What Does Leviticus 16:7 Mean?
And he takes the two goats and stands them before the LORD at the opening of the tent of meeting.
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.
King James wording
King James Version
And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.THE KEY
Before the two goats receive separate roles, Hebrew places both standing at the opening of an appointed meeting.
THE MEANING
Both goats stand before the LORD at a threshold: the encounter holds them together before their different roles emerge. The verse locates this moment at an opening, within a place named for meeting, so distinction begins inside a shared presence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The goat later sent away is not absent from the encounter: both goats first stand before the LORD.
THE ROOT
הֶעֱמִיד
heʿemid
GROWS FROM
עמד
ʿ-m-d: stand. In this causative form, it means to make something stand or set it in position.
“stands” in this verse is heʿemid. The Hebrew verb makes the goats stand before the LORD; “present” can hide the posture in that act. Their shared stance comes before their roles are distinguished.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāmad: to stand
עָמַד
This is the basic action inside the verse’s causative verb: the goats are made to stand.
ʿammūd: pillar, column
עַמּוּד
A pillar is something that stands; this branch makes the root’s sense of stable position concrete.
maʿamad: standing, position
מַעֲמָד
The word can name a standing or station, echoing the goats’ position before the LORD.
פֶּתַח
petaḥ
GROWS FROM
פתח
p-t-ḥ: open, make an opening.
The Hebrew word means an opening or entrance, bringing the threshold itself into view. The goats stand at the opening of the meeting tent, where inside and outside meet.
ALSO GROWS
pātaḥ: to open
פָּתַח
The verb names the action behind the entrance: making an opening.
pātūaḥ: open, opened
פָּתוּחַ
This form describes what has been opened, adding the sense of access to the threshold in the verse.
מוֹעֵד
moʿed
GROWS FROM
יעד
y-ʿ-d: appoint or designate. מוֹעֵד (moʿed) means an appointed meeting or time.
The Hebrew phrase names this place as the tent of meeting, with the sense of an appointed encounter. The setting is more than a gathering place: it is designated for meeting.
ALSO GROWS
yāʿad: to appoint, designate
יָעַד
This verb supplies the sense of an encounter set or appointed to take place.
ʿēdāh: assembly, congregation
עֵדָה
This related word for an assembly carries the sense of people gathered together.
THE PATTERN
A distinction becomes visible after the alternatives are set before a choosing presence.
I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your seed may live.And Elijah came to all the people, and said, How long will you limp on two branches? If the LORD is God, walk after him, but if Baal, then walk after him. And the people answered him not a word.THE THREAD
And the men turned their faces from there and walked toward Sodom, while Abraham still stood before the LORD.Leviticus uses הֶעֱמִיד (heʿemid, “make stand”) from עמד (ʿāmad, “stand”) for the goats set before the LORD. Genesis uses the same root when Abraham “stood yet before the LORD,” making the shared posture visible across both scenes.
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