Mercy seat

The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion states that "some translate simply 'cover'",[1] whilst others posit a different Hebrew[2] or foreign origin.

The high priest sprinkled the blood of a sacrificial bull onto the mercy seat as an atonement for the sins of the people of Israel.

[a][5][b] In the Hellenistic Jewish Septuagint the term was rendered hilastērion (ἱλαστήριον, "thing that atones"), following the secondary meaning of the Hebrew root verb "cover" (כָּפַר‎ kaphar) in pi'el and pu'al as "to cover sins," "to atone" found also in kippurim.

Hilastērion is relatively rare in classical Greek and appears largely in late writings to reference a sacrifice to appease the wrath of a deity.

The continual sacrifice for sin under the Mosaic covenant became obsolete following the once-for-all sacrificial death of Christ.