He constructed a mercy seat of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide.
Parallel translations
- WEB He made a mercy seat of pure gold. Its length was two and a half cubits, and a cubit and a half its width.
- KJV 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.
- NKJV He also made the mercy seat of pure gold; two and a half cubits was its length and a cubit and a half its width.
- NASB He also made an atoning cover of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and one and a half cubits wide.
- NLT Then he made the Ark’s cover—the place of atonement—from pure gold. It was 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 made as the cover of the ark. It was the place where atonement was made and God met His people.
Overview
The 'mercy seat' (atonement cover) was sprinkled with blood on the Day of Atonement and was the very place of God's presence between the cherubim. The New Testament calls Christ our 'propitiation' (the same idea, Romans 3:25), making Him the true mercy seat where God's justice and mercy meet. The dimensions follow Exodus 25:17.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Heb 9:5Above the ark were the cherubim of glory, overshadowing the mercy seat. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.
- 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.
- Gal 4:4But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
- Titus 2:14He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.
- 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.
- Exod 25:17–22And you are to construct a mercy seat of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide.
- 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.
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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 37:6 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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