Leviticus 16:21-22

16:21 Aaron is to lay his two hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities of the Israelites and all their transgressions in regard to all their sins, ¹  and thus he is to put them ²  on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man standing ready. ³  16:22 The goat is to bear on itself all their iniquities into an inaccessible land, ⁴  so he is to send the goat away ⁵  in the wilderness.

Leviticus 24:14

24:14 “Bring the one who cursed outside the camp, and all who heard him are to lay their hands on his head, and the whole congregation is to stone him to death. ⁶ 

Numbers 15:35-36

15:35 Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must surely be put to death; the whole community must stone ⁷  him with stones outside the camp.” 15:36 So the whole community took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, ⁸  just as the Lord commanded Moses.

Numbers 15:1

Sacrificial Rulings

15:1 ⁹ The Lord spoke to Moses:

Numbers 21:13

21:13 From there they moved on and camped on the other side of the Arnon, in the wilderness that extends from the regions ¹⁰  of the Amorites, for Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites.

Luke 23:33

23:33 So ¹¹  when they came to the place that is called “The Skull,” ¹²  they crucified ¹³  him there, along with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.

Acts 7:58

7:58 When ¹⁴  they had driven him out of the city, they began to stone him, ¹⁵  and the witnesses laid their cloaks ¹⁶  at the feet of a young man named Saul.

Hebrews 13:11-13

13:11 For the bodies of those animals whose blood the high priest brings ¹⁷  into the sanctuary as an offering for sin are burned outside the camp. 13:12 Therefore, to sanctify the people by his own blood, Jesus also suffered outside the camp. 13:13 We must go out to him, then, outside the camp, bearing the abuse he experienced. ¹⁸ 

¹ tn Heb “transgressions to all their sins.”

² tn Heb “and he shall give them.”

³ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term עִתִּי (’itti) is uncertain. It is apparently related to עֵת (’et, “time”), and could perhaps mean either that he has been properly “appointed” (i.e., designated) for the task (e.g., NIV and NRSV) or “ready” (e.g., NASB and NEB).

⁴ tn The Hebrew term rendered “inaccessible” derives from a root meaning “to cut off” (cf. NAB “an isolated region”). Another possible translation would be “infertile land” (see HALOT 187 s.v. *גָּזֵּר and cf. NRSV “a barren region”; NLT “a desolate land.”

⁵ tn Heb “and he [the man (standing) ready, v. 21] shall send the goat away.”

⁷ tn The words “to death” are supplied in the translation as a clarification; they are clearly implied from v. 16.

¹⁰ tn The sentence begins with the emphatic use of the infinitive absolute with the verb in the Hophal imperfect: “he shall surely be put to death.” Then, a second infinitive absolute רָגוֹם (ragom) provides the explanatory activity – all the community is to stone him with stones. The punishment is consistent with other decrees from God (see Exod 31:14,15; 35:2). Moses had either forgotten such, or they had simply neglected to (or were hesitant to) enact them.

¹³ tn Heb “stoned him with stones, and he died.”

¹⁶ sn The wilderness wandering officially having begun, these rules were then given for the people to be used when they finally entered the land. That they would be provided here would be of some encouragement to the nation after their great failure. God still spoke of a land that was to be their land, even though they had sinned greatly. This chapter collects a number of religious rules. The first 16 verses deal with rulings for sacrifices. Then, vv. 17-36 concerns sins of omission. Finally, rules concerning tassels are covered (vv. 37-41). For additional reading, see G. B. Gray, Sacrifice in the Old Testament (Oxford: Clarendon, 1925); B. A. Levine, In the Presence of the Lord (SJLA); D. J. McCarthy, “The Symbolism of Blood and Sacrifice,” JBL 88 (1969): 166-76; “Further Notes on the Symbolism of Blood and Sacrifice,” JBL 92 (1973): 205-10; J. Milgrom, “Sin Offering or Purification Offering,” VT 21 (1971): 237-39; N. H. Snaith, “Sacrifices in the Old Testament,” VT 7 (1957): 308-17; R. J. Thompson, Penitence and Sacrifice in Early Israel; R. de Vaux, Studies in Old Testament Sacrifice.

¹⁹ tn Or “border.”

²² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the conclusion of the preceding material.

²³ sn The place that is called ‘The Skull’ (known as Golgotha in Aramaic, cf. John 19:17) is north and just outside of Jerusalem. The hill on which it is located protruded much like a skull, giving the place its name. The Latin word for Greek κρανίον (kranion) is calvaria, from which the English word “Calvary” derives (cf. Luke 23:33 in the KJV).

²⁴ sn See the note on crucify in 23:21.

²⁵ tn Grk “And when.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences, καί (kai) has not been translated here; a new sentence is begun instead.

²⁶ sn They began to stone him. The irony of the scene is that the people do exactly what the speech complains about in v. 52.

²⁷ tn Or “outer garments.”

²⁸ tn Grk “whose blood is brought by the high priest.”

³¹ tn Grk “his abuse.”