Texts in Conversation
Genesis uses a grammatically singular word for “host,” which can refer to many kinds of beings. The Aramaic translation in Targum Onkelos uses a plural, attempting to clarify the ambiguity, following the Targum tradition of using explicit language.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Genesis 2:1
Hebrew Bible
1 The heavens and the earth were completed with everything that was in them. 2 By the seventh day God finished the work that he had been doing, and he ceased on the seventh day all the work that he had been doing. 3 God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it he ceased all the work that he had been doing in creation.
Date: 750–400 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Onkelos Genesis 2:1
Targum
1 The heaven and the earth were finished, and all their hosts. 2 And the Lord finished on the seventh day His work that He had done, and rested on the seventh day from all His work that He had done. 3 And the Lord blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all His work which the Lord had created to make.
Date: 50–500 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Our targumist pluralizes the biblical 'host,' which is in the singular. Biblical Hebrew is often unconcerned about tenses, and frequently uses the singular for the plural and the past for the future, and vice versa. Onkelos does not indicate whether the hosts were angels, planets, or animals. Pseudo-Jonathan states that they were the ten miraculous things that God created at twilight before the first Sabbath that are listed in Mishnah Avot 5:9 ..."
Israel Drazin and Stanley M. Wagner, Onkelos on the Torah, Genesis: Understanding the Bible Text (Jerusalem: Gefen, 2006), 11.
* 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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