Leviticus 16:12

16:12 and take a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the Lord ¹  and a full double handful of finely ground fragrant incense, ²  and bring them inside the veil-canopy. ³ 

Leviticus 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 ⁴  in front of the atonement plate ⁵  that is on the ark so that he may not die, for I will appear in the cloud over the atonement plate.

Leviticus 4:21-22

4:21 He ⁶  must bring the rest of the bull outside the camp ⁷  and burn it just as he burned the first bull – it is the sin offering of the assembly.

For the Leader

4:22 “‘Whenever ⁸  a leader, by straying unintentionally, ⁹  sins and violates one of the commandments of the Lord his God which must not be violated, ¹⁰  and he pleads guilty,

¹ tn Heb “and he shall take the fullness of the censer, coals of fire, from on the altar from to the faces of the Lord.”

² tn Heb “and the fullness of the hollow of his two hands, finely ground fragrant incense.”

³ tn Heb “and he shall bring from house to the veil-canopy.”

⁴ 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).

⁵ 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.”

⁶ sn See the note on the word “slaughter” in v. 15.

⁷ tn Heb “And he shall bring out the bull to from outside to the camp.”

⁸ tn This section begins with the relative pronoun אֲשֶׁר (’asher) which usually means “who” or “which,” but here means “whenever.”

⁹ tn See the Lev 4:2 note on “straying.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “and does one from all the commandments of the Lord his God which must not be done”; cf. NRSV “ought not to be done”; NIV “does what is forbidden in any of the commands.”