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 scene entirely, and the details it adds reveal what ancient Aramaic translators actually thought happened before the Flood.
First, the Targum changes "sons of God" to "sons of the great." This is a deliberate theological move. The Hebrew bene elohim could imply divine beings, which raises uncomfortable questions about angels having children. The Targum hedges, but then names the fallen angels anyway: Schamchazai and Uzziel, "who fell from heaven." The translators wanted it both ways—downplay the divine parentage in one verse, then confirm the angelic descent two verses later.
The women get a makeover too. The Hebrew just says they were "beautiful." The Targum says they were "beautiful, and painted, and curled, walking with revelation of the flesh, and with imaginations of wickedness." This is not translation. This is commentary dressed as scripture. The translators blamed the women's appearance for the angels' fall, adding cosmetics and exposed skin to a text that never mentioned either.
Then there is the Memra. Every time God acts in this chapter, the Targum inserts "by His Word"—Memra in Aramaic. "The Lord said by His Word." "It repented the Lord in His Word." This is the Targum's signature theological invention: God never acts directly on the world. He acts through His Word, a kind of divine intermediary that shields God from direct contact with imperfect creation.
The 120 years in (Genesis 6:3) become an explicit grace period: "I will give them a prolongment of a hundred and twenty years, that they may work repentance, and not perish." The Hebrew is ambiguous. The Targum is not. And <strong>Noah's</strong> ark gets a precious stone from the river Phison to illuminate it instead of a window—because the translators apparently decided a gem from Eden made more sense than a skylight on a boat.