13 myths
Myths, legends, and mystical writings about Azazel from across Jewish tradition.
13 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.
God tells Abraham to look again at the cosmic picture. He sees Adam and Eve, a vast figure at the serpent's side, and the fruit changing hands.
Abraham watches the cosmic picture and sees Adam, Eve, the adversary, and then Cain raising his hand. Azazel is behind all of it.
The Watchers descended from heaven, fathered giants, and watched the Flood answer a world whose boundaries had been broken beyond repair.
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.
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.
Two angels swore they could outdo humanity, so heaven let Shemhazai and Azazel descend. They fathered sons, taught women's finery, and the Flood came.
Two hundred angels swore an oath on Mount Hermon and descended. Azazel taught weapons and cosmetics. Four archangels bound him under the desert.
In the days of Jared the angels came down to teach mankind, and their holy errand soured into lust, giants, and the blood that summoned the Flood.
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 goats stand alike before the High Priest. A lottery, not a man, decides which one bleeds and which one carries Israel's sins to Azazel.
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.
God lifts the curtain on the last age for Abraham showing ten plagues, a trumpet blast, and one figure descending with all the divine power in a single measure.
