The Torah's divorce law in (Deuteronomy 24) states that a second husband may dislike the wife. Targum Jonathan adds something astonishing: "should they proclaim from the heavens about her that the latter husband shall dislike her." Divorce is not merely a human decision. It is announced from heaven. The Targum introduces divine foreknowledge into domestic law, suggesting that the dissolution of a marriage can be cosmically predetermined.
The kidnapping law specifies execution method. A man caught stealing a fellow Israelite and selling him "shall die by strangulation with the napkin." The Torah says only that the thief shall die. The Targum names the instrument—the napkin used for strangulation—a detail drawn from rabbinic legal tradition about the four modes of capital punishment.
The leprosy warning transforms from general caution into a specific story. "Remember that which the Lord your God did to Miriam, who contemned Mosheh for that which was not in him, when she was smitten with leprosy." The Torah mentions Miriam's leprosy briefly. The Targum adds the crucial detail—she "contemned" (spoke against) Moses "for that which was not in him," meaning her accusation was false. This turns a legal reminder into a moral tale about slander.
The pledge laws gain an unexpected theological witness. Return a poor man's garment before sunset so "he may bless thee; and to thee it shall be righteousness, for the sun shall bear the witness of thee before the Lord thy God." The sun itself becomes a witness to your acts of kindness. The Targum also expands the rule about fathers and children: "Fathers shall not die either by the testimony or for the sin of the children." The word "testimony" is the Targum's addition—it specifies that family members cannot testify against each other in capital cases, a distinctly rabbinic legal principle woven into the biblical text.