25:17 make a mercy seat. The mercy seat was a “seat” only in the sense that it was, in effect, God’s throne when He would meet with His people. It served as a covering for the ark and also was where the sacrificial blood was sprinkled on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:14, 15). In the New Testament, the word for “mercyseat” (Hebrews 9:5) is the same word translated “propitiation” (I John 2:2; 4:10).