Deuteronomy 27:8

Hebrew Bible

6 You must build the altar of the Lord your God with whole stones and offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God. 7 Also you must offer fellowship offerings and eat them there, rejoicing before the Lord your God. 8 You must inscribe on the stones all the words of this law, making them clear. 9 Then Moses and the Levitical priests spoke to all Israel: “Be quiet and pay attention, Israel. Today you have become the people of the Lord your God. 10 You must obey him and keep his commandments and statutes that I am giving you today.”

Neofiti Deuteronomy 27:8

Targum

6 You shall build the altar of the Lord your God of precious stones, perfect, without blemish, and you shall arrange burnt offerings upon it before the Lord your God. 7 And you shall sacrifice sacrifices of holy things and eat there, and rejoice before the Lord your God. 8 And you shall write upon the stones all the words of this law, written, engraven and very distinct; and to be read and translated into seventy languages. 9 And Moses and the Levitical priests spoke with all Israel saying: 'Give heed and hear, O Israel: this day you have been appointed a nation before the Lord your God. 10 And you shall hearken to the voice of the Memra of the Lord your God, and you shall do his precepts, and his statutes which I command you this day.

 Notes and References

"... Translation and interpretation are closely interwoven in ancient as well as contemporary engagements with sacred and secular texts. Translation and interpretation are linked in one of the ancient scripture collections of Jewish tradition and history, the Targum, the rendering of the Hebrew Scriptures into Aramaic, in which translation and interpretation occur simultaneously. The Targum (Targumim, plural) is both a translation of the Hebrew Scriptures and interpretive commentary on them. The word “Targum” means “translate,” as it is used in Ezra 4:7. This is the case for both Testaments; see Matthew 1:23 and Acts 13:8 in the Peshitta, Aramaic Scriptures of both Testaments (without the targumic interpretive material). Both passages use mettargam to account for translation. The Aramaic Scriptures use the noun form, metaturgemin, for translator-interpreters and prophets, whom they understand as translating/interpreting God’s words, not simply repeating divine discourse, for example, Deuteronomy 27:8 in Targum Neofiti: “You shall write on the stones all the words of this Torah, written, inscribed, and explained well, so as to be read and translated into seventy languages.” Interpretation is a separate word, p-r-sh, in the Targums of Deuteronomy 27:8 and in the Water Gate scene of Nehemiah 8:1–8, in which the Torah is also read (in Hebrew), translated into Aramaic, and discoursed upon further ..."

Gafney, Wilda Womanist Midrash: A Reintroduction to the Women of the Torah and the Throne (pp. 282-283) Westminster John Knox Press, 2017

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