Texts in Conversation
In Luke 11, a woman praises Jesus and blesses the woman who gave birth to him and nursed him, language that is identical to an Aramaic tradition that was preserved in the Aramaic translation of Genesis 49. This suggests that Luke was influenced by a similar tradition.
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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 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Neofiti Genesis 49:25
Targum
25 May the Memra of the God of your father be at your aid, and may the God of the heavens bless you with the best of the dew and the rain that descend from the heavens from above and with the blessing of the springs of the abyss that come up from the earth, from beneath. Blessed are the breasts from which you sucked and the womb within which you lay. 26 May the blessings of your father be added for you, to the blessings with which my fathers Abraham and Isaac blessed me, which the lords of the world Ishmael and Esau longed for from the beginning. Let all these blessings come; let them become a crown of dignity on the head of Joseph, and on the brow of the pious man who was master and ruler over the land of Egypt, and paid attention to the honor of his father and the honor of his brothers.
Date: 300-600 C.E. (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 ..."
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