Exodus 30:10

30:10 Aaron is to make atonement on its horns once in the year with some of the blood of the sin offering for atonement; 1  once in the year 2  he is to make atonement on it throughout your generations. It is most holy to the Lord.” 3 

Exodus 25:18-19

25:18 You are to make two cherubim 4  of gold; you are to make them of hammered metal on the two ends of the atonement lid. 25:19 Make 5  one cherub on one end 6  and one cherub on the other end; from the atonement lid 7  you are to make the cherubim on the two ends.

Exodus 25:21

25:21 You are to put the atonement lid on top of the ark, and in the ark you are to put the testimony I am giving you.

Exodus 31:7

31:7 the tent of meeting, the ark of the testimony, the atonement lid that is on it, all the furnishings 8  of the tent,

Exodus 37:6

37:6 He made 9  an atonement lid of pure gold; its length was three feet nine inches, and its width was two feet three inches.

Exodus 37:8

37:8 one cherub on one end 10  and one cherub on the other end. 11  He made the cherubim from the atonement lid on its two ends.

Exodus 40:20

40:20 He took the testimony and put it in the ark, attached the poles to the ark, and then put the atonement lid on the ark.

1 tn The word “atonements” (plural in Hebrew) is a genitive showing the result or product of the sacrifice made.

2 sn This ruling presupposes that the instruction for the Day of Atonement has been given, or at the very least, is to be given shortly. That is the one day of the year that all sin and all ritual impurity would be removed.

3 sn The phrase “most holy to the Lord” means that the altar cannot be used for any other purpose than what is stated here.

4 tn The evidence suggests that the cherubim were composite angelic creatures that always indicated the nearness of God. So here images of them were to be crafted and put on each end of the ark of the covenant to signify that they were there. Ezekiel 1 describes four cherubim as each having human faces, four wings, and parts of different animals for their bodies. Traditions of them appear in the other cultures as well. They serve to guard the holy places and to bear the throne of God. Here they were to be beaten out as part of the lid.

5 tn The text now shifts to use an imperative with the vav (ו) conjunction.

6 tn The use of זֶה (zeh) repeated here expresses the reciprocal ideas of “the one” and “the other” (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 26, §132).

7 sn The angels were to form one piece with the lid and not be separated. This could be translated “of one piece with” the lid, but it is likely the angels were simply fastened to it permanently.

8 tn Heb “all the vessels of the tent.”

9 tn Heb “and he made.”

10 tn Heb “from/at [the] end, from this.”

11 tn The repetition of the expression indicates it has the distributive sense.