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Onkelos Exodus

About this book

The Song at the Sea

Chapter 15

1 Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song before the Lord; they said, We will sing and give thanks before the Lord, because He is exalted above the mighty, and the power is His own; He has thrown the horse and its rider into the sea. 2 My strength and my song is the awesome Lord; He has said by His Memra that He will be my Redeemer. This is my God, and I will build Him a sanctuary; the God of my fathers, and I will worship before Him. 3 The Lord is a master of victory in war,⁠ the Lord is His Name. 4 He has thrown Pharaoh's chariots and his horses into the sea; his chosen warriors are drowned in the Red Sea. 5 The depths covered them; they sank to the bottom like a stone. 6 Your right hand, Lord, is glorious in power; Your right hand, Lord, shatters the enemy. 7 And in the greatness of Your might You have broken down those who rose up against Your people. You sent out Your anger, and it destroyed them like stubble in the fire,⁠ 8 and by the word of Your mouth, the waters became wise and stood up like a wall;⁠ the depths congealed in the heart of the sea. 9 The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the captured goods; my soul shall be satisfied with them; I will draw my sword, and my hand shall destroy them. 10 You spoke by Your Memra, the sea covered them, they sank like lead in the mighty waters. 11 There is none besides You, God,⁠ glorious in holiness, awesome in praises, doing wonders. 12 You lifted up Your right hand, and the earth swallowed them. 13 In Your goodness You have led out Your people whom You redeemed; by Your strength You will bring them to the dwelling of Your holiness. 14 The nations will hear and tremble; terror will seize the inhabitants of Philistia; 15 then the chiefs of Edom will be alarmed; trembling will seize the strong ones of Moab; and those who live in Canaan will be broken. 16 Fear and dread will fall upon them; by the greatness of Your power they will be as silent as a stone, until Your people, Lord, cross the Arnon, until the people You redeemed cross the Jordan. 17 You will bring them in and settle them on the mountain of Your inheritance, in the place You have prepared for the house of Your Shekinah, the sanctuary, Lord, that Your hands have established. 18 The kingdom of the Lord endures forever and ever. 19 For when Pharaoh's horses, with his chariots and his horsemen, had gone into the sea, the Lord brought the waters of the sea back over them, and the children of Israel walked on dry land through the middle of the sea. 20 And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and dancing. 21 And Miriam sang to them: Sing and give thanks before the Lord, for He is exalted above the proud, and the majesty belongs only to Him; He has thrown the horse and its rider into the sea.

The Waters of Marah and Elim

22 And Moses led Israel away from the Red Sea, and they went out into the desert of Shur, and traveled three days in the desert but found no water. 23 And they came to Marah, and could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; that is why it was named Marah. 24 And the people complained against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? 25 And he prayed before the Lord; and the Lord instructed him about a tree, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There He made a statute and a judgment for them, and there He tested them. 26 And He said, If you will listen carefully to the Memra of the Lord your God, and do what is right in His eyes, and pay attention to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will not bring on you any of the diseases that I brought on Egypt; for I am the Lord your Healer. 27 And they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees; and they camped there by the water.

Texts in conversation

Compare Exodus 15:8 and Onkelos Exodus 15:8

Hebrew Bible · Targum

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Summary

Exodus 15 says the sea was parted by a blast of God’s nostrils. The Aramaic translation in Targum Onkelos says it was by the “word” of God’s mouth and the water became “wise,” and stood still. This change removes the image of God acting like a human.

Passages

Exodus 15:8

Hebrew Bible
7 In the abundance of your majesty you have overthrown those who rise up against you. You sent forth your wrath; it consumed them like stubble. 8 By the blast of your nostrils the waters were piled up, the flowing water stood upright like a heap, and the deep waters were solidified in the heart of the sea. 9 The enemy said, ‘I will chase, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my desire will be satisfied on them. I will draw my sword, my hand will destroy them.’
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Exodus

Onkelos Exodus 15:8

Targum
7 And in the greatness of Your might You have broken down those who rose up against Your people. You sent out Your anger, and it destroyed them like stubble in the fire, 8 and by the word of Your mouth, the waters became wise and stood up like a wall; the depths congealed in the heart of the sea. 9 The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the captured goods; my soul shall be satisfied with them; I will draw my sword, and my hand shall destroy them.
50–500 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Onkelos Exodus

References

"... Rashi explains the biblical anthropomorphic metaphor 'with the breath of your nose,' to mean that God acted as an angry human Who breathes heavily through his nostrils. Our targumist replaces it ... Rashi translates ne'ermu as 'heaped,' contrary to the Targum. Onkelos' rendering is similar to the Mekhilta: 'The measure with which they meted, You meted (wisely) to them. They said: 'Come let us deal Wisely With them.'' In Other words, the Egyptians sentenced the Israelites to death by drowning; now God made the water 'wise' to destroy the Egyptians. Bachya ibn Pakuda suggests that 'wisely' implies that the water, although fluid, 'wisely' stood firm to allow the Israelites to pass and, subsequently, returned with wisdom to their liquid state to drown the Egyptians ... Our targumist prefers translating neid as 'wall,' to conform to the description in 14:22, rather than the less explicit 'heap,' which is its literal meaning ..."
Israel Drazin and Stanley M. Wagner, Onkelos on the Torah, Exodus: Understanding the Bible Text (Jerusalem: Gefen, 2006), 91.

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

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