What Does Leviticus 16:8 Mean?
And Aaron sets lots upon the two goats, one lot for the LORD and the other lot for the departing goat.
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 Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat.THE KEY
The two goats share one rite, but the lot assigns them different destinations before either one moves.
THE MEANING
The verse holds a matched pair in a sharp division: one lot is for the LORD, and the other for Azazel. Their different destinations are already assigned before either goat moves.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that the two goats share one fate simply because they begin as a pair.
THE ROOT
נָתַן
natan
GROWS FROM
נתן
To give, set, or place.
“sets” in this verse is natan. The verb is natan, whose range includes “give,” “set,” and “place”: Aaron places the lots upon the goats, then names their distinct destinations. English “cast lots” keeps the action vivid, while the Hebrew root also carries the sense of assigning each goat its place.
ALSO GROWS
mattanah: Gift; something given.
מַתָּנָה
This branch shows the root’s sense of giving: the lots assign each goat to a distinct destination.
natun: Given or placed.
נָתוּן
This form describes what has been set in place, echoing how the goats receive different assignments.
THE PATTERN
The lot turns an unresolved choice into an assigned place, with the outcome received rather than authored by preference.
Only by the cast stones shall the land be divided. According to the names of the tribes of their fathers they shall inherit.The lot is thrown into the lap, but all its judgment is from the LORD.And they cast their lots, and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was counted with the eleven sent ones.THE THREAD
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.Verse 8 assigns the goat’s destination; verse 10 shows what that assignment becomes: the living goat is sent into the wilderness. The Hebrew root שָׁלַח (shalach) means “send forth” or “release,” carrying the movement from designation to release.
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