Two goats stood at the door of the tabernacle, matched and blameless, and a lot decided which one would die and which one would walk away into the desert alive. This Leviticus 16 summary and study guide follows that day in the order God gave it, and stops on the verses readers get stuck on.
Table of Contents
- Setting the Stage
- Comprehensive Leviticus 16 Summary
- Leviticus 16 Outline
- The Two Goats
- Observations from Leviticus 16
- Difficult Verses Explained
- Common Misunderstandings
- Christ Connection
- When, Where, and Why
- Key Verses
- Key Lessons from Leviticus 16
- Bible Study Questions
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Leviticus 16, The Full Text (KJV)
Setting the Stage
God had moved into the middle of the camp. At the end of Exodus, Israel finished a tent for Him to live in, and His glory filled it so completely that Moses could not go inside (Exodus 40:34-35).
Everything in Leviticus since then answers one question: how do people live next door to a holy God? Chapters 1 to 7 gave the offerings, and chapters 8 to 10 put priests in place to handle them. Two of those priests, Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu, died for bringing God fire He had not asked for (Leviticus 10:1-2).
Chapters 11 to 15 then ruled on what made an Israelite unclean. By chapter 16 a year of that uncleanness has piled up around a tent God still lives in. For the wider setting, see our Book of Leviticus Summary by Chapter.
Comprehensive Leviticus 16 Summary
God speaks to Moses after the deaths of Aaron’s two sons and tells him to warn Aaron that he cannot walk in behind the curtain whenever he likes, because God appears there in a cloud above the mercy seat. Then God gives him the one way in. Aaron washes, puts on plain linen instead of the ornate clothes he normally wears, and brings a bull and a ram of his own, along with two goats and a ram taken from the people.
He kills the bull first, for his own sin and his household’s, because Aaron had to be dealt with himself before he could carry anyone else’s guilt. He fills a censer with coals and incense and takes it behind the curtain, where the smoke covers the mercy seat and keeps him alive. There he sprinkles the bull’s blood, once on the mercy seat and seven times in front of it.
Then he brings the two goats to the door and casts lots over them. One falls to the LORD and is killed, and its blood goes behind the curtain the same way. With that blood Aaron cleanses the most holy place, the tent and the altar, because Israel’s sin has stained the building God lives in as well as the people who sinned.
Only then does he bring the second goat forward. He lays both hands on its head, says Israel’s sins out loud over it, and sends it away with a man appointed for the task, out into land where nobody lives.
Aaron then washes, changes back into his own clothes, and burns the two rams. God fixes the day on the calendar, the tenth of the seventh month, a fast and a total rest for Israelites and foreigners alike. Aaron does exactly as he was told.
One Word Summary
- Atonement: the chapter’s own word, in twelve of its thirty-four verses.
- Access: one door, one man, one day a year.
- Removal: sins carried off to where nobody lives.
In One Sentence
Aaron washed, dressed in plain linen, and went alone behind the curtain with the blood of a bull and a goat to cleanse the sanctuary and the people, while a second goat carried Israel’s confessed sins out into empty land, and God fixed the whole day on the calendar for every year after.
Theme of Leviticus 16
Leviticus 16 is about God opening His own door and setting the terms of it Himself. Sin here is bigger than the people who commit it, clinging to the sanctuary and the altar, so the day cleanses the building as well as the nation. Alongside that runs the shape of the cleansing, which comes in two movements: a death that answers guilt, and a living animal that carries guilt away. The day ends in rest, because the priest does the work and the people receive it, and it comes round again every year.
Leviticus 16 Outline
- Leviticus 16:1-2: God warns Aaron, after the death of his two sons, not to come behind the curtain whenever he chooses.
- Leviticus 16:3-5: God names what Aaron must wear and which animals he must bring, his own bull and ram along with two goats and a ram from the people.
- Leviticus 16:6-10: Aaron offers his bull, presents the two goats at the door, and casts lots to decide which is the LORD’s and which is the scapegoat.
- Leviticus 16:11-14: Aaron kills the bull, carries burning coals and incense behind the curtain, and sprinkles the blood on and before the mercy seat.
- Leviticus 16:15-19: Aaron kills the people’s goat and cleanses the holy place, the tent and the altar with the blood of both animals.
- Leviticus 16:20-22: Aaron lays both hands on the live goat, confesses Israel’s sins over it, and sends it into uninhabited land.
- Leviticus 16:23-25: Aaron leaves the linen clothes in the tent, washes, dresses again, and offers the two burnt offerings.
- Leviticus 16:26-28: The man who released the goat and the man who burns the carcasses outside the camp each wash before returning.
- Leviticus 16:29-31: God fixes the tenth day of the seventh month as a fast and a sabbath of rest for Israelite and foreigner alike.
- Leviticus 16:32-34: The anointed priest of each generation is to do this once a year, and Aaron does as he was commanded.
The Two Goats
Verse 5 calls both animals together “two kids of the goats for a sin offering”, one offering made of two creatures. The lot in verse 8 is what separates them, and after that they never do the same thing again.
| Question | The goat for the LORD | The live goat |
|---|---|---|
| How it was chosen | By lot (16:8) | By lot (16:8) |
| What was done to it | Killed as the sin offering for the people (16:9, 15) | Presented alive, then sent away (16:10, 21) |
| Where its blood went | Behind the curtain, onto and before the mercy seat, then onto the altar (16:15, 18) | No blood was taken from it |
| What it carried | The guilt the sin offering answered (16:15-16) | Israel’s confessed sins, laid on its head (16:21) |
| Where it ended | Burned outside the camp (16:27) | Released in a land where nobody lived (16:22) |
| Who could watch | Nobody, because no man could be in the tent (16:17) | The whole camp |
Neither goat carries the day on its own. One answers what Israel’s sin deserved, and the other shows Israel where their sin had gone.
Observations from Leviticus 16
The Chapter Never Calls It the Day of Atonement
Israel’s best known holy day gets its name seven chapters later. Leviticus 23:27 sets “a day of atonement” into the festival calendar, meaning a fixed annual date the whole nation kept. Chapter 16 gives no name at all. It reads as instructions handed to one man, answering the question chapter 10 had left open, which is how anybody comes near this God and lives (Leviticus 16:2).
One Goat Nobody Could Watch, and One the Whole Camp Could
The part of the day that reached the mercy seat happened where nobody could see it. Verse 17 empties the tent: “And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement in the holy place, until he come out.” No one else was allowed inside from the moment Aaron went in until he came out again. Israel stood outside with no way of watching the blood reach the mercy seat.
Then the live goat came out into the open, the confession was spoken aloud over it, and the whole camp watched it walk away (Leviticus 16:21-22). So the nation had something to watch for the part of the day it could not watch.
The Law Bound the Foreigner to the Same Day
Verse 29 does not stop at Israelites. The fast and the rest are commanded “whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you”, which takes in anyone living among Israel, born there or not. The tent this day cleanses stood in the middle of the camp, and the foreigner lived in that camp too (Leviticus 16:16). So the day is drawn around everyone living near God’s dwelling rather than around a family line.
Everyone Who Touched the Day Had to Wash
Water runs through the chapter four times. Aaron washes before he puts the linen on (16:4) and again before he changes back (16:24). The man who releases the goat washes his clothes and bathes before he comes back into the camp (16:26), and so does the man who burns the carcasses outside it (16:28). Nobody handled this day and walked back in unchanged, which is the chapter’s own way of saying how heavy sin is to handle, even when the handling is what removes it.
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Difficult Verses Explained
Leviticus 16:8: What Does “Scapegoat” Mean, and Who or What Is Azazel?
Nobody can say for certain, and Scripture does not settle it. The Hebrew word behind “scapegoat” is azazel, it appears nowhere else in the Bible, and four readings are held by serious translators: a compound meaning the goat that goes away, which gives the King James “scapegoat”; the name of a place in the desert; an abstract word for complete removal; or the proper name of a demonic figure, which is why the ESV prints “Azazel” and the CSB reads “an uninhabitable place”.
The case for a name is that verse 8 sets two lots side by side, “one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat”, and the first of those two is plainly a name. The chapter rules one thing out. The goat was never an offering made to anything, because verse 9 gives the title sin offering to the first goat only, and the very next chapter forbids Israel to go on offering sacrifices “unto devils”, which translates a Hebrew word for the goat spirits of the desert (Leviticus 17:7).
Leviticus 16:10: Was the Live Goat a Second Sacrifice?
No, and verse 20 is what rules it out. Verse 10 says the goat is presented alive “to make an atonement with him”, which on its own can sound like a second payment for sin. Verse 20 gives the order plainly: Aaron brings the live goat only “when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar”, so the atoning work is complete before the second goat is touched. The live goat carries away what the blood has already answered.
Leviticus 16:30: Does “Clean from All Your Sins” Mean the Sacrifices Took Sin Away?
The promise is real for the day it covers, and the chapter itself shows the limit. Verse 30 says the priest makes atonement “to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD”, so Israel stood clean before God when that day ended. Verse 34 then commands the same day again the next year, and the year after that.
Hebrews reads the repetition exactly that way, saying “it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins” (Hebrews 10:4), which means animal blood could never end the problem and the day was holding Israel until the sacrifice it pointed to arrived.
Common Misunderstandings
- That the scapegoat was a payment offered to a demon. The live goat leaves only after the atoning work is finished (Leviticus 16:20), so nothing was still owed when it went. The wilderness is where Israel’s sins were put, not a party being paid.
- That the sin offering only covered accidental sins. Verse 21 has Aaron confess “all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins”, stacking three words for wrongdoing on top of each other. That is deliberate rebellion included, not merely mistakes.
- That fasting is what made Israel clean. “Ye shall afflict your souls” (Leviticus 16:29) is a command to go without food, and it is the one fast the law of Moses commands. Verse 30 still puts the cleansing itself in the priest’s hands and God’s: “on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you”. The people fasted and rested, and what they were doing was receiving a work somebody else had done.
Christ Connection
The New Testament reads this chapter as a picture drawn well before the thing it pictures arrived. Hebrews takes the high priest going in once a year with the blood of an animal and sets Christ beside him going in once with His own blood: “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us” (Hebrews 9:12). Jesus went in once and did not need to go back, which is the difference the whole letter is built on.
The New Testament picks up four of this chapter’s own details:
- A priest who needed no sacrifice of his own. Aaron had to kill a bull for himself before he could act for anyone (Leviticus 16:6, 11). Hebrews 7:26-27 says Christ did not, because He had no sin to answer for.
- A repetition that finally stopped. Verse 34 fixes the day once a year, for ever. Hebrews 10:11-14 says the yearly repeating was itself the proof that nothing had been finished, and that Christ offered one sacrifice for sins and sat down.
- A curtain torn open. Verse 2 kept even the high priest out of the most holy place except on God’s terms. Matthew 27:51 records the temple curtain tearing from top to bottom when Jesus died, and Hebrews 10:19-22 tells believers they may now walk in by the blood of Jesus.
- A body burned outside the camp. The bull and the goat were carried out beyond the tents and burned there (Leviticus 16:27). Hebrews 13:11-12 puts Jesus in that place: He suffered outside the city gate to make His people holy by His own blood.
The two goats together are the fullest picture the chapter gives, and Peter and Paul each take up one half of it. Christ died as the offering that answered guilt, “who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24), meaning He carried the punishment our sin had earned.
And He carried that guilt away, because “he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:21), which is Paul saying our sin went to Him and His righteousness came to us. David had already put the second goat’s picture into a promise: “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12). God does not keep our sin within reach of us.
When, Where, and Why
- When: In the second year after Israel left Egypt, at Sinai. The tabernacle had been raised on the first day of that year (Exodus 40:17), Aaron and his sons had only just been installed (Leviticus 8-9), and Nadab and Abihu had died soon after (Leviticus 10:1-2), so the entire priesthood was weeks old when this law was given.
- Where: Three places, and the movement between them is the chapter. Behind the curtain before the mercy seat, where only Aaron could go (Leviticus 16:2). The tent and the altar around it, which the blood also had to cleanse (Leviticus 16:16, 18). And outside the camp, where the carcasses were burned and the live goat was released into “a land not inhabited” (Leviticus 16:22, 27), meaning open country with no settlement in it.
- Why: Because Moses is recording the one arrangement by which anyone could still come near God and live (Leviticus 16:2). Chapters 11 to 15 had catalogued everything that made an Israelite unclean, and this chapter is the single answer to all of it.
Key Verses
“And the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the vail before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat.”
Leviticus 16:2
God tells Moses to warn Aaron not to walk into the innermost room whenever he wants, because God Himself shows up there in a cloud over the ark’s lid, and Aaron would die. This verse gives the reason for everything that follows: the restriction exists to keep a man alive in the presence of a holy God.
“And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins.”
Leviticus 16:16
Aaron cleanses the room itself, because Israel’s wrongdoing has fouled God’s own dwelling and not only the people who did it. Sin in this chapter is not contained inside the sinner, and that is why blood goes on furniture as well as on people.
“And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited.”
Leviticus 16:21-22
Aaron presses both hands onto the animal, names Israel’s wrongdoing out loud, and a man chosen for the job leads the goat out into empty country and lets it go. This is where the English word scapegoat comes from, and it is the plainest picture of removed guilt in the Law.
“And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year. And he did as the LORD commanded Moses.”
Leviticus 16:34
The day is fixed permanently, once every year, and Aaron does exactly what he was told. Leviticus 10 opened with priests doing what God had not commanded, and chapter 16 closes with a priest who did.
Key Lessons from Leviticus 16
- Sin reaches the place where God dwells, not only the people who sinned, which is why the blood cleansed the sanctuary and the altar as well as the nation (Leviticus 16:16, 33).
- God fixed a date on the calendar for dealing with sin, so it never waited on how anyone felt (Leviticus 16:29).
- The same day covered the foreigner living in Israel as covered the Israelite, so nearness to God was not decided by ancestry (Leviticus 16:29).
- God tied the day to an office rather than to one man, so Israel’s way in did not die when Aaron did (Leviticus 16:32).
To go deeper into the lessons from this chapter, read our full study: 11 Life-Changing Lessons from Leviticus 16.
Bible Study Questions
- Read Leviticus 16:1-2. What reason does God give for restricting Aaron’s access, and what does that reason say about God rather than about Aaron?
- Aaron wears plain linen in verse 4 rather than the garments described in Exodus 28:2. What is the difference saying about how he comes in?
- Verse 16 says the atonement is made for the holy place. What does that add to your understanding of what sin does?
- Put Leviticus 16:10 beside Leviticus 16:20. In what order do the two goats actually function, and why does the order matter?
- Look at the two goats side by side. What does each one show that the other cannot?
- Verse 29 includes the stranger living among Israel. Who does that pull into the day, and what does it suggest about who God’s provision was for?
- Read Hebrews 9:24-28 with Leviticus 16:34 open beside it. What does the writer of Hebrews make of the words “once a year”?
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the scapegoat in Leviticus 16 represent Jesus?
The New Testament never uses the word scapegoat of Jesus, but it does say the two things the live goat pictured. Jesus bore our sins in His own body (1 Peter 2:24), and God has removed our wrongdoing as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). Many Bible teachers therefore read the two goats together as one picture of Christ rather than reading either goat on its own.
Is the Day of Atonement still kept today?
Yes, in Judaism it is kept as Yom Kippur, on the same annual date Leviticus 16:29 gives, and it remains the most solemn day of the Jewish year. It is kept without a temple, a high priest or a sacrifice, so the fasting, prayer and confession of Leviticus 16:29-31 remain while the blood ritual of verses 3 to 28 cannot be performed today. Christians are not bound to keep the day, because Hebrews 9 and 10 present it as already answered in Christ.
What does “atonement” mean in the Bible?
The Hebrew word carries the sense of covering, and Leviticus 16 shows what that covering involved: blood applied to a place, and guilt carried away from it. So atonement in this chapter is both a price paid and a stain removed. The New Testament keeps both ideas and adds God’s own promise about the sins He has dealt with: “their sins and iniquities will I remember no more” (Hebrews 10:17).
How many times did the high priest go behind the curtain on this day?
The chapter describes him going in with the censer of coals and incense (Leviticus 16:12-13), with the bull’s blood (Leviticus 16:14), and with the goat’s blood (Leviticus 16:15). Readers count that as three trips, or as two if the incense and the bull’s blood are taken as one, and commentaries give both numbers. Either way, this was the only day of the year when the room was entered at all.
Does Leviticus 16 still apply to Christians today?
Its commands were given to Israel’s priesthood and cannot be carried out now, since there is no tabernacle and no Aaronic high priest. What it still does is explain what the cross cost and what it achieved, which is exactly how Hebrews uses it. The chapter’s own promise, that a people can be clean before the LORD, is offered to believers in Christ on terms this chapter could only picture (Hebrews 10:19-22).
If you want to test what you remember, try our Leviticus 16 Quiz with Answers.
Leviticus 16, The Full Text (KJV)
Read the full chapter below for reference.
1 And the LORD spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the LORD, and died;
2 And the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the vail before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat.
3 Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place: with a young bullock for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering.
4 He shall put on the holy linen coat, and he shall have the linen breeches upon his flesh, and shall be girded with a linen girdle, and with the linen mitre shall he be attired: these are holy garments; therefore shall he wash his flesh in water, and so put them on.
5 And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.
6 And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself, and for his house.
7 And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
8 And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat.
9 And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD’S lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering.
10 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.
11 And Aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make an atonement for himself, and for his house, and shall kill the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself:
12 And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the LORD, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the vail:
13 And he shall put the incense upon the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, that he die not:
14 And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward; and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times.
15 Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the vail, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat:
16 And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins: and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness.
17 And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement in the holy place, until he come out, and have made an atonement for himself, and for his household, and for all the congregation of Israel.
18 And he shall go out unto the altar that is before the LORD, and make an atonement for it; and shall take of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about.
19 And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.
20 And 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:
21 And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness:
22 And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.
23 And Aaron shall come into the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall put off the linen garments, which he put on when he went into the holy place, and shall leave them there:
24 And he shall wash his flesh with water in the holy place, and put on his garments, and come forth, and offer his burnt offering, and the burnt offering of the people, and make an atonement for himself, and for the people.
25 And the fat of the sin offering shall he burn upon the altar.
26 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.
27 And the bullock for the sin offering, and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place, shall one carry forth without the camp; and they shall burn in the fire their skins, and their flesh, and their dung.
28 And he that burneth them shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp.
29 And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you:
30 For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD.
31 It shall be a sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, by a statute for ever.
32 And the priest, whom he shall anoint, and whom he shall consecrate to minister in the priest’s office in his father’s stead, shall make the atonement, and shall put on the linen clothes, even the holy garments:
33 And he shall make an atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make an atonement for the tabernacle of the congregation, and for the altar, and he shall make an atonement for the priests, and for all the people of the congregation.
34 And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year. And he did as the LORD commanded Moses.
