Leviticus 16:26

WEB

“He who lets the goat go as the scapegoat shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp.

BSB

The man who released the goat as the scapegoat must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water; afterward he may reenter the camp.

KJV

And he that let go the goat for the scapegoat shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward come into the camp.

Matthew Henry

Verses 20–28

Leviticus 16:20–28

The high priest having presented unto the Lord the expiatory sacrifices, by the sprinkling of their blood, the remainder of which, it is probable, he poured out at the foot of the brazen altar, 1. He is next to confess the sins of Israel, with both his hands upon the head of the scape-goat (Lev 16:20, Lev 16:21); and whenever hands were imposed upon the head of any sacrifice it was always done with confession, according as the nature of the sacrifice was; and, this being a sin-offering, it must be a confession of sin. In the latter and more degenerate ages of the Jewish church they had a set form of confession prepared for the high priest, but God here prescribed none; for it might be supposed that the high priest was so well acquainted with the state of the people, and had such a tender concern for them, that he needed not any form. The confession must be as particular as he could make it, not only of all the iniquities of the children of Israel, but all their transgressions in all their sins. In one sin there may be many transgressions, from the several aggravating circumstances of it; and in our confessions we should take notice of them, and not only say, I have sinned, but, with Achan, "Thus and thus have I done." By this confession he must put the sins of Israel upon the head of the goat; that is, exercising faith upon the divine appointment which constituted such a translation, he must transfer the punishment incurred from the sinners to the sacrifice, which would have been but a jest, nay, an affront to God, if he himself had not ordained it. 2. The goat was then to be sent away immediately by the hand of a fit person pitched upon for the purpose, into a wilderness, a land not inhabited; and God allowed them to make this construction of it, that the sending away of the goat was the sending away of their sins, by a free and full remission: He shall bear upon him all their iniquities, Lev 16:22. The losing of the goat was a sign to them that the sins of Israel should be sought for, and not found, Jer 50:20. The later Jews had a custom to tie one shred of scarlet cloth to the horns of the goat and another to the gate of the temple, or to the top of the rock where the goat was lost, and they concluded that if it turned white, as they say it usually did, the sins of Israel were forgiven, as it is written, Though your sins have been as scarlet, they shall be as wool: and they add that for forty years before the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans the scarlet cloth never changed colour at all, which is a fair confession that, having rejected the substance, the shadow stood them in no stead. 3. The high priest must then put off his linen garments in the tabernacle, and leave them there, the Jews say never to be worn again by himself or any other, for they made new ones every year; and he must bathe himself in water, put on his rich clothes, and then offer both his own and the people's burnt-offerings, Lev 16:23, Lev 16:24. When we have the comfort of our pardon God must have the glory of it. If we have the benefit of the sacrifice of atonement, we must not grudge the sacrifices of acknowledgment. And, it should seem, the burning of the fat of the sin-offering was deferred till now (Lev 16:25), that it might be consumed with the burnt-offerings. 4. The flesh of both those sin-offerings whose blood was taken within the veil was to be all burnt, not upon the altar, but at a distance without the camp, to signify both our putting away sin by true repentance, and the spirit of burning, and God's putting it away by a full remission, so that it shall never rise up in judgment against us. 5. He that took the scape-goat into the wilderness, and those that burned the sin-offering, were to be looked upon as ceremonially unclean, and must not come into the camp till they had washed their clothes and bathed their flesh in water, which signified the defiling nature of sin; even the sacrifice which was but made sin was defiling: also the imperfection of the legal sacrifices; they were so far from taking away sin that even they left some stain upon those that touched them. 6. When all this was done, the high priest went again into the most holy place to fetch his censer, and so returned to his own house with joy, because he had done his duty, and died not.

Cross-references: Lev 16:20 · Lev 16:21 · Lev 16:22 · Jer 50:20 · Lev 16:23 · Lev 16:24 · Lev 16:25

Hebrew interlinear

H7971

שָׁלַחshâlach/shaw-lakh'/

v — send

Derivation: a primitive root;

to send away, for, or out (in a great variety of applications)

KJV: × any wise, appoint, bring (on the way), cast (away, out), conduct, × earnestly, forsake, give (up), grow long, lay, leave, let depart (down, go, loose), push away, put (away, forth, in, out), reach forth, send (away, forth, out), set, shoot (forth, out), sow, spread, stretch forth (out).

שָׁלַח

vb — send

שָׁלַח 814 vb. send

Qal

1. send: human subj.

2. send: subj. י׳ (God)

3. stretch out, esp. acc. hand

4. rarely send away: human subj.

5. let loose

Niph. letters were sent

Pi.

1. send off, away, human subj.

2.

a. send away, subj. י׳

b. give over

c. cast out

d. send out, forth

3. let go, set free

4. shoot forth branches

5. let down

6. shoot

7. Phrases

Pu. be sent off (started on journey); be put away, divorced, of wife; be impelled(?)

Hiph. and I (י׳) will send

H853

אֵתʼêth/ayth/

prt — self, even, namely

Derivation: apparent contracted from 226 in the demonstrative sense of entity;

properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)

KJV: [as such unrepresented in English].

אֵת

mark of the accusative

אֵת the mark of the accusative, prefixed as a rule only to nouns that are definite

H8163

שָׂעִירsâʻîyr/saw-eer'/

a n-m — shaggy, he-goat, faun

Derivation: or שָׂעִר; from 8175;

shaggy; as noun, a he-goat; by analogy, a faun

KJV: devil, goat, hairy, kid, rough, satyr.

שָׂעִיר

n.m — satyr

שָׂעִיר n.m. satyr, demon (with he-goat’s form, or feet)

שָׂעִיר

n.m — he-goat

שָׂעִיר 63 n.m. he-goat, buck (hairy one)

שָׂעִר

adj — hairy

שָׂעִר adj. hairy

H5799

עֲזָאזֵלʻăzâʼzêl/az-aw-zale'/

n-m — goat of departure, scapegoat

Derivation: from 5795 and 235;

goat of departure; the scapegoat

KJV: scapegoat.

עֲזָאזֵל

n.[m.] — entire removal

עֲזָאזֵל n.[m.] entire removal;—in ritual of Day of Atonement, = entire removal of sin and guilt from sacred places into desert on back of goat, symb. of entire forgiveness.

H3526

כָּבַסkâbaç/kaw-bas'/

v — trample, wash, fulling

Derivation: a primitive root;

to trample; hence, to wash (properly, by stamping with the feet), whether literal (including the fulling process) or figurative

KJV: fuller, wash(-ing).

כָּבַס

vb — tread

[כָּבַס] 51 vb. (tread), wash

Qal highway of fuller’s (= treader’s, washer’s) field

Pi.

1. wash garments (i.e. by treading)

2. wash person

Pu. be washed, of garment

Hothp. after the plague is washed out

H899

בֶּגֶדbeged/behg'-ed/

n-m — covering, clothing, treachery, pillage

Derivation: from 898;

a covering, i.e. clothing; also treachery or pillage

KJV: apparel, cloth(-es, ing), garment, lap, rag, raiment, robe, × very (treacherously), vesture, wardrobe.

בֶּ֫גֶד

n.m — garment

בֶּ֫גֶד n.m. garment, covering

בֶּ֫גֶד

n.[m.] — treachery

בֶּ֫גֶד n.[m.] treachery Is 24:16 Je 12:1.

H7364

רָחַץrâchats/raw-khats'/

v — lave

Derivation: a primitive root;

to lave (the whole or a part of a thing)

KJV: bathe (self), wash (self).

רָחַץ

vb — wash

רָחַץ 72 vb. wash, wash off, away, bathe

Qal 69

1. trans. wash (with water)

2. intrans. wash, bathe (oneself)

Pu. be washed

Hithp. if I washed myself in snow

H1320

בָּשָׂרbâsâr/baw-sawr'/

n-m — flesh, freshness, body, person, pudenda

Derivation: from 1319;

flesh (from its freshness); by extension, body, person; also (by euphemistically) the pudenda of a man

KJV: body, (fat, lean) flesh(-ed), kin, (man-) kind, nakedness, self, skin.

בָּשָׂר

n.m — flesh

בָּשָׂר 266 n.m. flesh

1. of the body

2. flesh for the body itself

3. male organ of generation (euphemism)

4. flesh for kindred, blood-relations

5. man over against God as frail or erring

H4325

מַיִםmayim/mah'-yim/

n-m — water, juice, urine, semen

Derivation: dual of a primitive noun (but used in a singular sense);

water; figuratively, juice; by euphemism, urine, semen

KJV: piss, wasting, water(-ing, (-course, -flood, -spring)).

מַי

n.m — waters

[מַי] 580 n.m. only pl. מַ֫יִם waters, water

H310

אַחַרʼachar/akh-ar'/

adv a — the hind part, after

Derivation: from 309;

properly, the hind part; generally used as an adverb or conjunction, after (in various senses)

KJV: after (that, -ward), again, at, away from, back (from, -side), behind, beside, by, follow (after, -ing), forasmuch, from, hereafter, hinder end, + out (over) live, + persecute, posterity, pursuing, remnant, seeing, since, thence(-forth), when, with.

אַחַר

adv — the hinder

אַחַר prop. subst. the hinder or following part

1. adv.

a. of place, behind

b. of time, afterwards

2. prep.

a. of place, behind, after

b. of time, after

3. conj. after that.

אַחֲרַי

adj — backwards

אַחֲרַי adj. Pr 28:23 a man that turneth backwards.

H3651

כֵּןkên/kane/

adv — set upright, just, rightly, so

Derivation: from 3559;

properly, set upright; hence (figuratively as adjective) just; but usually (as adverb or conjunction) rightly or so (in various applications to manner, time and relation; often with other particles)

KJV: after that (this, -ward, -wards), as... as, (for-) asmuch as yet, be (for which) cause, following, howbeit, in (the) like (manner, -wise), × the more, right, (even) so, state, straightway, such (thing), surely, there (where) -fore, this, thus, true, well, × you.

כִּי עַל כֵּן

forasmuch as

כִּי עַל כֵּן forasmuch as

כֵּן

adj — right

כֵּן adj. right, veritable, honest

1. right

2. veritable, true

3. pl. concr. honest (men)

כֵּן

adv — so

כֵּן adv. so

H935

בּוֹאbôwʼ/bo/

v — go, come

Derivation: a primitive root;

to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)

KJV: abide, apply, attain, × be, befall, besiege, bring (forth, in, into, to pass), call, carry, × certainly, (cause, let, thing for) to come (against, in, out, upon, to pass), depart, × doubtless again, eat, employ, (cause to) enter (in, into, -tering, -trance, -try), be fallen, fetch, follow, get, give, go (down, in, to war), grant, have, × indeed, (in-) vade, lead, lift (up), mention, pull in, put, resort, run (down), send, set, × (well) stricken (in age), × surely, take (in), way.

בּוֹא

vb — come in

בּוֹא 2569 vb. come in, come, go in, go

Qal

1. come in

2. come (approach, arrive)

3. go, i.e. walk, associate with

4. go from speaker, but with limit of motion given

Hiph.

1. cause to come in, bring in (conduct, lead, obj. persons and animals)

2. cause to come, bring, bring near, etc. (animate obj.)

Hoph.

a. be brought in (of pers. and things)

b. be brought

c. be introduced, put

H413

אֵלʼêl/ale/

prep — near, with, among, to

Derivation: (but only used in the shortened constructive form אֶל ); a primitive particle; properly, denoting motion towards, but occasionally used of a quiescent position, i.e.

near, with or among; often in general, to

KJV: about, according to, after, against, among, as for, at, because(-fore, -side), both...and, by, concerning, for, from, × hath, in(-to), near, (out) of, over, through, to(-ward), under, unto, upon, whether, with(-in).

אֶל

prep — motion to

אֶל (nearly always followed by Makkeph), prep. denoting motion to or direction towards (whether physical or mental).

1. of motion to or unto a person or place

2. Where the limit is actually entered, into

3. Of direction towards anything

4. Where the motion or direction implied appears from the context to be of a hostile character, אֶל = against

5. Unto sometimes acquires from the context the sense of in addition to

6. Metaph. in regard to, concerning, on account of

7. Of rule or standard according to (rare)

8. Expressing presence at a spot, against, at, by, not merely after verbs implying motion

9. Prefixed to other preps. it combines with them the idea of motion or direction to

H4264

מַחֲנֶהmachăneh/makh-an-eh'/

n-m — encampment, army

Derivation: from 2583;

an encampment (of travellers or troops); hence, an army, whether literal (of soldiers) or figurative (of dancers, angels, cattle, locusts, stars; or even the sacred courts)

KJV: army, band, battle, camp, company, drove, host, tents.

מַחֲנֶה

n.m — encampment

מַחֲנֶה 214 n.m. and f. encampment, camp

1. camp, place of encampment

2. camp of armed host

3.

a. those who encamp

b. company, body of people

c. army, host

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