==Nella Bibbia ebraica e nella letteratura rabbinica==
La prima apparizione del nome "Azazel" si trova negli scritti di enoc[[Enoc]], in particolare nel "libro dei vigilanti" solo successivamente nel [[Levitico]] 16:8, quando [[Dio]] ordina all'alto sacerdote [[Aronne]] to "di sacrificare due capre, una per il Signore e l'altra per Azazel" il giorno dello [[Yom Kippur]]. <!--The goat designated by lot for the Lord is to be used as a sin offering, while the goat designated for Azazel "shall be left standing alive before the Lord, to make expiation with it and to send it off to the wilderness to Azazel" (Lev. 16:10). Aaron was to "lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities and transgressions of the Israelites, whatever their sins, putting them on the head of the goat; and it shall be sent off to the wilderness by someone designated for the task. Thus the goat shall carry on it all their iniquities to an inaccessible region; and the goat shall be set free in the wilderness" (Lev. 16:21-22). Leviticus also says that "He who set the goat for Azazel free shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water; after that he may reenter the camp" (16:26). This is the origin of the term ''scape-goat'' (see below).
According to some scholars, the name ''Azazel'' may be derived from ''azaz'' meaning ''strong'', ''rugged'', or ''grandeur/majesty'', and ''el'' meaning ''of God'' or ''strong'', giving either ''strong one of God'' or referring to the rugged and rough mountain cliff from which the goat was cast down .[http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=2203&letter=A&search=Lev.%20xvi.%208] Some propose that Azazel may have been derived from the Canaanite god 'Asiz, who caused the sun to burn strongly.
