The Levitical law states that if a man transgresses the law then "shall bear is greater than I can bear (Gen. In the English Bible we find some fifteen passages " where "forgive" is the translation of naga', and in each instance it implies that the sin is "taken away," as exemplified in Hosea 14:2, "Take away all iniquity." Naga' means "forgiveness" or "taking away sin" only because it implies that an "atonement" is made. Its use is illustrated from the story of Lot praying for Sodom, where God says to Lot, "See, I have accepted [nagal thee concerning this thing also" (Gen. It is interesting to notice that naga' is one of the Hebrew words used to represent acceptance. "The Lord God hath sworn by his holiness, that, lo, the days shall come upon you, that he will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks." "And Jacob rose up from Beer-sheba: and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, and their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him.Īmos 4:2. "For I lift up my hand unto heaven, and say, I live for ever."
The three basic ideas of naga' are illustrated by the following verses:ĭeut. Naga' and its derivatives appear in the Hebrew Bible about six hundred and fifty times.' The meaning of this verb is first "the lifting up secondly, the carrying and thirdly, the taking away of a burden." " Literally, he says to God, "Thou shalt not cover their iniquity." The intensive form of kaphar is used in this passage by the use of kaphar Jeremiah indicates that he has in mind God's atoning covering of sin. In this verse Jeremiah speaks against those who make devices against him as God's prophet. Yet, Lord, thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me: forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight, but let them be overthrown before thee deal thus with them in the time of thine anger.' The third passage where we find "forgive" given as the translation of kaphar is in the book of Jeremiah: It is literally said that God because of His compassion "covered their iniquity" or "made atonement for their iniquity." The seventy-eighth psalm describes God's wonders toward Israel both in Egypt and in the desert.
#HEBREW AND THEN THERE WAS LIGHT FULL#
" In the Psalms we find the second use of kaphar to express the idea "forgive."īut he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.' Literally, it is said to Israel, "The blood shall be covered " and the means of covering is that "the blood shall be atoned. When the first innocent blood was shed God said to Cain, "Thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground" (Gen. In the English Bible kaphar is used three times to express the idea "forgive."īe merciful, O Lord, unto thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, and lay not innocent blood unto thy people of Israel's charge. In nine places in the English Bible kaphar is translated "purge." Psalm '79:9 is an illustration of this: "Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: and deliver us, and purge away [kaphar} our sins, for thy name's sake." When the words "purge away" are given as the translation of kaphar, then it is suggested that the "making atonement" is strongly connected with "purging sins." The same is true in these few passages where kaphar is translated "be merciful," "put off," "be pacified," or "pardon."
In about eighty passages of the 154 instances in the Hebrew Old Testament, kaphar is translated "to atone" or "to make atonement." It is interesting to notice that the cover of the ark, the mercy seat, as it is described in Exodus 25 and Leviticus 16, is the noun kapporeth derived from kaphar. " As a noun kaphar is used to signify a place of shelter.Ī noun formed from it, answering to the modern Arabic Khephr, is sometimes used to signify a village as a place of shelter, e.g. Both the verb and the noun are used: "Make thee an ark of gopher wood rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. In Genesis 6:14 is given an example that closely expresses the original meaning. The Hebrew word kaphar and its derivatives appear in 154 passages in the Hebrew Bible.' The original meaning of this word is "to cover," "to cover over," or "to overspread." The words "forgive" and "forgiveness" in the Old Testament of the English Bible 1 are the translation of three Hebrew words, namely kaphar, nake and saletch.
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