1,415 texts · Page 21 of 30
(Genesis 19:26) is famously brief. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan is not. "And his wife looked after the angel, to know what would be in the end of her father's house, for she was of the d...
(Genesis 19:33) is one of the most uncomfortable scenes in Torah, and Targum Pseudo-Jonathan does not look away. "And they made their father drink wine that night, and he was drunk...
(Genesis 19:34) is a verse most readers speed past. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan slows down and lets us hear the elder daughter plan. "And it was the day following, and the elder said to...
(Genesis 19:35) completes the pattern begun two nights earlier. "And they made their father drink wine that night also, and he was drunk, and the younger arose, and lay with him; a...
(Genesis 19:37), in Targum Pseudo-Jonathan: "And the elder brought forth a son, and she called his name Moab, because from her father she had conceived. He is the father of the Moa...
(Genesis 19:38), in the Targum's rendering: "And the younger also brought forth a son, and she called his name Bar-Ammi, because he was the son of her father. He is the father of t...
A thousand pieces of silver. That is what the king paid — and in Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Genesis 20:16), the Aramaic paraphrase lingers on what the coins mean. They are a keseia...
Here is a line that rewards slow reading. In Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Genesis 21:1), the Aramaic translator takes a short Hebrew verse and opens a window onto a principle the rab...
The newborn in Sarah's arms is laughter made flesh. In Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Genesis 21:7), she remembers who first carried the promise to her tent: not a man, not a neighbor,...
The biblical verse is blunt. Sarah tells Abraham to cast out the handmaid and her son. But in Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Genesis 21:10), the Aramaic adds a sentence that changes ev...
When Abraham hesitates, the Holy One settles it with a line that should be underlined in every copy of the Torah. In Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Genesis 21:12), the Aramaic makes th...
Dawn in the house of Abraham. Bread on a shoulder. A cruse of water tied to a woman's waist. In Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Genesis 21:14), the Aramaic paraphrase adds a detail the ...
The Targum of Pseudo-Jonathan never lets a wilderness story pass without asking why the suffering. In Pseudo-Jonathan on (Genesis 21:15), the answer is uncomfortable: when they cam...
The moment of turning is never where you expect it. In Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Genesis 21:16), the Aramaic paraphrase inserts a single gesture that changes the story's spiritual...
Here is one of the strangest verses in the Targum, and one of the most historically suggestive. In Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Genesis 21:21), Ishmael grows up in the wilderness of ...
One of the most haunting expansions in the entire Targum is this one. In Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Genesis 22:20), the Aramaic explains how Sarah died: Satana came and told unto S...
A wife does not greet her husband at the door. In Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Genesis 23:2), the Aramaic names what Abraham finds when he comes down from the mountain: Abraham came ...
After the consent comes the unpacking. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Genesis 24:53) describes Eliezer bringing out vessels of silver, vessels of gold, and vestments, which he gave to ...
The mother and brother gather around Rivekah on the morning she is to leave, and they speak a blessing that the Jewish people have been whispering over their daughters ever since. ...
Rebekah sees him before he sees her. From the back of her camel she looks across the field and asks the servant, "Who is the man, so majestic and graceful, who walks in the field b...
This is the verse the Maggid saves for last — the one where grief and joy shake hands. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Genesis 24:67) describes what happened when Isaac brought Rebekah ...
Rebekah is pregnant at last — and the pregnancy is not gentle. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Genesis 25:22) describes the twins inside her pressing against each other like men at war....
The pattern returns. Pseudo-Jonathan knows it, and expects us to know it too. Abraham had done this twice — in Egypt and in Gerar — saying of Sarah, she is my sister, because he fe...
The Torah uses a small, shimmering verb for what Isaac and Rebekah are doing when the king of Gerar catches sight of them. "Izhak was disporting with Rivekah his wife" (Genesis 26:...
The moment Jacob hesitates is the moment Rebekah makes her most astonishing offer. "If with blessings he bless thee, they shall be upon thee and upon thy sons; and if with curses h...
The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan does not let us wonder how Rebekah heard. "The words of Esau her elder son, who thought in his heart to kill Jakob, were shown by the Holy Spirit to Rive...
The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan gives us Rebekah's final argument to Isaac, and it is pointed. "I am afflicted in my life on account of the indignity of the daughters of Heth. If Jakob ...
Rachel arrives at the well with her father's sheep, and the Torah calls her ro'ah — a shepherdess (Genesis 29:9). The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan stops to explain why the daughter of a ...
The Torah tells us Jacob told Rachel he was her kinsman (Genesis 29:12). The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan fills in a conversation between them. Jacob explained to Rachel that he had come...
The Torah calls Leah's eyes rakkot — tender, soft, weak (Genesis 29:17). The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan reframes the entire verse. Her eyes were moist from weeping and praying before t...
The morning after the wedding, Jacob discovered that the bride under the veil had been Leah, not Rachel (Genesis 29:25). The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan explains how the deception had b...
The Torah says the Lord saw that Leah was hated and opened her womb, and Rachel was barren (Genesis 29:31). The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan softens and sharpens the verse in the same br...
When Leah named her firstborn Reuben, she said the Hebrew phrase ra'ah Adonai b'onyi — "the Lord has seen my affliction" (Genesis 29:32). The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan hears the phras...
Leah's second son is Simeon, whose name comes from the Hebrew shama, "He heard" (Genesis 29:33). The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan extends her words into another layer of prophecy. She na...
With her third son, Leah reaches for a new hope. This time, she thinks, Jacob will at last be yilaveh — attached — to her (Genesis 29:34). So she names the child Levi, from the roo...
The fourth son is Judah, from the root hoda'ah, "thanksgiving" (Genesis 29:35). Leah speaks one of the most remarkable lines in the entire matriarchal record: This time will I give...
Leah had four sons. Rachel had none. The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Genesis 30:1) preserves the raw edge of her suffering. Rachel was envious of her sister. The Aramaic does not hi...
The Torah says Jacob's anger burned against Rachel (Genesis 30:2). The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan keeps the heat of the verb. The anger of Jakob was strong against Rahel. Why was he an...
Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid, bears Jacob a son whom Rachel names Dan, from the Hebrew din, "judgment" (Genesis 30:6). Rachel says, God has judged me and heard my prayer. The Targum P...
The second son born through Bilhah is named Naphtali, and the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan hears in the name a principle of Jewish spiritual life. Rachel says: With affliction afflicted ...
Leah names the second son of her handmaid Zilpah Asher, from osher, "happiness" or "praise" (Genesis 30:13). The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan translates the name into a prophecy about th...
The Torah says Reuben went out in the days of the wheat harvest and found dudaim, mandrakes, in the field (Genesis 30:14). The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan specifies the month: Sivan, th...
The exchange between Leah and Rachel over the mandrakes is one of the rawest sibling arguments in Genesis. The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan preserves the Aramaic bite. Is it a little thi...
A small Targumic detail in (Genesis 30:16) captures how Leah knew her husband had returned from the fields. She heard the voice of the braying of the ass. Jacob's donkey. Leah reco...
The fifth son of Leah is Issachar, and the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Genesis 30:18) gives his name a remarkable explanation. Leah says, The Lord hath given me my reward, for that ...
After Issachar, Leah bears Zebulun, the sixth son of her own womb. The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Genesis 30:20) gives his name a meaning that becomes a pillar of Jewish economic e...
The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Genesis 30:21) preserves one of the most startling moments in the entire tribal genealogy. Originally, says the Aramaic tradition, the baby in Leah's...
After years of infertility, the Torah says God remembered Rachel (Genesis 30:22). The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan expands the verb. The remembrance of Rachel came before the Lord, and t...
