Bible Strands
Leviticus 16:21
Then he is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities and rebellious acts of the Israelites in regard to all their sins. He is to put them on the goat’s head and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man appointed for the task.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Aaron acts as the high priest immediately after purifying the Most Holy Place, Tent of Meeting, and altar. He prepares the live goat for removal by transferring the collective guilt of Israel onto it.
The words — The Hebrew verb סָמַ֨ךְ (sa.Makh) literally means "to lean" or "to lay upon," describing Aaron pressing both hands onto the male goat's head. This physical act directly precedes and accompanies the verbal confession of Israel's iniquities.
The thread — The text records Aaron laying Israel's sins on the goat's head before sending it into the wilderness. This pattern of transferred guilt reappears in Isaiah 53:6, where the Lord lays iniquity on a suffering figure, and is fulfilled in 2 Corinthians 5:21, where Christ is made sin on behalf of others.
Why it lands — The passage establishes that sin requires a designated bearer to be removed from the community, not merely acknowledged. It requires the reader to accept that divine cleansing operates through substitutionary transfer rather than self-remediation.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness:
Cross-references
- Isaiah 53:6 We all like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.
- 2 Corinthians 5:21 God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
- Ezra 10:1 While Ezra prayed and made this confession, weeping and falling facedown before the house of God, a very large assembly of Israelites—men, women, and children—gathered around him, and the people wept bitterly as well.
- Psalms 51:3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
- Proverbs 28:13 He who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.
- Exodus 29:10 You are to present the bull at the front of the Tent of Meeting, and Aaron and his sons are to lay their hands on its head.
- Leviticus 26:40 But if they will confess their iniquity and that of their fathers in the unfaithfulness that they practiced against Me, by which they have also walked in hostility toward Me—
- Nehemiah 9:3 While they stood in their places, they read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for a quarter of the day, and they spent another quarter of the day in confession and worship of the LORD their God.
- Psalms 32:5 Then I acknowledged my sin to You and did not hide my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah
- Daniel 9:3 So I turned my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and petition, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.