Editing Azazel (section)

===Torah===
[[File:Herodion IMG 0627.JPG|thumb|Mount Azazel (Jabel Munttar) in the Judean Desert]]
[[File:Azazel IMG 1758.JPG|thumb|Cliffs of Mount Azazel (Jabel Munttar)]]
In the [[Hebrew Bible]], the term is used three times in Chapter 16 of the [[Book of Leviticus]], where two male goats were to be sacrificed to [[Yahweh]] and one of the two was [[cleromancy|selected by lot]], for Yahweh is seen as speaking through the lots.<ref name="Jewish">{{Cite Jewish Encyclopedia|url=http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/2203-azazel|title=Azazel (Scapegoat, Lev. xvi., A. V.)}}</ref> One goat is selected by lot and sent into the wilderness {{lang|he|לַעֲזָאזֵל}}, "for Azazel". This goat was then cast out in the desert as part of [[Yom Kippur]]. The scapegoat ritual can be traced back to 24th century BC [[Ebla]], from where it spread throughout the [[ancient Near East]].<ref>
* {{cite book|last1=Rutherford|first1=Ian|title=Hittite Texts and Greek Religion: Contact, Interaction, and Comparison|year=2020|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-259995-7|page=130|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BZr9DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA130}}
* {{cite web|last1=Ayali-Darshan|first1=Noga|title=The Scapegoat Ritual and Its Ancient Near Eastern Parallels|year=2020|url=https://www.thetorah.com/article/the-scapegoat-ritual-and-its-ancient-near-eastern-parallels|website=www.thetorah.com}}
* {{cite book|last1=Bremmer|first1=Jan N.|editor1-last=Eidinow|editor1-first=Esther|editor2-last=Kindt |editor2-first=Julia|title=The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion|year=2015|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-105807-3|page=610|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SLSYCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA610}}
</ref><ref>
* {{cite book|last1=Johnston|first1=Sarah Iles|title=Ancient Religions|year=2009|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-03918-6|pages=33–36|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zg9dGPXn5FkC&pg=PA34}}
* {{cite book|last1=Pongratz-Leisten|first1=Beate|editor1-last=Finsterbusch|editor1-first=Karin|editor2-last=Lange|editor2-first=Armin|title=Human Sacrifice in Jewish and Christian Tradition|year=2006|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-474-0940-3|pages=22–28|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EJFyDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA23|chapter=Ritual Killing and Sacrifice in the Ancient Near East}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Zatelli|first1=Ida|title=The Origin of the Biblical Scapegoat Ritual: The Evidence of Two Eblaite Texts|journal=Vetus Testamentum|year=1998|volume=48|issue=2|pages=254–263|doi=10.1163/1568533982721604|jstor=1585505|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1585505}}</ref>

In [[Early Modern English Bible translations|older English versions]], such as the [[King James Version]], the phrase ''la-azazel'' is translated as "as a scapegoat"; however, in most [[modern English Bible translations]], it is represented as a name in the text:
{{blockquote|Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. He shall take the two goats and set them before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting; and Aaron shall cast lots on the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for Azazel. Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the Lord, and offer it as a sin offering; but the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel.|{{Bibleverse|Leviticus|16:6-10|NRSV}}, [[New Revised Standard Version]]}}

A [[baraita]], apparently interpreting ''ʿazazel'' as ''ʿaz'' (rugged) + ''El'' ([[El (deity)|God]]), understands it to refer to the rugged and rough mountain cliff from which the goat was cast down.<ref name="JE-Azazel">{{cite book|chapter=Azazel|title=Jewish Encyclopedia|date=1906|url=http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/2203-azazel|publisher=JewishEncyclopedia.com.}}</ref><ref>Yoma 67b; Sifra, Aḥare, ii. 2; Targ. Yer. Lev. xiv. 10, and most medieval commentators</ref><ref name="akaplan">For a delineation of the various [[Rabbinic literature#Meforshim|Rabbinic opinions]] here, see R. [[Aryeh Kaplan]]'s [http://www.bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=3&CHAPTER=16#C2414 note] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120612063236/http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=3&CHAPTER=16#C2414 |date=2012-06-12 }} on "Azazel" (Lev 16:8).</ref>

[[Wilhelm Gesenius]] translated the name {{lang|he|עזלזל}} as something akin to "the  averter", which he supposed to have first referred to an idol, before being lent to a demon in the Enochian texts. However, neither this demon nor the root {{lang|he|עזל}} are attested.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon by Friedrich Wilhelm Gesenius|url=http://www.tyndalearchive.com/TABS/Gesenius/index.htm|access-date=2021-03-04|website=www.tyndalearchive.com}}</ref>