Texts in Conversation
Exodus 9 says that Moses “spread out his hands,” a gesture with ambiguous meaning. The Aramaic translation in Targum Onkelos specifies “in prayer,” the addition reflects a later tendency of interpreting ritual gestures as types of prayer.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Exodus 9:29
Hebrew Bible
28 Pray to the Lord, for the mighty thunderings and hail are too much! I will release you and you will stay no longer.” 29 Moses said to him, “When I leave the city I will spread my hands to the Lord, the thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth belongs to the Lord. 30 But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear the Lord God.”
Date: 750–400 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Onkelos Exodus 9:29
Targum
28 Pray before the Lord that there may be relief before Him, so that there are no more thunders of cursing like these before the Lord, and no hail; and I will send you away, and you shall stay no longer. 29 And Moses said to him, As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands in prayer before the Lord, and the thunder shall cease, and there shall be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth is the Lord's. 30 But as for you and your servants, I know that you are not yet humbled before the Lord God.
Date: 50–500 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... There is no verse in the Pentateuch that explicitly describes a person as praying. Prayer, as we understand it today, evolved and developed over many centuries. Nevertheless, there are seventeen instances in Exodus in which our targumist describes an act with the term 'prayer,' thereby suggesting that he felt the deed should be understood as a prayer. Thus, in verse 9:29, he clarifies the ambiguous phrase 'spread out my hands,' by attaching the phrase 'in prayer' ..."
Israel Drazin and Stanley M. Wagner, Onkelos on the Torah, Exodus: Understanding the Bible Text (Jerusalem: Gefen, 2006), 52.
* 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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