On the front of … before: some commentators take these two prepositional phrases to be synonymous expressions describing a single action. Others see them as separate actions. One commentator (Keil) indicates that on the front means “not upon the top of the capporeth [mercy seat], but merely upon or up against the front of it.” Several reliable modern versions, however, translate the first of these two expressions as “on the east side of” or “eastward” (New Jerusalem Bible, New English Bible, An American Translation, New Jerusalem Bible, Traduction oecuménique de la Bible, and Moffatt). The Israelites faced eastward when talking about directions, so the east side would be the front of the mercy seat and would be the same as before it. A good model for the two expressions in many languages is therefore “on the sunrise (or, east) side of the Covenant Box, that is, in front of it.” The action was probably a scattering or sprinkling of the blood in the air immediately in front of the Covenant Box, with some of the blood falling on the front part of the box itself and some on the ground in front of it.

Seven times: see 4.6.

Quoted with permission from Péter-Contesse, René and Ellington, John. A Handbook on Leviticus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1990. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .