Targum Neofiti

Targum Neofiti on Genesis 3:11–18

Masoretic Text

11He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate.” 13Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent tricked me, and I ate.” 14The LORD God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this,
   cursed are you among all animals
   and among all wild creatures;
upon your belly you shall go,
   and dust you shall eat
   all the days of your life.
15I will put enmity between you and the woman,
   and between your offspring and hers;
he will strike your head,
   and you will strike his heel.”
16To the woman he said,
“I will greatly increase your pangs in childbearing;
   in pain you shall bring forth children,
yet your desire shall be for your husband,
   and he shall rule over you.”
17And to the man he said,
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife,
   and have eaten of the tree
   about which I commanded you,
    ‘You shall not eat of it,’
   cursed is the ground because of you;
   in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
18thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
   and you shall eat the plants of the field” (NRSV).

Targum Neofiti

11Then he said, “Who told you that you are naked? Have you eaten of the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?” 12Then Adam said, “The woman that you put with me, she gave me from the tree, so I ate.” 13Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent led me astray and I ate.” 14Then the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you, O serpent, above all livestock and above every beast that is on the open field. You will be crawling on your belly, and dust will be your food all the days of your life. 15And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your children and her children. And it will come about when her children keep the Torah and do the commandments, they will aim at you and smite you on your head and kill you, but when they abandon the commandments of the Torah, you will be aiming at him and will bite him on the heel, and will make him deathly ill. But there will be healing for his son, but for you, O serpent, there will not be healing, for they will make appeasement at the last, in the day of the King Messiah. 16To the woman He said, “I will greatly increase your painful pregnancy; in pain you will bear children, and your turning will be to your husband, and he will be an authority over you, whether to be pure or to sin.” 17And to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree that I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ the ground shall be cursed because of you; in pain you will eat the fruit of its produce all the days of your life, 18and thorns and thistles it [the earth] will grow for you, and you will eat the vegetation on the open field.” Adam answered and said, “Please, in mercy from before you, O Lord, let us not be reckoned as livestock to eat vegetation on the open field. Let us rise up now and work, and from the work of my hands we will eat food from the fruits of the ground. Therefore, this will distinguish between man and beast.”

Targum Neofiti on Genesis 15:1–4

Masoretic Text

1After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” 2But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3And Abram said, “You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.” 4But the word of the Lord came to him, “This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir” (NRSV).

Targum Neofiti

1After these things, after all the kingdoms of the land had gathered together and arrayed for battle before Abram and fell before him, and he killed four of their kings and turned back nine armies, Abram thought in his mind and said, “Now woe is me. Perhaps I have received the reward of the [observance of the] commandments in this world, but I have no portion in the world to come. Or perhaps the brothers or the relatives of those who were slain, who fell before me, will go and be in their fortresses and in their cities, and many legions will be joined with them, and they will come against me and will kill me. Or perhaps there were a few good deeds that were in my possession at the first time when they fell before me, but they were expended for me. Or perhaps there is not found in my possession a good deed at the second time, so that the name of heaven will be defiled in me.” On account of this there was a word of prophecy from before the Lord concerning Abram the righteous, saying, “Do not fear, Abram, even if many legions join together and come against you to kill you, My Memra1 is your shield, which indeed has been protecting you in this world, and even though I have handed over your enemies before you in this world, the reward of your good deeds are prepared for you before Me in the world to come.” 2Then Abram said, “Please, by the mercies from before you, O Lord, many things You have given me and many things are before You to give to me, but I am going from the world without sons, and Eliezer the son of my house who, by his hands miracles were performed for me in Damascus, will inherit me.” 3Then Abram said, “Behold, you have not given me sons, and behold, a member of my house will inherit me.” 4And behold, a word of prophecy from before the Lord came on Abram, saying, “This one will not inherit you, but rather one who shall come forth from your insides, he will inherit you.”

Targum Neofiti on Exodus 15:1–4

Masoretic Text

1Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD:
“I will sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously;
   horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.
2The LORD is my strength and my might,
   and he has become my salvation;
this is my God, and I will praise him,
   my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
3The LORD is a warrior;
   the LORD is his name.
4“Pharaoh’s chariots and his army he cast into the sea;
   his picked officers were sunk in the Red Sea (NRSV).

Targum Neofiti

1Then Moses and the children of Israel praised this song of praise before the Lord and said, saying, “Let us give thanks and praise before the Lord; anyone who is proud before Him, He, by His Memra exacts retribution from him. Horses and their riders, because they have become proud and pursued after the people, the children of Israel, He cast them down and drowned them in the Sea of Reeds. 2Our strength and the multitude of our praises are awesome for all eternity, the Lord stated by His Memra, and He has become our deliverer. The children of Israel say, ‘This is our God, and we will praise Him; the God of our fathers, and we will exalt Him.’ 3The Lord is a man who wages war. The Lord is His name. According to His name, so is His strength. May His name be blessed for ever and ever. 4The chariots of Pharaoh and his armies, He shot fiery arrows at them in the sea; and the best of the young warriors of Pharaoh, He cast down and sank in the Sea of Reeds.”

Translated by Eldon Clem.

Notes

Words in brackets appear in the original translation.

[Memra is Aramaic for “the word” and is frequently used in the targums as a circumlocution for God or God’s name.—Ed.]

Credits

Targum Neofiti on Genesis 3:11–18, 15:1–4; Exodus 15:1–4, from Targum Neofiti, Esther Sheni English (TARG2-E), trans. Eldon Clem (Targum Neofiti) and Christopher Dost (Esther Sheni). © 2015 OakTree Software, Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission of the translator and Accordance Bible Software. Verses from New Revised Standard Version Bible copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 2: Emerging Judaism.

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