Jacob's deathbed blessings (Genesis 49) are among the most obscure passages in the Torah. Targum Onkelos does not merely translate them—he decodes them, turning cryptic poetry into explicit prophecy.
The blessing of Judah is the most dramatically expanded. The Hebrew says, "The scepter shall not depart from Judah... until Shiloh comes" (Genesis 49:10). Onkelos renders "Shiloh" as the Messiah: "The rod of the ruler will not depart from the house of Judah, nor a scribe from his children's children forever, until the Moshiach will come, for his is the kingship, and to him shall nations listen." The Aramaic makes explicit what the Hebrew only hints at—the royal line of Judah leads directly to a messianic king.
Onkelos continues expanding the Judah passage with messianic imagery. "He washes his clothes in wine" becomes: "The righteous will congregate around the Moshiach, and those who engage in Torah will study with him." The wine-stained garments of the Hebrew become a vision of a Torah academy gathered around the future redeemer.
Other blessings receive similar treatment. Reuben's instability—"unstable as water, you shall no longer be superior"—Onkelos explains by specifying what Reuben lost: "the birthright, the priesthood, and the kingship." Simeon and Levi, whose "instruments of violence are their wares," performed "mighty deeds" in the land—Onkelos cannot bring himself to condemn them outright. The patriarch's dying words become a theological roadmap: each tribe's future is not fate but character, not punishment but consequence.