The Targum Jonathan on (Deuteronomy 12) is obsessed with a single idea: the place where God's Shekinah (שכינה), His divine presence, will choose to dwell. The Hebrew text says "the place which the Lord your God will choose." The Targum consistently expands this to "the place which the Word of the Lord your God will choose for His Shekinah to dwell there."
This is not a small change. The Hebrew implies God picks a location. The Targum says God's Shekinah actively takes up residence—a mobile divine presence that will settle in one specific spot. Before the Temple was built, the Shekinah moved with the Tabernacle. After, it dwelt in Jerusalem. The Targum treats the Temple not as a human construction but as a house the Shekinah selected for itself.
The Targum also adds a name to the place Israel was heading. The Hebrew says "the resting place and the inheritance." The Targum says "the Sanctuary" and "the dwelling of Peace"—identifying the destination explicitly as the Temple and using "Peace" (Shalem) as a reference to Jerusalem (Yerushalem).
The dietary laws receive important clarification. The Hebrew permits eating meat "according to the blessing of the Lord." The Targum explains that both the ritually clean and unclean may eat ordinary meat together—"as the flesh of the antelope or of the hart." The distinction matters only for sacrificial offerings. At home, everyone eats the same food. This is a practical ruling disguised as translation.
The chapter's most urgent concern is blood. "The blood is the subsistence of the life," the Targum says—not merely "the blood is the life" as in Hebrew. The word "subsistence" implies the blood literally sustains the living soul. Consuming it would mean consuming another being's life force. The Targum demands: "put a strong restraint upon your desires" when it comes to blood. The Hebrew says simply "be strong not to eat it." The Targum acknowledges the temptation.
The chapter ends with a horrific detail about pagan worship. Other nations "have bound and burned their sons and daughters with fire unto their idols." The Hebrew says they burn their children. The Targum adds that they first bind them—a detail that makes the horror tactile and specific.