The laws of (Exodus 21) sound harsh in the Hebrew Bible. The Targum Jonathan systematically softens many of them, adding legal specifics that transform ancient punishments into something closer to a functioning court system.
The most famous transformation is "eye for an eye." The Hebrew text says it plainly: "eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, hand for a hand, foot for a foot" (Exodus 21:24). The Targum rewrites every single one: "the value of an eye for an eye, the value of a tooth for a tooth, the value of a hand for a hand, the value of a foot for a foot." By inserting the word "value" before each body part, the Targum converts physical retaliation into financial compensation. This is the rabbinic interpretation that would later become normative Jewish law, but the Targum embeds it directly into the translation itself.
The Hebrew servant laws also get expanded. The Hebrew says a thief sold into servitude goes free in the seventh year. The Targum specifies he was sold "on account of his theft," making the cause explicit. When a servant chooses to stay, the Targum says his ear is pierced at "the door that hath posts" and he serves "until the jubela"—the Jubilee year. The Hebrew says "forever." The Targum replaces eternity with a specific legal deadline.
Murder cases get precise death penalties. Moses receives instructions that a murderer "shall be put to death with the sword." One who strikes his father or mother "shall die by strangling." A kidnapper also dies "by strangling." One who curses his parents "by the Great Name" dies "by being stoned with stones." The Hebrew text prescribes death without specifying the method. The Targum assigns a different execution method to each crime, matching what would later become the four death penalties of the Sanhedrin (the supreme rabbinic court).
Even the goring ox receives expanded treatment. If an ox was known to be dangerous and had been "attested before his owner three times," the owner faces death "sent upon him from heaven"—divine punishment, not human execution. The Targum constantly mediates between the severity of biblical law and the developing rabbinic tradition of mercy and precision.