The Targum Jonathan on (Deuteronomy 4) transforms the Sinai revelation into something far more vivid than the Hebrew original. Where the Bible says God spoke from the fire, the Targum says Israel "heard the voice of the Word, but saw no likeness—only a voice speaking." The Aramaic term Dibbura (the Word) acts as an intermediary between God and the people. Israel heard a divine voice. They did not see a divine form. The Targum is drawing a hard theological line against any attempt to depict God.
The Ten Commandments receive a dramatic upgrade. The Hebrew says God wrote them on stone tablets. The Targum says He "wrote upon sapphire tablets." This detail—that the tablets of the covenant were made of sapphire rather than ordinary stone—appears in several midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary)ic traditions and connects to the vision in (Exodus 24:10), where the elders of Israel saw beneath God's feet "a pavement of sapphire." The Targum makes the connection explicit.
The Targum's theology of idolatry contains a remarkable addition. Other nations carry their gods on their shoulders, "that they may seem to be nigh them; but they cannot hear with their ears." Meanwhile, "the Word of the Lord sitteth upon His throne high and lifted up, and heareth our prayer what time we pray before Him." The contrast is devastating. Pagan gods need to be carried. God sits on a cosmic throne and hears from infinite distance.
The passage about heavenly bodies contains a subtle but important change. Where the Hebrew warns against worshipping the sun and moon, the Targum adds that God "hath by them distributed the knowledge of all the peoples that are under the whole heavens." The celestial bodies are not rival gods—they are tools God uses to organize the nations. Israel alone was taken as God's personal portion, pulled "from the iron furnace of Mizraim."
The chapter closes with the cities of refuge. The Targum names them specifically—Kevatirin for Reuben, Ramatha for Gad, Dabera for Manasseh—geographic precision the Hebrew text lacks.