שָׂעִיר
sa.ir
he-goat
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# The Hebrew Word שָׂעִיר (sa'ir): He-Goat The Hebrew word שָׂעִיר (sa'ir) refers specifically to a male goat and appears 53 times throughout the biblical text. This frequency of occurrence indicates that the animal held practical and symbolic importance in ancient Israelite life and religious practice. The term's consistency—always denoting the male of the species rather than female goats or goats in general—suggests precision in biblical language when gender distinctions mattered for legal, sacrificial, or narrative purposes. The repeated use of this term across diverse biblical contexts points to the he-goat's relevance in multiple spheres of ancient Israelite society. The animal was significant enough to warrant specific designation rather than generic reference, which typically occurs when a creature carries particular legal weight, ritual function, or cultural meaning. The 53 occurrences distributed across the biblical corpus demonstrate that the term appeared regularly in contexts important enough for scribal preservation and transmission. Without access to the specific passages where this word appears, the data alone confirms that שָׂעִיר functioned as a precise zoological term for male goats in Hebrew biblical vocabulary. Its frequency and specificity suggest that understanding references to he-goats is important for accurately reading biblical narratives, laws, and ritual descriptions.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
53 total occurrences across the text — showing 50
They brought near the male goats for the sin offering before the king and the assembly; and they laid their hands on them.
Ezekiel 45:23The seven days of the feast he shall prepare a burnt offering to Yahweh, seven bulls and seven rams without defect daily the seven days; and a male goat daily for a sin offering.
Leviticus 16:9Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for Yahweh, and offer him for a sin offering.
Ezekiel 43:22“On the second day you shall offer a male goat without defect for a sin offering; and they shall cleanse the altar, as they cleansed it with the bull.
Ezekiel 43:25“Seven days you shall prepare every day a goat for a sin offering. They shall also prepare a young bull, and a ram out of the flock, without defect.
Daniel 8:21The rough male goat is the king of Greece. The great horn that is between his eyes is the first king.
Genesis 37:31They took Joseph’s tunic, and killed a male goat, and dipped the tunic in the blood.
Leviticus 16:10But the goat on which the lot fell for the scapegoat shall be presented alive before Yahweh, to make atonement for him, to send him away as the scapegoat into the wilderness.
Leviticus 4:23if his sin in which he has sinned is made known to him, he shall bring as his offering a goat, a male without defect.
Leviticus 4:24He shall lay his hand on the head of the goat, and kill it in the place where they kill the burnt offering before Yahweh. It is a sin offering.
Leviticus 9:3You shall speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘Take a male goat for a sin offering; and a calf and a lamb, both a year old, without defect, for a burnt offering;
Leviticus 9:15He presented the people’s offering, and took the goat of the sin offering which was for the people, and killed it, and offered it for sin, like the first.
Leviticus 10:16Moses diligently inquired about the goat of the sin offering, and, behold, it was burned. He was angry with Eleazar and with Ithamar, the sons of Aaron who were left, saying,
Leviticus 16:5He shall take from the congregation of the children of Israel two male goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.
Leviticus 16:7He shall take the two goats, and set them before Yahweh at the door of the Tent of Meeting.
Leviticus 16:8Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats: one lot for Yahweh, and the other lot for the scapegoat.
Leviticus 16:15“Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people, and bring his blood within the veil, and do with his blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat.
Leviticus 16:18“He shall go out to the altar that is before Yahweh and make atonement for it, and shall take some of the bull’s blood, and some of the goat’s blood, and put it around on the horns of the altar.
Leviticus 16:20“When he has finished atoning for the Holy Place, the Tent of Meeting, and the altar, he shall present the live goat.
Leviticus 16:21Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, even all their sins; and he shall put them on the head of the goat, and shall send him away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is ready.
Leviticus 16:21Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, even all their sins; and he shall put them on the head of the goat, and shall send him away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is ready.
Leviticus 16:22The goat shall carry all their iniquities on himself to a solitary land, and he shall release the goat in the wilderness.
Leviticus 16:22The goat shall carry all their iniquities on himself to a solitary land, and he shall release the goat in the wilderness.
Leviticus 16:26“He who lets the goat go as the scapegoat shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp.
Leviticus 16:27The bull for the sin offering, and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place, shall be carried outside the camp; and they shall burn their skins, their flesh, and their dung with fire.
Leviticus 23:19You shall offer one male goat for a sin offering, and two male lambs a year old for a sacrifice of peace offerings.
Numbers 7:16one male goat for a sin offering;
Numbers 7:22one male goat for a sin offering;
Numbers 7:28one male goat for a sin offering;
Numbers 7:34one male goat for a sin offering;
Numbers 7:40one male goat for a sin offering;
Numbers 7:46one male goat for a sin offering;
Numbers 7:52one male goat for a sin offering;
Numbers 7:58one male goat for a sin offering;
Numbers 7:64one male goat for a sin offering;
Numbers 7:70one male goat for a sin offering;
Numbers 7:76one male goat for a sin offering;
Numbers 7:82one male goat for a sin offering;
Numbers 7:87all the cattle for the burnt offering twelve bulls, the rams twelve, the male lambs a year old twelve, and their meal offering; and twelve male goats for a sin offering;
Numbers 15:24then it shall be, if it was done unwittingly, without the knowledge of the congregation, that all the congregation shall offer one young bull for a burnt offering, for a pleasant aroma to Yahweh, with its meal offering and its drink offering, according to the ordinance, and one male goat for a sin offering.
Numbers 28:15Also, one male goat for a sin offering to Yahweh shall be offered in addition to the continual burnt offering and its drink offering.
Numbers 28:22and one male goat for a sin offering, to make atonement for you.
Numbers 28:30and one male goat, to make atonement for you.
Numbers 29:5and one male goat for a sin offering, to make atonement for you;
Numbers 29:11one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the sin offering of atonement, and the continual burnt offering, and its meal offering, and their drink offerings.
Numbers 29:16and one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering, its meal offering, and its drink offering.
Numbers 29:19and one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering, with its meal offering and their drink offerings.
Numbers 29:22and one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering, and its meal offering, and its drink offering.
Numbers 29:25and one male goat for a sin offering; in addition to the continual burnt offering, its meal offering, and its drink offering.
Numbers 29:28and one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering, and its meal offering, and its drink offering.