Translation choice · disputed · Afterlife
What the source reads — Azazel — a proper name; in the older tradition (1 Enoch) a wilderness demon
What this version reads — 'the scapegoat' — the KJV dissolves the demon-name into a common noun, the goat that escapes
On the Day of Atonement, two goats: one 'for the LORD', one 'for Azazel'. Azazel reads as a name — a desert demon in the Enochic tradition, the goat sent out to him. The Vulgate made it 'the goat sent away' (caper emissarius); the KJV coined 'scapegoat', erasing the demon and, with him, a whole older cosmology. A named power becomes a figure of speech.
Read this chapter side by side — Leviticus 16:8 →