Make an atonement cover of pure gold — two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. The mercy seat — kapporeth in Hebrew, the atonement cover — is the lid of the ark. The same dimensions as the ark's top surface: 2.5 by 1.5 cubits. The Hebrew root kpr means to cover, to atone, to make propitiation. The same root gives us Yom Kippur — the Day of Atonement — when the high priest entered the Most Holy Place and sprinkled blood on this cover. Romans 3:25 uses the Greek word hilasterion — the exact word used to translate kapporeth in the Septuagint — to describe what Christ became through His blood. The mercy seat of the tabernacle is the specific piece of furniture that Paul points to when explaining Christ's atoning work.

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