English: the cover of the Ark of the Covenant; the place of atonement; the mercy seat; propitiation<\/p>\n\n\n\n
by Mark D. Taylor, NLT Bible Translation Committee<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Greek word hilaste\u0304rion<\/em> is used only twice in the New Testament, but it is an important theological term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament), hilaste\u0304rion<\/em> is used to describe the cover of the Ark of the Covenant. It was thus a technical term with which Jewish readers were familiar from the Septuagint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Hebrews 9:5, hilaste\u0304rion<\/em> is likewise used in a reference to the cover of the Ark of the Covenant. Here the KJV, ASV, RSV, NKJV, NRSV, and ESV render it \u201cmercy seat.\u201d The NASB uses \u201catoning cover.\u201d The NIV (1984) uses \u201cplace of atonement,\u201d and the NIV (2011) uses \u201catonement cover.\u201d The NLT uses a more expansive translation\u2014\u201cthe Ark\u2019s cover, the place of atonement.\u201d The full verse in the NLT reads: \u201cAbove the Ark were the cherubim of divine glory, whose wings stretched out over the Ark\u2019s cover, the place of atonement.<\/em> But we cannot explain these things in detail now.\u201d (emphasis added)<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Romans 3:25, Paul uses hilaste\u0304rion<\/em> not in the literal sense of the cover for the Ark of the Covenant but as a metaphor for atonement or appeasement. In this passage the term has traditionally been translated as \u201cpropitiation\u201d (for example, KJV, ASV, NASB, NKJV, ESV). According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the English term propitiation<\/em> was first used by John Wycliffe in 1388 in his translation of Leviticus 25:9, which describes the Day of Atonement, where the Ark\u2019s cover features prominently. Wycliffe created the word by anglicizing a Latin term meaning \u201cappeasement.\u201d Although Wycliffe used the term propitiation<\/em> in his translation of Leviticus, he translated hilaste\u0304rion<\/em> as \u201cforgiver\u201d in Romans 3:25. However, the KJV (1611) used \u201cpropitiation\u201d in Romans 3:25 based on what Wycliffe had done in Leviticus, and this was followed by the ASV, NASB, NKJV, and ESV. But what does \u201cpropitiation\u201d actually mean?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most Americans today have never heard this word, and for those who have, many would struggle to give it a meaning. For that reason, the NIV translates the Greek word hilaste\u0304rion<\/em> in Romans 3:25 as \u201csacrifice of atonement.\u201d In the NLT, Romans 3:25a reads, \u201cFor God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin<\/em>. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood.\u201d (emphasis added)<\/p>\n\n\n\n The rationale behind this translation choice in both the NIV and the NLT is that it is preferable in translation to use everyday language rather than an obscure term that is not understandable to the average reader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n May the words of Romans 3:25 be true for all of us\u2014that we may be made right with God by believing that Jesus sacrificed his life for us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Each month we will be led in a word study by a member of the Bible Translation Committee for the New Living Translation (NLT) or by a member of our Bible editorial team. We hope you will join us on this educational adventure. This month we are learning about: Greek: \u1f31\u03bb\u03b1\u03c3\u03c4\u03ae\u03c1\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd (hilaste\u0304rion) English: the cover […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14,44,45,236,55],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5946"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5946"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5946\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5972,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5946\/revisions\/5972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2021\/08\/NLT_WhyNLT_IG_Stories14-576x1024.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2020\/04\/Untitled-design-47-1024x1024.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n