Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu>]

I am afraid you get unnecessarily entangled in abstractly implied meanings of the act כפר KAPAR (related to חפר XAPAR). In my opinion the root KPR means 'soft, loose, relaxed', as is pitch, clay or sand.  

In Gen. 32:21 אכפרה פניו AKAPRAH PANAYW means means 'I will mitigate his anger, I will soften his hard look, I will appease him'. 

The meaning of Deut. 32:43, methinks, is similar: the earth that has absorbed into her the blood of the "servants" of God is furious, so to speak, and needs to be appeased by a divine retribution. 

Recall Gen. 4:10-12:

קול דמי אחיך צעקים אלי מן האדמה ועתה ארור אתה מן האדמה אשר פצתה את פיה לקחת את דמי אחיך מידך. כי תעבד את האדמה לא-תסף תת כחה לך

"the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from the earth which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand. When thou tillest the ground it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength"

Isaac Fried, Boston University 

On Jan 9, 2013, at 2:25 PM, Nir cohen - Prof. Mat. wrote:

this version is interesting for three reasons thematic to the 

original question. the first is that ויכפר is a verb, for what it's worth. 

the second is in terms of double meaning (passive/active): god "pays" and

"redeems" the land; at the same time "castigates" and "recovers" the land.

if in the poet's mind ישלםis a metaphoric "castigate" (a ubiquitous 

_expression_ up to these days), יכפר might as well be a metaphoric "recover".