One of the Torah's most mysterious verses, (Genesis 6:2), talks about "the sons of God" taking "the daughters of men." The Targumist keeps the image but sharpens it.

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan renders it: "The sons of the great saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and painted, and curled, walking with revelation of the flesh, and with imaginations of wickedness; that they took them wives of all who pleased them."

The Targum describes the daughters in harsh social detail: they were beautified artificially, painted, coiffed, dressed provocatively, minds turned to wickedness. The blame in the Targum is distributed. The "sons of the great" — aristocratic men, or in the Targumist's next verse, fallen angels — took whatever women they wanted. But the women are not innocent either. This is a generation that has turned its entire public life toward seduction.

The Targumist is describing social collapse, not just individual sin. When the powerful take whomever they want, and when public culture celebrates display and lust, the entire moral fabric tears. The Flood does not come out of nowhere. It is drawn down by a world that has made desire its only god.