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- “His Hands Shall Bring the Fire-Offerings”: Learning Sacred Hebrew Through Priestly Ritual
- Grammar of Offering: Enumerative Syntax and Appositional Closure
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Category Archives: Aramaic
Sevens and Sacrifice: Numerals, Imperatives, and Construct Syntax in Targum Onkelos on Numbers 23:1
וַאֲמַר בִּלְעָם לְבָלָק בְּנֵה לִי הָכָא שַׁבְעָא מַדְבְּחִין וְאַתְקֵן לִי הָכָא שַׁבְעָא תוֹרִין וְשַׁבְעָא דִכְרִין
And Bilʿam said to Balaq, “Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.”
Why This Verse?
This verse illustrates multiple grammatical domains in action:
Use of Peal vs. Aphel imperatives (בְּנֵה vs. אַתְקֵן)
Definite numeral constructions with plural nouns (שַׁבְעָא מַדְבְּחִין)
Construct phrase syntax (שַׁבְעָא דִכְרִין)
It also reveals the ritual-literary tone of Targum Onkelos, maintaining closeness to the Hebrew while embedding subtle Aramaic flavor.… Learn Hebrew
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The Grammar of Perfection: Divine Integrity in Deuteronomy 32:4 (Onkelos)
תַּקִּיפָא דְּשָׁלְמִין עוֹבָדוֹהִי אֲרֵי כָּל ארְחָתֵיהּ דִּינָא אֱלָהָא מְהֵימְנָא דְּמִן קֳדָמוֹהִי עַוְלָה לָא נָפֵק דְּמִן קֳדָם זַכַּי וְקַשִּׁיט הוּא:
Mighty is He, whose works are complete—for all His ways are justice; a faithful God, from before whom no injustice proceeds, from before whom [comes only] innocence and uprightness.
Inner Monologue of the Text Itself
“I am the stone,” the verse declares silently. Not merely metaphor—תקיפא, unbreakable, immovable. I speak of One whose justice needs no correction, whose every action fits the blueprint of perfect righteousness.… Learn Hebrew
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The Grammar of Diplomacy: Indirect Speech and Deferential Syntax in Genesis 50:4 (Onkelos)
וַעֲבָרוּ יוֹמֵי בְכִיתֵיהּ וּמַלֵּיל יוֹסֵף עִם בֵּית פַּרְעֹה לְמֵימָר אִם כְּעַן אַשְׁכָּחִית רַחֲמִין בְּעֵינֵיכוֹן מַלִּילוּ כְעַן קֳדָם פַּרְעֹה לְמֵימָר:
And the days of his weeping passed, and Yosef spoke with the house of Parʿo to say, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, speak now before Parʿo to say…”
Syntax Walk-through: From Grief to Petition
In this transitional moment, the Targum captures a shift from mourning to political negotiation. Yosef does not go directly to Parʿo but instead uses layered indirect speech and deferential formulas, reflecting both etiquette and hierarchy.… Learn Hebrew
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“Let Him Be Killed Now!”: Direct Object Chains and Deictic Emphasis in Targum Jonathan on Jeremiah 38:4
וַאֲמַרוּ רַבְרְבַיָא לְמַלְכָּא יִתְקְטֵיל כְּעַן גַבְרָא הָדֵין אֲרֵי עַל כֵּן הוּא מְרַשֵׁל יַת יְדֵי גַבְרֵי עָבְדֵי קְרָבָא דְאִשְׁתָּאֲרוּ בְּקַרְתָּא הָדָא וְיַת יְדֵי כָל עַמָא לְמֵלָלָא עִמְהוֹן כְּפִתְגָמַיָא הָאִלֵין אֲרֵי גַבְרָא הָדֵין לֵיתוֹהִי תָּבַע לִשְׁלָמָא לְעַמָא הָדֵין אֱלָהֵן לְבִישׁוּ:
And the nobles said to the king, “Let this man now be killed, for because of this he is weakening the hands of the men, the warriors who remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking with them according to these words.… Learn Hebrew
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“Before Me”: Pronominal Prepositions and Divine Proximity in Targum Onkelos
בְּעִדָּנָא הַהִיא אֲמַר יְיָ לִי פְּסַל לָךְ תְּרֵין לוּחֵי אַבְנַיָּא כְּקַדְמָאֵי וְסַק לָקֳדָמַי לְטוּרָא וְתַעְבֵּד לָךְ אֲרוֹנָא דְאָעָא
(Deuteronomy 10:1)
At that time the LORD said to me, “Carve for yourself two tablets of stone like the first ones and go up before Me to the mountain, and make for yourself an ark of wood.”
Why This Verse?
This verse from Targum Onkelos contains a rich variety of morphological and syntactic constructions, but our focus will be on the phrase לָקֳדָמַי — a superb illustration of compound prepositions with attached pronominal suffixes in literary Jewish Aramaic.… Learn Hebrew
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When Heaven Answers with Song: Sound, Response, and Divine Dialogue in Exodus 19:19 (Targum Jonathan)
וְהַוָּה קַל שׁוֹפָרָא אָזִיל וְתַקִּיף לַחֲדָא משֶׁה הֲוָה מְמַלֵּיל וּמִן קֳדָם יְיָ הֲוָה מִתְעַנֵי בְקַל נָעִים וּמְשַׁבַּח וּנְעִימָתָא מַלְיָא
And the sound of the shofar kept going and becoming very strong; Moshe was speaking, and from before YHWH, there came a pleasant voice responding and praising—full of melody.
Poetic Reflection: The Mountain that Listened
The giving of the Torah was not only law—it was music. Targum Jonathan’s rendering of Exodus 19:19 transforms Sinai from a site of thunder into a place of harmony.… Learn Hebrew
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One Night, Two Dreams: The Syntax of Paired Constructs in Targum Onkelos
וַחֲלָמוּ חֶלְמָא תַּרְוֵיהוֹן גְּבַר חֶלְמֵיהּ בְּלֵילְיָא חַד גְּבַר כְּפוּשְׁרַן חֶלְמֵיהּ שָׁקְיָא וְנַחְתּוֹמָא דִּי לְמַלְכָּא דְמִצְרַיִם דִּי אֲסִירִין בְּבֵית אֲסִירֵי:
(Genesis 40:5)
And they dreamed a dream, the two of them—each man his dream in one night—each man, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Mitsrayim, who were confined in the house of imprisonment.
Whispers Behind Bars: A Narrative Opening
In the depths of a prison cell in Mitsrayim, two officials of the king—each tarnished by suspicion—share not only confinement, but something stranger: a dream.… Learn Hebrew
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Scroll Marginalia: When Moshe Calls Grammar to Order (Onkelos on Deuteronomy 5:1)
וּקְרָא משֶׁה לְכָל יִשְׂרָאֵל וַאֲמַר לְהוֹן שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יָת קְיָמַיָּא וְיָת דִּינַיָּא דִּי אֲנָא מְמַלֵּל קֳדָמֵיכוֹן יוֹמָא דֵין וְתַלְּפוּן יָתְהוֹן וְתִטְּרוּן לְמֶעְבָּדְהוֹן:
And Moshe called to all Yisraʾel and said to them, “Hear, O Yisraʾel, the statutes and the judgments that I am speaking before you today, and you shall learn them and keep them to perform them.”
Margins of Authority: The Verse at a Glance
This verse marks a turning point—the reintroduction of the Ten Words—but the Targum does not simply restate the moment.… Learn Hebrew
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She Spoke and He Was Named: Constructing Divine Reward in Genesis 30:18
וַאֲמֶרֶת לֵאָה יְהַב יְיָ אַגְרִי דִּיהָבִית אַמְתִי לְבַעְלִי וּקְרַת שְׁמֵיהּ יִשָּׂשׂכָר:
(Genesis 30:18)
And Leʾah said, “YHWH has given my reward, because I gave my maidservant to my husband,” and she called his name Yissakhar.
The Voice of Leʾah: A Dramatic Monologue
“Yehav YHWH agri”—the words burst forth from Leʾah’s lips, not with self-pity but divine arithmetic. Her grammar is theology, her syntax is sacrifice. In this verse, Targum Onkelos preserves not only the content of the Hebrew but its rhetorical sequence and relational logic, steeped in reward, agency, and naming.… Learn Hebrew
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“Leit Mayya”: Verbless Clauses and Existential Negation in Targum Onkelos
וּנְטָלוּ כָּל כְּנִשְׁתָּא דִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל מִמַדְבְּרָא דְסִין לְמַטְלָנֵיהוֹן עַל מֵימְרָא דַיְיָ וּשְׁרוֹ בִּרְפִידִים וְלֵית מַיָא לְמִשְׁתֵּי עַמָא
And the entire assembly of the children of Yisraʾel departed from the wilderness of Sin for their journeys by the word of the LORD, and they camped in Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink
Opening Insight: A Sentence Without a Verb?
One of the fascinating features of Targumic Aramaic is its use of verbless clauses—sentences where no overt verb appears, yet full semantic content is achieved.… Learn Hebrew
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