Texts in Conversation
Genesis describes the human becoming a “living being,” a phrase also used for animals. The Aramaic translation in Targum Onkelos, motivated to distinguish humans and animals, interprets this as “a speaking spirit,” the human ability to speak.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Genesis 2:7
Hebrew Bible
6 Springs would well up from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground. 7 The Lord God formed the man from the soil of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. 8 The Lord God planted an orchard in the east, in Eden; and there he placed the man he had formed.
Date: 750–400 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Onkelos Genesis 2:7
Targum
6 And a mist rose from the earth, and watered the whole surface of the ground. 7 And the Lord God created Adam from dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and Adam received the power of speech. 8 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the beginning, and He settled the man whom He had created there.
Date: 50–500 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Scripture's lenefesh chayah, 'a living person,' is explained by our targumist by taking the Hebrew nefesh in its postbiblical sense of 'spirit' or 'power,' and the adjective 'living' as 'speaking.' Rashi explains: animals are also living beings, but humans are more elevated since they also think and speak. Thus, the targumist is telling us that Scripture is highlighting the human uniqueness. Onkelos does not render 2:19 as he does here because the context in that verse requires us to consider the human distinction ..."
Israel Drazin and Stanley M. Wagner, Onkelos on the Torah, Genesis: Understanding the Bible Text (Jerusalem: Gefen, 2006), 13.
* 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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