Later text
Psalm 103:12BSB
As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.
Intertextuality Pair
Psalm 103:12 → Leviticus 16:22
Echo
Earlier text
The goat will carry on itself all their iniquities into a solitary place, and the man will release it into the wilderness.
Significance
Psalm 103:12 declares "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us" — a spatial metaphor that echoes the Day of Atonement scapegoat ritual of Leviticus 16:22, where the goat "will carry on itself all their iniquities into a solitary place" (אֶרֶץ גְּזֵרָה, eretz gezerah, "a land of cutting off"). Both texts envision sin being physically transported away from the sinner — the scapegoat bearing iniquities into the wilderness, the psalmist celebrating that transgressions (פְּשָׁעִים, pesha'im) have been removed to an immeasurable distance. The psalmist transforms the ritual drama into theological affirmation: what the scapegoat enacted annually and visibly, God accomplishes decisively and permanently for those who fear Him.
- Found via
- Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
- Reference Type
- Echo
- Connection Method(s)
- Longitudinal Theme
The warrant is a shared motif, not a verbal allusion. The two verses share no content vocabulary: the psalm's removal verb is רָחַק (rāḥaq, H7368), "to make distant," while Leviticus 16:22's is נָשָׂא (nāśāʾ, H5375), "to bear, carry away," and the psalm speaks of pesha' where the rite speaks of ʿāwôn. Psalm 103 is best read as lyrical recital — the removal event recited in poetic register out of Israel's common memory — rather than as an allusion-grade re-use of the live-goat rite.
Related Anchor-Text Networks
Linked Mentions 3