Greek word · G1943
ἐπικαλύπτω
epikalyptō
to cover
To cover over or put a covering on. In the LXX Psalm it translates Hebrew kasah, 'to cover, conceal'. When God is the one covering a sin, Hebrew idiom means he forgives it: he no longer looks at it or holds it against the person.
Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
ἐπι-καλύπτω
[in LXX for כָּסָה, etc. ;]
to cover over, cover up: metaphorically, Romans 4:7 (LXX).†
(AS)
From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).
In depth
- Range of meaning
To cover over or put a covering on. In the LXX Psalm it translates Hebrew kasah, 'to cover, conceal'. When God is the one covering a sin, Hebrew idiom means he forgives it: he no longer looks at it or holds it against the person.
- Against the English
Nearly every version has 'covered'. NLT has 'put out of sight', which brings out the idiom. The English word is accurate. It misleads only when a theory is attached to it, namely that 'covered' means 'still present underneath'.
- How it drifted
Some popular teaching treats 'covering' as a lesser, temporary dealing with sin, often by confusing kasah with kipper (the 'atonement' verb) and contrasting the two with Christ's 'taking away' of sin. That contrast does not come from this psalm or from Paul's use of it.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Ps 85:2 (Hebrew 85:3): 'You lifted (nasa') the iniquity of your people; you covered (kasah) all their sin.' The two verbs are parallel there too. Neh 4:5 (Hebrew 3:37) and Ps 78:38 (with kipper) use 'do not cover their sin' or 'he covered' to mean refusing to forgive or forgiving. Prov 28:13 contrasts a person who covers (conceals) his own sins, who will not prosper, with God's covering, which brings release.
Similar words
Where it appears
Romans · 1
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Romans 4:7 ἐπεκαλύφθησαν are covered
“Blessed are they whose lawless acts are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
Here: 'Were covered over.' This is the only place the word appears in the New Testament. God puts the sins out of his own sight, so they no longer stand between him and the person. Like the verb in the first half, it is passive with God understood as the one acting, and it describes a finished act.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.