And you are to construct a mercy seat of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide.
Parallel translations
- WEB 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.
- KJV 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.
- NKJV “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.
- NASB “And you shall make an atoning cover of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and one and a half cubits wide.
- NLT “Then make the Ark’s cover—the place of atonement—from pure gold. It must be 45 inches long and 27 inches wide.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
A mercy seat of pure gold was to be made to fit atop the ark. This was the place of atonement where God would meet His people.
Overview
The mercy seat, or place of atonement, formed the lid of the ark and was the most sacred spot, where blood was sprinkled on the Day of Atonement. Its pure gold marked it as the throne of the holy God among His people. Here justice and mercy met, as the law inside was covered by the blood-sprinkled lid. The New Testament presents Christ as the true mercy seat, the propitiation through whom God and sinners are reconciled.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Heb 9:5Above the ark were the cherubim of glory, overshadowing the mercy seat. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.
- Exod 37:6He constructed a mercy seat of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide.
- Rom 3:25God presented Him as the atoning sacrifice through faith in His blood, in order to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance He had passed over the sins committed beforehand.
- Heb 4:16Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
- Exod 40:20Moses took the Testimony and placed it in the ark, attaching the poles to the ark; and he set the mercy seat atop the ark.
- Lev 16:12–15Then he must take a censer full of burning coals from the altar before the LORD, and two handfuls of finely ground fragrant incense, and take them inside the veil.
- 1 Chr 28:11Then 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.
- 1 Jn 2:2He Himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
- Exod 26:34Put the mercy seat on the ark of the Testimony in the Most Holy Place.
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Christ at the center
The Passover lamb whose blood turns away death, the exodus through the sea, the manna, the rock, and the tabernacle where God dwells with his people all foreshadow Jesus — our Passover, our redemption, the bread from heaven, and God-with-us in the flesh.
How Exodus 25:17 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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