What Does Leviticus 16:10 Mean?

But the goat upon which the lot falls to be the departing goat stands alive before the LORD, to make a covering upon him, and to send him away into the wilderness.

Leviticus 16:10 · SDV

Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.

Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.

This verse in the King James

King James wording

King James Version

But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.

THE KEY

Atonement holds covering and release together: the goat remains alive, then is sent away.

THE MEANING

This verse presents atonement as a movement: the goat stands alive before the LORD and is then sent into the wilderness. What is appointed for release does not remain within the inhabited space.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The scapegoat is presented alive and sent away. The verse loosens the belief that removing a burden requires destroying the one who carries it.

THE ROOT

לְשַׁלַּח

leshallach

GROWS FROM

שלח

send forth, release, let go

“send him away” in this verse is leshallach. The act translated “let him go” is shalach: sending away and releasing. Beside the goat’s atonement, this makes release part of the passage itself, the living bearer is sent out of the community’s space.

ALSO GROWS

shilluach: sending away, dismissal

שִׁלּוּחַ

This branch makes the verse’s movement explicit: what is released is sent away.

Shiloach: sent; the name of the waters of Shiloah

שִׁלֹחַ

The name preserves the same sending-root, linking release with waters sent forth.

לְכַפֵּר

lekhapper

GROWS FROM

כפר

cover

“make a covering” in this verse is lekhapper. The root beneath “atonement” carries the sense of covering. The verse places that covering beside shalach, the sending away: its image holds covering and release together, with the goat still alive.

ALSO GROWS

kapporet: the cover of the ark

כַּפֹּרֶת

This form makes the root’s covering sense concrete, illuminating the covering carried by “atonement.”

kofer: ransom, covering payment

כֹּפֶר

This branch connects covering with release from a claim, echoing the passage’s movement from atonement to sending away.

THE PATTERN

Release takes shape when what bears the burden is carried away from the community and sent out.

Then the LORD said to Moses, Go in to Pharaoh, and say to him, Thus says the LORD, the God of the Hebrews. Let my people go, that they may serve me.

Exodus 9:1 · SDVThe same sending-and-release pattern appears in the command to let the people go.

As far as the east is from the west, so far he puts our rebellions from us.

Psalm 103:12 · SDVThe removal reaches an immeasurable distance, like the goat sent away into the wilderness.

The next day John perceived Jesus coming toward him, and said, Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the falling short of the world.

John 1:29 · SDVWhat is carried away in the wilderness reappears as the image of sin being taken away.

THE THREAD

Then the LORD said to Moses, Go in to Pharaoh, and say to him, Thus says the LORD, the God of the Hebrews. Let my people go, that they may serve me.

Exodus 9:1 · SDV

“Let my people go” uses the same shalach root as “let him go” here. The root links the scapegoat’s release with the release of a people: in both verses, what is held is sent forth.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us