Discovery BoxLeviticus 16:14 
Context16:14 Then he is to take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the eastern face of the atonement plate, 1 and in front of the atonement plate he is to sprinkle some of the blood seven times with his finger. 2
Leviticus 16:18-19
Context16:18 “Then 3 he is to go out to the altar which is before the Lord and make atonement for it. He is to take 4 some of the blood of the bull and some of the blood of the goat, and put it all around on the horns of the altar. 16:19 Then he is to sprinkle on it some of the blood with his finger seven times, and cleanse and consecrate it 5 from the impurities of the Israelites.
1 tn Heb “on the faces of the atonement plate toward the east.” Some have taken this to mean that the ark was stationed just behind the veil-canopy on the eastern side of the most holy place. Thus, the high priest would need to enter and walk toward the west end of the most holy place and then turn eastward in order to face the ark and sprinkle the blood in an eastward direction. The rendering here, however, requires that the ark was stationed on the western end, or perhaps in the middle of the area, so that as the priest entered he was already facing the ark and would sprinkle the blood on the eastern face of the atonement plate, in a westward direction (see, e.g., J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 239 versus J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:1032).
2 sn Presumably in this case the blood was sprinkled seven times on the ground in front of the ark on which the atonement plate was mounted.
3 tn Heb “And.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) indicates the sequence of events here.
4 tn Heb “And he shall take.”
5 tn Heb “and he shall purify it and he shall consecrate it.”
