Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Leviticus 16:20 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 20. 20And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat:
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse transitions from purifying sanctuary and altar to the living goat.
Read It With
- Leviticus 16:20-22
Read through 16:20-22 and watch how each actor, material, status, or command relates. Leviticus 16:20 transitions from purifying sanctuary and altar to the living goat; the whole unit establishes this: Aaron confesses Israel's iniquities, transgressions, and sins over the living goat, which a designated man sends away to an uninhabited land.
Why This Verse Appears Here
This unit follows at this point to define the live goat bears confessed wrongs into the wilderness before the book turns to the next offering, priestly act, status distinction, social command, calendar movement, land case, covenant warning, or vow rule. Within that movement, this verse transitions from purifying sanctuary and altar to the living goat.
Follow the Context
- The unit opens the case or movement named “The live goat bears confessed wrongs into the wilderness.”
- Aaron confesses Israel's iniquities, transgressions, and sins over the living goat, which a designated man sends away to an uninhabited land.
- The sent goat must not become a model for scapegoating minorities, victims, employees, or one family member for communal wrongdoing. That boundary keeps ritual status, moral guilt, ancient description, enduring truth, and modern application from being collapsed.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
Leviticus 16:20 does not stand apart from Leviticus 16:20-22; the sent goat must not become a model for scapegoating minorities, victims, employees, or one family member for communal wrongdoing.
What Remains True
Transitions from purifying sanctuary and altar to the living goat. Within Leviticus 16:20-22, this contributes to the larger claim that Aaron confesses Israel's iniquities, transgressions, and sins over the living goat, which a designated man sends away to an uninhabited land.
How It Can Shape Life
- When teaching Leviticus 16:20, keep the verse inside Leviticus 16:20-22. Hold this boundary: The sent goat must not become a model for scapegoating minorities, victims, employees, or one family member for communal wrongdoing. Apply only the noncoercive truth the complete unit supports.
Teach It Back
Explain Leviticus 16:20's contribution to Leviticus 16:20-22. Name the category involved, what the surrounding verses add, any material uncertainty, and what the verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Leviticus 16:20-22 — The live goat bears confessed wrongs into the wildernessSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Interpreters disagree over Priestly and Holiness composition, legal scope, ancient enforcement, kinship structures, sexual acts and rationales, moral versus ritual categories, resident-outside status, and how Jews and Christians should reason from these texts today. Material alternatives are stated without pretending the ethical stakes disappear.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: Leviticus 16:20-22, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Leviticus
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, ritual and legal vocabulary, names, clause relationships, KJV language controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Lev.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 16:20-22
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Leviticus with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
eBible.org distribution of the NET Bible, PDF generated 2025-12-31
Supports: Unit-bounded translator notes on Hebrew, syntax, ritual vocabulary, measures, textual questions, and older-English wording; silence is not treated as evidence.
Exact location: NET Bible Leviticus PDF, complete PDF pp. 1-99, translation and translator notes for 16:20-22
Open source ↗