Texts in Conversation
Exodus 12 includes resident foreigners and Israelites in its ban on eating leavened food during Passover. The Aramaic translation in Targum Onkelos interprets “foreigner” as a proselyte rather than a non-Israelite, reflecting an anachronistic use.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Exodus 12:19
Hebrew Bible
18 In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, you will eat bread made without yeast until the twenty-first day of the month in the evening. 19 For seven days yeast must not be found in your houses, for whoever eats what is made with yeast—that person will be cut off from the community of Israel, whether a resident foreigner or one born in the land. 20 You will not eat anything made with yeast; in all the places where you live you must eat bread made without yeast.’”
Date: 750–400 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Onkelos Exodus 12:19
Targum
18 In Nisan, on the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month in the evening. 19 For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses; for whoever eats anything leavened, that person shall perish from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a proselyte, or a native of the land. 20 You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your homes you shall eat unleavened bread.
Date: 50–500 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The biblical ger means 'stranger,' but the term acquired the connotation 'proselyte' during the postbiblical period. Onkelos renders the word both ways, depending on the context of the verse ..."
Israel Drazin and Stanley M. Wagner, Onkelos on the Torah, Exodus: Understanding the Bible Text (Jerusalem: Gefen, 2006), 69.
* 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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