hilastērion

Semantic range

1. 1the golden lid of the ark of the covenant (Hebrews 9:5, Septuagint of Exodus 25)
2. 2a propitiatory offering
3. 3the means by which wrath is turned away or sin is covered

In the Septuagint hilastērion is the standard rendering of kappōret, the mercy seat — the lid on which the high priest sprinkled blood on the Day of Atonement. So when Paul writes that God set forth Christ as a hilastērion (Romans 3:25), the primary reference is almost certainly not to an abstract propitiation but to the furniture: Christ is the place where the blood is applied and God meets His people.

Translators divide over propitiation (turning away wrath) versus expiation (removing sin). The Hebrew background suggests the argument is too narrow — kāphar covers both. What the imagery insists on is location: atonement happens somewhere, at a specific mercy seat, through blood actually shed. Alma 34:8–14 makes the same insistence in different words.

See also

• כָּפַרkāphar
• ἀπολύτρωσιςapolytrōsis
• διαθήκηdiathēkē