The Hebrew Bible says Moses came to "the mountain of God" at Horeb (Exodus 3:1). Targum Onkelos specifies: "the mountain on which the Glory of God was revealed." The mountain is not divine. It is a stage for divine revelation. The distinction matters—in Onkelos's theology, no physical object is inherently sacred. Places become holy through what God chooses to do there.
When God appears in the burning bush, the Hebrew says "an angel of God appeared to him in a flame of fire" (Exodus 3:2). Onkelos renders it as the angel "became revealed"—consistent with his program of replacing physical appearance with conceptual revelation. Moses sees the bush burning but not consumed. He turns aside to investigate. And then God speaks.
"Take your shoes off your feet, because the place upon which you are standing is holy ground" (Exodus 3:5). Onkelos changes "holy ground" to "a holy place." Ground implies the earth itself is sacred. A place implies that sanctity is situational—it belongs to this moment and this encounter, not to the dirt.
The climactic moment arrives when Moses asks God's name. "Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh"—"I Will Be What I Will Be" (Exodus 3:14). Onkelos does not translate this. He cannot translate it. The name stands in Hebrew within the Aramaic text, untouchable, irreducible. Some things are beyond the translator's reach. When God says "This is My eternal Name, and this is how I am to be mentioned for all generations" (Exodus 3:15), Onkelos renders it faithfully. The Name that cannot be translated is the Name that endures forever.
1. And Mosheh tended the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the \it rabba\it* of Midian, and he led the flock to the place of the best pastures of the wilderness, and came to the mountain on which was revealed the glory of the Lord, unto Horeb.
2. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire in the midst of a bush. And he gazed, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, but the bush was not consumed.
3. And Mosheh said, I will now turn and see this great sight, why the bush is not burned up.
4. And the Lord saw that he turned to see, and the Lord called to him from the midst of the bush, and said, Mosheh, Mosheh! And he said, Behold me.
5. And He said, Approach not hither; loose the sandal from thy foot, for the place where thou standest is holy.
6. And He said, I am the God of thy fathers; the God of Abraham, the God of Izhak, and the God of Jakob. And Mosheh bowed with his face; for he was afraid to look up to the glory of the Lord.
7. And the Lord said, The bondage of My people who is in Mizraim is verily disclosed before Me, and before Me is heard their cry on account of their toils; for their afflictions are disclosed before me;
8. And I have appeared to deliver them from the hand of the Mizraee, and to bring them up from that land, unto a land good and large, a land producing milk and honey, unto the place of the Kenaanaee, an the Hittaee, and the Amoraee, and the Perizaee, and the Hivaee, and the Yevusaee.
9. And now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel ascendeth before Me, and the affliction is also revealed before Me wherewith the Mizraee afflict them.
10. And now, come, I will send thee to Pharoh, and will bring forth the sons of Israel form Mizraim.
11. And Mosheh said before the Lord, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharoh to bring forth the sons of Israel from Mizraim?
12. And He said, Because My Word shall be thy helper: and this shall be the sign that I have sent thee: In thy leading forth of the people from Mizraim you shall do service before the Lord upon this mountain.
13. And Mosheh said before the Lord, Behold, when I am come to the sons of Israel, and say to them, The God of your fathers hath sent me to you, and they say to me, What is His name? What shall I say to them?
14. And the Lord said unto Mosheh, EHEYEH ASHER EHEYEH. And he said, Thus shalt thou speak to the sons of Israel, EHEYEH hath sent me unto you.
15. The Lord said moreover to Mosheh, Thus shalt thou speak to the sons of Israel, The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Izhak, and the God of Jakob, hath sent me unto you. This is My Name forever, and this is My Memorial in every generation and generation.
16. Go and assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, The Lord, the God of your fathers, hath revealed Himself to me, the God of Abraham, Izhak, and Jakob, saying, Remembering I have remembered you, and that which hath been done to you in Mizraim;
17. And I have said that I would bring you up from the bondage of Mizraim to the land of the Kenaanaee, and Hittaee, and Emoraee, and the Pherizaee, and Hivaee, and Jebusaee, to a land producing milk and honey.
18. And they will be obedient to thee, and thou shalt go, thou and the elders of Israel, to the king of Mizraim, and say to him, The Lord, the God of the Jehudaee, hath called us; and now let us go, as (for) a journey of three days into the desert, that we may sacrifice before the Lord our God.
19. But it is manifest before Me that the king of Mizraim will not release you, that you may go, not even on account of Him whose power is mighty.
20. But I will send forth the stroke of My power, and will smite the Mizraee with all My miracles which I will perform among them, and afterward they will send you away.
21. And I will give this people to become favourites in the eyes of the Mizraee, and it shall be that when you go you shall not go empty.
22. But you shall demand, a woman of her neighbour and the inmates of her house, articles of silver and of gold and vestments, and put them upon you sons and upon your daughters, and shall make the Mizraee empty.
