This verb carries the weighty sense of appeasing divine wrath or securing divine favor, rooted in ancient cultic practice. The classical Greek usage involves offering sacrifices to appease the gods (Homer: 'with libations and burnt offerings'), and this sacrificial framework carries into the New Testament. Luke and Hebrews employ the term in dramatically different contexts—one a tax collector's desperate plea for mercy, the other Christ's high-priestly work of atonement. The multilingual evidence (Spanish propiciar/sé-propicio, French être-propice, German sühnen) captures both relational dimensions: propitiation (satisfying divine justice) and mercy (securing divine favor). These aren't contradictory but complementary aspects of reconciliation.