Onkelos Leviticus 18:5

Targum

3 You shall not do according to the people of the land of Mizraim in which you dwelt, nor after the works of the people of the land of Kenaan, whither I am bringing you, shall you do, neither shall you walk in their laws. 4 My judgments shall you perform, and keep My statutes to walk in them; I am the Lord your God. 5 And you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man do he shall live by them an everlasting life. I am the Lord. 6 No man shall come nigh to any of his own flesh to uncover the nakedness; I am the Lord. 7 The nakedness of thy father, or the nakedness of thy mother, thou shalt not uncover. She is thy mother; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.

Luke 10:28

New Testament

25 Now an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you understand it?” 27 The expert answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.” 28 Jesus said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” 29 But the expert, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him up, and went off, leaving him half dead.

 Notes and References

"... Luke 10:25–28 provides an instance of exegetical coherence. When an expert in the Mosaic law answered his own question, ‘What should I do to inherit eternal life?’ (Luke 10:25), by reciting the ‘double commandment’ (Luke 10:27; compare Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18), Jesus is said to have replied, ‘Do this and you will live’ (Luke 10:28). These words constitute a paraphrase of Leviticus 18:5 ‘doing them the man will live.’ But Leviticus 18 has nothing to do with eternal life, so why would appeal to it give reassurance to the man who had asked the question about eternal life? Leviticus 18 concerns long life and prosperity in the promised land, as a reward for obeying the laws of the covenant. Jesus’ understanding of Leviticus 18:5 reflects targumic exegesis. According to Onqelos: ‘You shall therefore keep my statutes and my ordinances, by doing which a person shall live through them in eternal life; I am the LORD.’ According to Pseudo-Jonathan: ‘You shall therefore keep my statutes and my ordinances, by doing which a person shall live in eternal life, and his portion shall be with the righteous; I am the LORD’ ..."

Evans, Craig A Encyclopedia of the Historical Jesus (p. 619) Routledge, 2008

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