This week’s phrase comes from Leviticus 16:10:

But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.

Much like in the Old Testament where the sins of the people were symbolically placed upon an innocent goat, the phrase is used today to refer to someone, or something, which is blamed for something instead of the guilty party.