2,569 texts · Page 38 of 54
Joseph has been holding a pose for three chapters. Stern vizier. Egyptian potentate. Accuser, examiner, power. Then he lifts his eyes and sees, standing among his brothers, the boy...
The Torah says plainly in (Genesis 47:7) that Jacob "blessed Pharaoh." It does not tell us what the blessing was. The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan supplies the words: "May it please the ...
In (Genesis 47:31), once Joseph has sworn to bury him in Canaan, Jacob does something cryptic. He "bowed himself upon the bed's head." The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan pulls back the cur...
A blessing is often remembered for what it promises. This one is remembered for what it recalls. Before Jacob spoke a single word of future over his grandsons, he spoke a word of p...
Jacob's blessing of Joseph reaches into cosmic language. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan preserves two divine titles worth pausing on. "From the Word of the Lord shall be thy help; and He w...
Pharaoh confronts the midwives. Why are you letting the boys live? And Shifra and Puvah — in the Targum's Aramaic, Jokheved and Miriam — give an answer so audacious it borders on t...
Why did the cry of the Hebrews finally pierce heaven? Because Pharaoh had stopped being a tyrant and become a monster. "And it was after many of those days that the king of Mizraim...
"And their cry was heard before the Lord, and before the Lord was the covenant remembered which He had covenanted with Abraham, with Izhak, and with Jakob." The Targum Pseudo-Jonat...
Why did redemption come when it did, and not earlier? The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Exodus (2:25) has a startling answer. "And the Lord looked upon the affliction of the bondage of...
"And when it was seen before the Lord that he turned to look, the Lord called to him from the midst of the bush and said, Mosheh, Mosheh! And he said, Behold me." The Targum Pseudo...
"And He said, The oppression of My people who are in Mizraim is verily manifest before Me, and heard before Me is their cry on account of them who hold them in bondage; for their a...
"And now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel cometh up before Me, and the bruising of the Mizraee wherewith they bruise them is also revealed before Me." The Targum Pseudo-Jonat...
"And the Lord said again unto Mosheh, Thus shalt thou speak to the sons of Israel: The God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Izhak, and the God of Jakob, hath sent me...
Before Moses ever steps into Pharaoh's throne room, God rehearses the scene with him in advance. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, the expansive Aramaic paraphrase, preserves the staging: th...
Even after three signs, Moses refuses. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan preserves the protest with a phrase more vivid than the Hebrew: Moses is of a staggering mouth and staggering speech —...
The first public assembly ends not in riot but in worship. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan preserves the triple movement: the people believed, and heard that the Lord had remembered the son...
The confrontation finally arrives. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan preserves the opening line with ceremonial weight: Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel: Release My people, that they ma...
Pharaoh's response to the slaves' religious request is to tighten the screws. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan preserves the logic with cruel precision: the (same) number of bricks which the...
The Israelite foremen march into Pharaoh's court and deliver one of the boldest complaints in the Torah. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan renders their protest with an expanded final clause:...
After the slaves refuse to hear him, Moses turns to God with a new version of his old protest. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan preserves the logic: Behold, the sons of Israel do not hearken...
The frogs finally break him. For the first time, Pharaoh sends for Moses and Aharon and asks them to pray. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 8:4) preserves his exact bargaining pos...
Pharaoh has begged. Now Moses gives him an extraordinary gift: pick the hour. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 8:5) renders the offer with unmistakable dignity to Pharaoh's office...
Moses's promise is exact and generous. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 8:7): The frogs shall depart from thee, and from thy house, and from thy servants, and from thy people; and...
Before the fourth plague, God sends Moses back to the water. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 8:16) restages the old dawn scene: Arise in the morning, and stand before Pharoh: beh...
Pressure is working. Pharaoh concedes — partially. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 8:24) records the half-surrender: I will release you to sacrifice before the Lord your God in t...
Moses accepts the deal — warily. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 8:25) preserves the careful language: I will go forth from thee, and pray before the Lord to remove the swarm of ...
The prayer works. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 8:27) delivers the outcome with plain satisfaction: the Lord did according to the word of the prayer of Mosheh, and removed the ...
Plague five begins with the same message that opened the demands at the Nile. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 9:1): Thus saith the Lord, the God of the Jehudaee, Emancipate My pe...
After the boils, the Lord does not relent. He sends Moses back to the palace, and the command has not changed. "Arise in the morning, and place thyself before Pharoh, and say to hi...
Confession is easy when the sky is falling on you. "Intercede before the Lord," Pharaoh pleads to Moses, "that with Him it may be enough, and there may be no more maledictory thund...
Moses does not pray inside Pharaoh's palace. He does not pray inside the city at all. "When I have gone out from thee into the city," he tells the king, "I will outspread my hands ...
Moses and Aaron walked out of the palace, past the gates, into the suburb of the city. And there, in the open, Moses did exactly what he had promised. The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on...
The name of the Pesach offering is usually translated "the sacrifice of the passing over." Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 12:27) renames it in a way that catches the heart. In t...
The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 13:9) hears a strange instruction and decodes it into practice. The verse says the deliverance from Egypt shall be "a sign upon your hand, and...
The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 13:16) closes the tefillin section with a repetition that is not really a repetition. Once again the text says the Exodus must be inscribed an...
The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 14:10) splits the scene at the Sea of Reeds into two simultaneous acts of worship. Behind Israel, Pharaoh has arrived at the camp and sees the...
The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 14:14) finishes the fourfold answer from the verse before. Two parties still need their reply: the fighters and the screamers. To the company ...
The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 14:15) catches a surprising reprimand. Moses is standing on the shore praying. God interrupts him: "Why standest thou praying before Me?" It i...
The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 15:3) softens a hard Hebrew line. The Torah reads "Adonai ish milchamah"—the Lord is a man of war. The phrase is startling. Is God really a "m...
The Song of the Sea reaches its highest note with a question: Who is like Thee among the exalted gods, O Lord, who is like Thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing won...
(Exodus 15:18) in the Hebrew is a single line: The Lord shall reign forever and ever. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan expands it into a full coronation ceremony. When Israel beheld the sign...
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan keeps one detail from the Hebrew and clarifies another. Miriam, the sister of Aaron, is called the prophetess. She takes a tambourine, and all the women come...
When the people grumbled for bread, Moses's reply, as Targum Pseudo-Jonathan renders it, is a lesson in chain-of-command theology: By this you shall know, when the Lord prepareth y...
Some places carry the scar of what happened there in their very name. The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan explains that Moses called the site of the water-crisis "Temptation and Strife" — i...
When Amalek attacked, Moses turned to Joshua with instructions that reveal what kind of army Israel would fight with. The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan records the order: "Choose such men...
The plain Hebrew of (Exodus 17:11) says Moses lifted his hands, and when he did, Israel prevailed. What were the raised hands actually doing? The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan leaves no r...
The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan fills in what the Hebrew leaves implicit: why Moses's hands grew heavy. "The hands of Moses were heavy, because the conflict was prolonged till the morro...
After the Amalek battle, Moses built an altar — but the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan preserves the name he carved into it with surprising precision: "The Word of the Lord is my banner; f...
