Tool Beta
Hebrew and Greek Without Learning Either
A walk through Genesis, the Psalms, and John, plus the key Hebrew and Greek words worth knowing. Each card is a place the English Bibles part company, and what in the Hebrew or Greek made them.
kipper
To atone. The root sense is disputed between covering and wiping clean.
Leviticus 16:30, in every translation this tool compares.
Wipe the slate. Cover the debt. Two pictures, two different theories of what happened to the debt.
Because the entire sacrificial vocabulary runs through this verb and its basic meaning is argued, which is worth knowing before anyone builds a theory of atonement on an etymology.
Versions read atone, make atonement, or make reconciliation.
כִּפֵּר kipper · H3722
Kipper may come from a root meaning to cover, on the Arabic cognate, or from one meaning to wipe or rub off, on the Akkadian. Both are argued. The noun kapporet is the cover of the ark, which English calls the mercy seat.
English atone was coined from at one and carries a reconciliation sense that neither Hebrew candidate supplies directly.
When the root of a technical term is genuinely disputed, say so and work from usage instead. Usage is always better evidence than etymology.
Atone and make atonement are the majority renderings across all versions.
- kapporet, the ark cover: Exodus 25:17
- Akkadian kuppuru, to wipe
- Arabic kafara, to cover; both cognates are argued
- Leviticus 16 throughout
