Texts in Conversation
The Hebrew text of Isaiah 51:9 uses ancient Near Eastern imagery by referencing Rahab and the sea monster, evoking as a subtle allusion to God’s power over primordial forces in the Exodus story. The Aramaic translation in Targum Jonathan makes this link explicit by identifying the sea monster with Pharaoh, removing the mythical imagery.
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Isaiah 51:9
Hebrew Bible
8 For a moth will eat away at them like clothes; a clothes moth will devour them like wool. But the vindication I provide will be permanent; the deliverance I give will last.” 9 Wake up! Wake up! Clothe yourself with strength, O arm of the Lord! Wake up as in former times, as in antiquity. Did you not smash Rahab?26 Did you not wound the sea monster? 10 Did you not dry up the sea, the waters of the great deep? Did you not make a path through the depths of the sea, so those delivered from bondage could cross over?
Date: 7th-5th Centuries B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Jonathan Isaiah 51:9
Targum
8 For they vanish like a garment, which the moth eateth, and like wool, which rottenness seizeth; but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation. 9 Reveal thyself, reveal thyself, put on the strength of might from the Lord; reveal thyself as in the days of old, in the generations which were at the beginning: was it not for thy sake, congregation of Israel, that I broke the mighty, that I destroyed Pharaoh and his host, who were strong as a dragon? 10 Was it not for thy sake, O congregation of Israel, that I dried up the sea, the water of the great deep, I made the depth of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over?
Date: 200-300 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The reference to Pharaoh under the imagery of a dragon in verse 9 (compare 43:2) is occasioned by the exodus typology already present in the Masoretic text (verse 10). But it contrasts with 27:1 and its allusion to Roman power. Clearly, verse 11 in context promises a return for the Babylonian “congregation” (verses 9-10), but the issue of the Shekhinah—which was so urgent to the mind of the Tannaitic meturgeman—has retreated into the background ..."
* 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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