Texts in Conversation
In Luke 11, a woman praises Jesus and blesses the woman who gave birth to him and nursed him, language identical to an Aramaic tradition preserved in the Targum of Genesis 49. Luke was likely influenced by a similar tradition.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Luke 11:27
New Testament
24 “When an unclean spirit goes out of a person, it passes through waterless places looking for rest but not finding any. Then it says, ‘I will return to the home I left.’ 25 When it returns, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. 26 Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there, so the last state of that person is worse than the first.” 27 As he said these things, a woman in the crowd spoke out to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts at which you nursed!” 28 But he replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it!”
Date: 75–85 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
Neofiti Genesis 49:25
Targum
25 May the Memra of the God of your father be your help, and may the God of the heavens bless you with the good of the dew and the rain that come down from the heavens above, and with the blessing of the springs of the deep that rise from the earth below. Blessed are the breasts that you sucked, and the womb in which you lay. 26 May the blessings of your father be added to you, beyond the blessings with which my fathers Abraham and Isaac blessed me, which the great ones of the world, Esau and Ishmael, have coveted from the beginning. May all these blessings come and become a crown of greatness on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of the pious man who was lord and ruler over the land of Egypt and was careful of the honor of his father and the honor of his brothers.
Date: 300–600 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... “Blessed are the breasts from which you sucked and the womb within which you lay”; Hebrew text: “blessings of the breasts and of the womb.” An almost identical Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Text is found in Genesis Rabbah 98:20: “Blessings of the breasts and of the womb, which means: Blessed be the breasts that suckled such a one and the womb which brought forth such a one.” This is almost identical with Luke 11:27. On the possible relationship between the two see R. Le Déaut, 1962, 51; idem, Targumic Literature and New Testament Interpretation (Rome, 1974) 246; McNamara, 1966A, 131; Syrén, 15 ..."
Martin McNamara, Targum Neofiti 1: Genesis, ArBib 1A (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1992), 223–225.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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