Genesis 2:23

Hebrew Bible

22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the part he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said, “This one at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one will be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man. 24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and unites with his wife, and they become one family.

Onkelos Genesis 2:23

Targum

22 and the Lord God builded the rib which He took from Adam into Woman, and He brought her unto Adam. 23 And Adam said, This now this is bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh: this shall be called wife, because from her husband this was taken. 24 Therefore shall a man forsake the couch (beth mishkeb, the sleeping-house) of his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall be of one flesh.

 Notes and References

"... The targumist treats the biblical ish as 'husband,' not 'man.' This shift rejects the linguistic derivation of ishah, 'woman,' from ish, 'man,' thereby losing the point that the Bible is making. Rashi, relying on Genesis Rabbah, argues that the Hebrew wording of this verse proves that the world was created with Hebrew, for the linguistic relationship between "man" and "woman" exists only in Hebrew. Ibn Kaspi uses this verse to note that the Bible was unconcerned about the later dictates of grammar, and frequently mixes masculine and feminine forms of words ..."

Drazin, Israel, and Stanley M. Wagner Onkelos on the Torah, Genesis: Understanding the Bible Text (p. 15) Gefen, 2006

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