כִּפֻּרִים
kip.pur
atonement
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# Kippurim (כִּפֻּרִים): Atonement in Hebrew Scripture The Hebrew word *kippurim* appears eight times in the biblical text and carries the fundamental meaning of "atonement." This term represents a central concept in ancient Israelite religious practice, denoting the process or act of making amends or reconciliation, particularly in relation to sin and divine displeasure. The word's relatively limited occurrence—just eight instances—suggests it functioned as a specialized religious term rather than everyday vocabulary, reserved for formal theological and liturgical contexts. The term's presence across multiple biblical passages indicates its importance to the religious framework of ancient Israel, where atonement served as a mechanism for restoring broken relationships between the community (or individuals) and God. The consistent translation as "atonement" across all occurrences points to a unified concept rather than a word with multiple distinct meanings, making it a stable and recognizable element of Hebrew religious discourse. The scarcity of occurrences combined with the term's theological significance suggests that *kippurim* represented a formal, recognized institution within Israelite religious life. Its appearance likely concentrated in texts dealing with ritual practice, priestly duties, or statements about sin and divine forgiveness, though the specific contexts cannot be determined from the lexical data alone.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
8 total occurrences across the text
Every day you shall offer the bull of sin offering for atonement. You shall cleanse the altar when you make atonement for it. You shall anoint it, to sanctify it.
Exodus 30:10Aaron shall make atonement on its horns once in the year; with the blood of the sin offering of atonement once in the year he shall make atonement for it throughout your generations. It is most holy to Yahweh.”
Exodus 30:16You shall take the atonement money from the children of Israel, and shall appoint it for the service of the Tent of Meeting; that it may be a memorial for the children of Israel before Yahweh, to make atonement for your souls.”
Leviticus 23:27“However on the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement. It shall be a holy convocation to you. You shall afflict yourselves and you shall offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh.
Leviticus 23:28You shall do no kind of work in that same day, for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement for you before Yahweh your God.
Leviticus 25:9Then you shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land.
Numbers 5:8But if the man has no kinsman to whom restitution may be made for the guilt, the restitution for guilt which is made to Yahweh shall be the priest’s, in addition to the ram of the atonement, by which atonement shall be made for him.
Numbers 29:11one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the sin offering of atonement, and the continual burnt offering, and its meal offering, and their drink offerings.