרְכָּ֔הּ (’ā·rə·kāh)
Noun - masculine singular construct | third person feminine singular
Strong's 753: Length

and a cubit
וְאַמָּ֥ה (wə·’am·māh)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 520: A mother, a cubit, a door-base

and a half
וָחֵ֖צִי (wā·ḥê·ṣî)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 2677: The half, middle

wide.
רָחְבָּֽהּ׃ (rā·ḥə·bāh)
Noun - masculine singular construct | third person feminine singular
Strong's 7341: Breadth, width


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OT Law: Exodus 25:17 You shall make a mercy seat (Exo. Ex)
Exodus 25:16
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