12 myths
Myths, legends, and mystical writings about Azazel from across Jewish tradition.
12 myths on JewishMythology.com retell how Jewish tradition imagines azazel, drawn from the Hebrew Bible, Midrash, Talmud, Kabbalah, and later Jewish literature. Each story below synthesizes primary sources into a single narrative; follow any myth to read it, and from there into the source passages behind it.
Abraham is waiting for the evening sacrifice at the altar when a bird descends on the carcasses. It tells him to run before he burns.
Adam and Eve stood embracing under the tree, and something with a man's hands and twelve wings stood between them, holding out the grapes.
Abraham watches the cosmic picture and sees Adam, Eve, the adversary, and then Cain raising his hand. Azazel is behind all of it.
In the Apocalypse of Abraham, the Covenant Between the Pieces becomes a cosmic ascent. Abraham ends up in the seventh heaven watching the end of history unfold.
On the way to heaven, Azazel appeared and tried to turn Abraham back. The angel Iaoel gave Abraham the only words that would work.
God warned them that the pull toward their own desire would rise in them too, down there in bodies. They went anyway. Azazel crafted the paint and the gold.
An unclean bird landed on the split carcasses and told Abraham to run before the fire took him. He stayed, and learned how long the age had left.
The High Priest drew lots over two identical goats. One went to God and one went to Azazel. The second goat went to the edge of the world and was destroyed.
Two hundred angels swore an oath on Mount Hermon and descended. Azazel taught weapons and cosmetics. Four archangels bound him under the desert.
The giants ate everything the earth grew, then the animals, then each other. Shemhazai hanged himself between heaven and earth. Azzael was buried in the dark.
Shamchazai and Azael descended to prove angels could master the earth. One hangs in repentance between the worlds; the other became a name in the desert.
Two hundred angels swore an oath together on Mount Hermon. Azazel taught men to forge blades and women to paint their faces. Raphael buried him upside down.
