204 passagesc. 1st–2nd century CEAramaicPublic Domain
Individual passages from Targum Jonathan, shown in source order. Page 1 of 5.
The Hebrew Bible opens with a spare, magnificent account of creation in seven days. The Targum Jonathan, an ancient Aramaic translation composed between the 2nd and 7th centuries C...
The Book of Exodus opens with a list of names and a king who "knew not Joseph." Targum Jonathan transforms this into something far more vivid, adding a prophetic dream, naming Phar...
When Moses finished building the Tabernacle, he stood outside and refused to go in. His reasoning, according to the Targum Jonathan, was striking: Mount Sinai had been holy for onl...
The standard census in the Book of Numbers is a dry headcount. But the Targum Jonathan transforms it into something far more dramatic, adding a theological reason for every exempti...
The standard text of (Deuteronomy 1) opens with Moses speaking to Israel "beyond the Jordan." But the Targum Jonathan, an ancient Aramaic translation composed between the 1st and 4...
(Genesis 2:7) says God formed man from "the dust of the ground." The Targum Jonathan says something far more specific. God took dust from the place of the Beit HaMikdash (בית המקדש...
The Torah tells us that Moses was born, hidden, found by Pharaoh's daughter, and eventually fled to Midian. Targum Jonathan fills in the gaps with miracles, secret identities, and ...
The grain offering described in Leviticus 2 seems straightforward, flour, oil, frankincense, baked into cakes or wafers. But the Targum Jonathan adds a theological bombshell hidden...
The Hebrew Bible says the Israelites camped by their tribal standards (Numbers 2:2). It never describes what was on them. The Targum Jonathan fills that silence with a riot of colo...
The Targum Jonathan on (Deuteronomy 2) adds a theological bombshell that the Hebrew text only hints at. God commands Israel not to touch the land of Esau, not because of a treaty o...
The Hebrew text of (Genesis 3) says Eve "saw that the tree was good for food." The Targum Jonathan says she saw Sammael, the angel of death, standing right there, and was afraid. T...
The standard book of Exodus says an angel appeared to Moses in the burning bush. The Targum Jonathan, an ancient Aramaic translation composed in the land of Israel, names that ange...
Leviticus 3 describes the peace offering, the only sacrifice where the person bringing it actually got to eat part of the meat. The Targum Jonathan adds a small but theologically l...
In the standard Hebrew text, God takes the Levites instead of Israel's firstborn sons. The Targum Jonathan adds details that transform this administrative swap into a high-stakes t...
The Targum Jonathan on (Deuteronomy 3) contains two stunning additions to the biblical narrative. The first involves a giant king. The second involves the most desperate prayer Mos...
(Genesis 4:8) contains one of the strangest silences in the Torah. It says "Cain spoke to Abel his brother," and then nothing. The sentence just stops. The next thing that happens ...
Exodus chapter 4 tells how Moses received miraculous signs to convince Israel of his mission. The Targum Jonathan transforms this chapter into something far stranger, especially wh...
When the entire community of Israel sinned by accident, who took responsibility? The Hebrew Bible says "the elders of the congregation" laid their hands on the bull (Leviticus 4:15...
Transporting the Tabernacle was the most dangerous job in ancient Israel. The Targum Jonathan makes clear that one wrong glance at the sacred vessels meant death by divine fire. Wh...
The Targum Jonathan on (Deuteronomy 4) transforms the Sinai revelation into something far more vivid than the Hebrew original. Where the Bible says God spoke from the fire, the Tar...
Targum Jonathan turns to The First Twelve Hours Of Adam's Life. One tradition breaks it down like this: In the first hour, Adam exists purely as a thought in the divine mind. Then,...
One fascinating, and frankly disturbing, thread revolves around Cain's conception. It's a story that implicates not just Adam and Eve, but also angels, serpents, and the very natur...
(Genesis 5:24) is one of the most mysterious verses in the Torah. "Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him." That is all the Hebrew says. No explanation of where he...
When Moses and Aaron first confronted Pharaoh and demanded he release Israel, the Hebrew Bible records Pharaoh's defiant reply: "Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice?" (Ex...
What happens when you cannot afford a lamb? Leviticus 5 introduces one of the most compassionate mechanisms in ancient law, a sliding scale for guilt offerings. And the Targum Jona...
The Sotah ritual, the ordeal of the woman accused of adultery, is already one of the strangest passages in the Hebrew Bible. The Targum Jonathan makes it stranger, adding psycholog...
The Targum Jonathan on (Deuteronomy 5) does something extraordinary with the Ten Commandments. Where the Hebrew gives each commandment as a prohibition, the Targum expands every si...
The Hebrew Bible says the "sons of God" saw that human women were beautiful, and took wives from among them (Genesis 6:2). That's all it says. The Targum Jonathan rewrites the scen...
Exodus chapter 6 is mostly genealogy, the kind of passage readers skim. The Targum Jonathan turns it into a minefield of hidden revelations. The chapter opens with God revealing th...
The Targum Jonathan opens Leviticus 6 with a line that does not exist in the Hebrew Bible: the burnt offering "is brought to make atonement for the thoughts of the heart." Standard...
Everyone knows the Priestly Blessing: "The Lord bless you and keep you" (Numbers 6:24-26). What most people do not know is that the Targum Jonathan expands those three elegant vers...
The Targum Jonathan on (Deuteronomy 6) contains one of the most beloved stories in all of rabbinic literature. And it appears right in the middle of the most sacred prayer in Judai...
The Hebrew Bible says God told Noah to enter the ark, and that rain would begin in seven days (Genesis 7:4). It does not explain why seven days. The Targum Jonathan does, and the e...
When the Hebrew Bible says Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and it became a serpent (Exodus 7:10), the Targum Jonathan makes a far more terrifying claim. The rod did not b...
Leviticus 7 compiles the laws of trespass offerings, thanksgiving offerings, and the priestly portions. The Targum Jonathan repeats a stunning claim from the previous chapter, fram...
Numbers 7 is the longest chapter in the Torah, listing identical offerings from twelve tribal princes across twelve days. It is famously repetitive. The Targum Jonathan rescues it ...
The Targum Jonathan on (Deuteronomy 7) contains one of the most theologically radical statements in all of ancient Aramaic literature. God did not choose Israel because they were t...
When the Flood ended, the Hebrew Bible says God sent a wind to dry the earth (Genesis 8:1). The Targum Jonathan says God sent "the wind of mercies." One word changes the theology. ...
The Targum Jonathan on Exodus 8 contains one of the most remarkable theological additions in all of ancient Aramaic literature: the reason Moses personally refused to bring the pla...
God told Moses to "bring near Aaron" for the priestly consecration. And the Targum Jonathan adds three devastating words the Hebrew Bible does not contain: "who is afar off on acco...
The Targum Jonathan transforms the consecration of the Levites from a brief ritual into an elaborate purification involving specific quantities of water, a razor over every inch of...
The Targum Jonathan on (Deuteronomy 8) transforms a description of the Promised Land's natural resources into a prophecy about its intellectual future. The Hebrew says the land has...
The Hebrew Bible says Noah planted a vineyard (Genesis 9:20). The Targum Jonathan says he "found a vine which the river had brought away from the garden of Eden." This single addit...
The plague of hail in Exodus chapter 9 comes with a warning: anyone who fears God's word should bring their livestock inside. The Hebrew Bible says some of Pharaoh's servants feare...
On the eighth day of consecration, the first of Nisan, Aaron was about to offer his first sacrifice as high priest. Then he froze. The Targum Jonathan says he "saw at the corner of...
The Hebrew Bible mentions a cloud over the Tabernacle. The Targum Jonathan turns it into a sentient navigation system, a pillar of divine fire and glory that dictated every movemen...
The Targum Jonathan on (Deuteronomy 9) contains one of the most dramatic expansions in all of Aramaic literature. When Moses recalls the golden calf, the Hebrew says God was angry ...
Genesis 10 is the Table of Nations, a genealogy listing Noah's descendants and where they settled. In the Hebrew Bible, it reads like a census. The Targum Jonathan turns it into a ...
