Go to Related Reading
About this book

Exodus

About this book
Chapter 31

1 The Lord spoke to Moses, 2 “See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah,⁠ 3 and I have filled him with the Spirit of God⁠ in skill, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all kinds of craftsmanship,⁠ 4 to make artistic designs for work with gold, with silver, and with bronze, 5 and with cutting and setting stone, and with cutting wood, to work in all kinds of craftsmanship. 6 Moreover, I have also given him Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, and I have given ability to all the specially skilled, that they may make everything I have commanded you: 7 the tent of meeting, the ark of the testimony, the atonement lid that is on it, all the furnishings of the tent, 8 the table with its utensils, the pure lampstand with all its utensils, the altar of incense, 9 the altar for the burnt offering with all its utensils, the large basin with its base, 10 the woven garments, the holy garments for Aaron the priest and the garments for his sons, to minister as priests, 11 the anointing oil, and sweet incense for the Holy Place. They will make all these things just as I have commanded you.” 12 The Lord said to Moses, 13 “Tell the Israelites, ‘Surely you must keep my Sabbaths, for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. 14 So you must keep the Sabbath, for it is holy for you. Everyone who defiles it must surely be put to death; indeed, if anyone does any work on it, then that person will be cut off from among his people. 15 Six days work may be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of complete rest, holy to the Lord; anyone who does work on the Sabbath day must surely be put to death. 16 The Israelites must keep the Sabbath by observing the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. 17 It is a sign between me and the Israelites forever; for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’”⁠

The Tablets and the Golden Calf

18 He gave Moses two tablets of testimony when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, tablets of stone written by the finger of God.⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Exodus 31:18 and Onkelos Exodus 31:18

Hebrew Bible · Targum

Share:

Summary

Exodus 31 is a rare case where Targum Onkelos preserves a human-like image of God, describing the tablets written by the finger of God. Unlike other passages that change this language, this was preserved likely to emphasize that God wrote the tablets.

Passages

Exodus 31:18

Hebrew Bible
17 It is a sign between me and the Israelites forever; for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’” 18 He gave Moses two tablets of testimony when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, tablets of stone written by the finger of God.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Exodus

Onkelos Exodus 31:18

Targum
17 It is a sign between My Memra and the sons of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed. 18 And when He had finished speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, inscribed with the finger of the Lord.
50–500 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Onkelos Exodus

References

"... In Exodus 31:18, our Targumist retains Scripture's clearly anthropomorphic 'finger of the Lord,' although it is exchanged in 8:15 to 'a plague from before the Lord.' Some Targum interpreters suppose that since 31:18 speaks of the two tablets of the testimony (in contrast to 8:15, which talks of the plague of lice), the targumist kept the anthropomorphic phrase to strengthen the readers' belief that God transmitted the Torah. Actually, Onkelos does not replace all phrases that ascribe human attributes to God. In 32:16, 'work of the Lord' and 'writing...of the Lord' are also left unchanged; they too refer to the tablets. Changing every one of the multitudes of anthropomorphisms would have produced a text radically different and, indeed, unrecognizable from the biblical original and would have distanced the reader from Scripture. The targumist made subjective judgments when translating, and deleted or changed only those words he felt would be misunderstood ..."
Israel Drazin and Stanley M. Wagner, Onkelos on the Torah, Exodus: Understanding the Bible Text (Jerusalem: Gefen, 2006), 216.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Your feedback

Exodus 31:18 and Onkelos Exodus 31:18

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library