Texts in Conversation
Isaiah 64 describes God rescuing those who observe and obey the Torah. The Aramaic translation in Targum Jonathan shifts the focus to the merits of the patriarchs, portraying God's help as a response to the ancestral righteousness of the fathers.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Isaiah 64:5
Hebrew Bible
3 When you performed awesome deeds that took us by surprise, you came down, and the mountains trembled before you. 4 Since ancient times no one has heard or perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who intervenes for those who wait for him. 5 You assist those who delight in doing what is right, who observe your commandments. Look, you were angry because we violated them continually. How then can we be saved? 6 We are all like one who is unclean, all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in your sight. We all wither like a leaf; our sins carry us away like the wind.
Jonathan Isaiah 64:4
Targum
3 And since the world was, ear has not heard the report of such mighty deeds, nor listened to the speech of rapture, nor has eye seen what Your people saw, the Shekinah of Your glory, O LORD; for there is none besides You who will do such things for Your righteous people who were of old, who hope for Your salvation. 4 The works of our righteous fathers were acceptable in Your sight, who rejoiced to do Your will in truth and in righteousness; in the way of Your goodness and mercy they remembered Your fear whenever Your wrath from Your presence was upon us, because we had sinned; on account of the works of our righteous fathers, we have been saved. 5 But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteous acts are like a filthy garment; we all fade like the fading of a leaf, and because of our sins we are carried away like the wind.
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Notes and References
"... the meturgeman does not limit the vision to the prophet: the Shekhinah is seen by “your people.” The immediacy of the early hope for the return of the Shekhinah (compare 63:17) is probably articulated in this passage. The idea of patriarchal blessings comes to expression again in verse 5 (compare 29:23; 43:7; 62:6); indeed, it is the strongest expression of the idea of the “merits of the fathers” in the Targum. But 62:6 makes it quite plain that these benefits are not automatic: Israel’s vocation is to align himself with the patriarchs, in which position the blessings of the patriarchs are available to him ..."
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