Leviticus 16:21

וְסָמַךְ אַהֲרֹן אֶת־שְׁתֵּי יָדָיו עַל רֹאשׁ הַשָּׂעִיר הַחַי וְהִתְוַדָּה עָלָיו אֶת־כָּל־עֲוֹנֹת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאֶת־כָּל־פִּשְׁעֵיהֶם לְכָל־חַטֹּאתָם וְנָתַן אֹתָם עַל־רֹאשׁ הַשָּׂעִיר וְשִׁלַּח בְּיַד־אִישׁ עִתִּי הַמִּדְבָּֽרָה׃

✦ Hebrew interlinear

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✦ The same verse in five languages

Hebrew

וְסָמַ֨ךְ אַהֲרֹ֜ן אֶת־שְׁתֵּ֣י יָדָ֗יו עַ֨ל רֹ֣אשׁ הַשָּׂעִיר֮ הַחַי֒ וְהִתְוַדָּ֣ה עָלָ֗יו אֶת־כָּל־עֲוֹנֹת֙ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וְאֶת־כָּל־פִּשְׁעֵיהֶ֖ם לְכָל־חַטֹּאתָ֑ם וְנָתַ֤ן אֹתָם֙ עַל־רֹ֣אשׁ הַשָּׂעִ֔יר וְשִׁלַּ֛ח בְּיַד־אִ֥ישׁ עִתִּ֖י הַמִּדְבָּֽרָה׃

Greek (Septuagint)

καὶ ἐπιθήσει Ἀαρὼν τὰς χεῖρας αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν τοῦ χιμάρου τοῦ καὶ ἐξαγορεύσει ἐπ’ αὐτοῦ πάσας τὰς ἀνομίας τῶν υἱῶν ’l πάσας τὰς ἀδικίας αὐτῶν καὶ πάσας τὰς ἁμαρτίας αὐτῶν, καὶ ἐπιθήσει αὐτὰς ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν τοῦ χιμάρου τοῦ ζῶντος, καὶ ἐξαποστελεῖ ἐν χειρὶ ἀνθρώπου ἑτοίμου εἰς τὴν ἔρημον·

Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0

Latin (Vulgate)

et posita utraque manu super caput ejus, confiteatur omnes iniquitates filiorum Israël, et universa delicta atque peccata eorum: quæ imprecans capiti ejus, emittet illum per hominem paratum, in desertum.

Spanish

Le pondrá las dos manos en la cabeza y confesará sobre él todas las maldades, rebeliones y pecados de los israelitas. Así pondrá todos esos pecados sobre la cabeza del animal y lo enviará al desierto por medio de un hombre designado para esa tarea.

Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)

Y pondrá Aarón ambas manos suyas sobre la cabeza del macho cabrío vivo, y confesará sobre él todas las iniquidades de los hijos de Israel, y todas sus rebeliones, y todos sus pecados, poniéndolos así sobre la cabeza del macho cabrío, y lo enviará al desierto por mano de un hombre destinado para esto.

English

Then he is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities and rebellious acts of the Israelites in regard to all their sins. He is to put them on the goat ’s head and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man appointed for the task.

✦ What the text says

Summary

Aaron places both hands on the head of the living goat and confesses over it all the iniquities, transgressions, and sins of the Israelites, transferring them onto the goat's head. He then sends the goat away into the wilderness through a designated man.

Key words

sa.Makh ("he will lean/lay", H5564) — qal sequential perfect; describes the physical act of pressing the hands onto the animal, continuing the ritual sequence from the previous verses.
hit.va.Dah ("he will confess", H3034) — hithpael (reflexive/intensive stem) sequential perfect; the reflexive form marks a self-involving speech-act, a formal verbal confession performed by Aaron himself.
'a.vo.Not ("iniquities of", H5771G) — feminine plural construct; the first of three near-synonymous terms for wrongdoing listed in the verse.
pish.'ei. ("transgressions", H6588) — masculine plural construct; second term in the triad, paired with hem ("their", H9028) as suffix.
shi.Lach ("he will send [it] away", H7971G) — piel (intensive stem) sequential perfect; the intensive stem underscores a deliberate, formal act of sending/dispatching, distinct from a simple qal "send."

What the text says

The verse is built as a chain of five sequential perfect verbs (sa.Makh, hit.va.Dah, na.Tan, shi.Lach, plus the initial vav-consecutive structure), each introduced by the narrative vav (H9001), which links the actions as consecutive steps in a single ritual procedure: laying hands, confessing, placing (the confessed items) on the goat's head, and sending it away.

The confession itself covers three distinct nominal categories joined by 'et (direct object marker, H0853) and ve ("and", H9002): 'a.vo.Not ("iniquities of", H5771G) construct with be.Nei Yis.ra.'El ("people of Israel", H1121G + H3478), then pish.'ei.hem ("their transgressions", H6588 + H9028), and finally le.khol chato.Tam ("to/for all their sins", H2403B + H9028). The construct chains stack multiple layers of "all" (kol, H3605) before each category, producing a cumulative, exhaustive listing rather than a single general term for wrongdoing.

The verb na.Tan ("he will put", H5414H) with the object suffix 'o.Tam ("them", H9038) explicitly marks the transfer: the confessed items are grammatically "put" (same root as "give/place") onto the goat's head, a distinct clause from the confession itself. The final clause names the agent of removal: 'ish 'i.Ti ("a man ready/appointed", H0376G + H6261), sent be.yad ("by the hand of", H3027G) toward ha.mid.Ba.rah ("the wilderness," with directional he, H4057B + H9011), marking motion toward that location.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew lists three terms — 'a.vo.Not ("iniquities"), pish.'ei.hem ("their transgressions"), and chato.Tam ("their sins") — as three separate categories under the confession. The LXX renders these with three corresponding Greek nouns (ἀνομίας, ἀδικίας, ἁμαρτίας), preserving the triad structure. The Vulgate uses "iniquitates... delicta atque peccata," also keeping three terms, though grouping the last two with "atque" ("and also"). The BSB compresses the Hebrew's three terms into two English phrases ("iniquities and rebellious acts... in regard to all their sins"), reorganizing the syntax of the list compared to the Hebrew's flat construct chain.

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.