The Hebrew Bible says Enoch "walked with God, and he was no more, for God took him" (Genesis 5:24). Generations of readers have understood this as Enoch being taken alive into heaven—a rare and extraordinary fate. Targum Onkelos tells a completely different story.
Onkelos renders "walked with God" as "walked with the fear of God." Enoch did not walk alongside God as a companion. He walked in reverence and awe. The relationship is not peer-to-peer. It is creature-to-Creator, and Onkelos will not let the language suggest otherwise.
Then comes the bombshell. "God took him" becomes, in Onkelos's Aramaic, "God put him to death." Enoch was not raptured into heaven. He died. Onkelos strips away the mystical interpretation entirely, replacing celestial ascent with ordinary mortality. Why? Because the idea of a human being taken bodily into heaven blurs the boundary between the human and the divine—exactly the kind of blurring Onkelos works to prevent throughout his translation.
The rest of Genesis 5 is a genealogical list—Adam to Noah, with lifespans stretching into the hundreds of years. Onkelos translates it faithfully, making no adjustments to the extraordinary ages. Nine hundred and thirty years for Adam. Nine hundred and sixty-nine for Methuselah. These numbers stand without comment.
The chapter ends with Noah's birth and his father Lemech's prophecy: "This one will bring us rest from our work and the anguish of our hands, from the soil which God has cursed" (Genesis 5:29). Onkelos renders "anguish" as "toil"—a small change, but one that keeps the focus on physical labor rather than existential suffering.
1. This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that the Lord God created man, in the resemblance of Elohim He made him;
2. Male and female He created them; and He blessed them, and called their name Man, in the day that they were created.
3. And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and begat in his resemblance (one) who was like to himself, and he called his name Sheth.
4. And the days of Adam after he had begotten Sheth were eight hundred years, and be begat sons and daughters.
5. And all the days of Adam which he lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died.
6. And Sheth lived a hundred and five years, and begat Enosh.
7. And Sheth lived after he had begotton Enosh eight hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters.
8. And all the days of Sheth were nine hundred and twelve years, and he died.
9. And Enosh lived ninety years, and begat Keinan.
10. And Enosh lived after he had begotten Keinan eight hundred and fifteen years, and begat sons and daughters.
11. And all the days of Enosh were nine hundred and five years, and he died.
12. And Keinan lived seventy years, and begat Mahalalel.
13. And Keinan lived after he had begotten Mahalalel eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons and daughters.
14. And all the days of Keinan were nine hundred and ten years, and be died.
15. And Mahalalel lived sixty and five years, and begat Jered.
16. And Mahalalel lived after he had begotten Jered eight hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters.
17. And all the days of Mahalalel were eight hundred and ninety and five years, and he died.
18. And Jered lived an hundred and sixty and two years, and begat Hanok.
19. And Jered lived after he had begotten Hanok eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.
20. And all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty and two years, and he died.
21. And Hanok lived sixty and five years, and begat Methushelach.
22. And Hanok walked in the fear of the Lord, after he had begotten Methushelach, three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.
23. And all the days of Hanok were three hundred and sixty and five years.
24. And Hanok walked in the fear of the Lord; and he was not; for the Lord had not made him to die.
25. And Methushelach lived an hundred and eighty and seven years, and begat Lemek.
26. And Methushelach lived after he had begotten Lemek seven hundred and eighty and two years, and begat sons and daughters.
27. And all the days of Methushelach were nine hundred and sixty and nine years, and he died.
28. And Lemek lived a hundred and eighty and two years, and begat a son.
29. And he called his name Noach, saying, This shall console us from the works and from the labour of our hands from the earth which the Lord bath cursed.
30. And Lemek lived, after he had begotten Noach, five hundred and ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters.
31. And all the days of Lemek were seven hundred and seventy and seven years, and he died.
32. And Noach was a son of five hundred years, and Noach begat Shem, Cham, and Japheth.
