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Onkelos Exodus

About this book

The Ten Commandments

Chapter 20

1 And the Lord spoke all these words, saying, 2 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 You shall have no other God besides Me. 4 You shall not make for yourself an image or likeness of anything that is in the heavens above, or on the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth: 5 you shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the rebellious children for the sins of the fathers to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate Me, when the children continue to sin as their fathers did;⁠ 6 but doing good to thousands of generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments. 7 You shall not swear by the name of the Lord your God in vain; for the Lord will not let anyone who swears falsely by His Name go unpunished. 8 Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. 9 For six days you shall labor and do all your work; 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath before the Lord your God. You shall not do any work: not you, your son, your daughter, your male or female servant, your cattle, or the foreigner who lives in your city. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the seas and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; so the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. 12 Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. 13 You shall not kill a person. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. 14 You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

The People at Sinai and Instructions for the Altar

15 And all the people saw the thunder and the flames and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking; and the people saw it and trembled, and stood at a distance. 16 And they said to Moses, You speak with us, and we will listen; but do not let it be spoken to us from the Lord's presence, or we will die. 17 And Moses said to the people, Do not be afraid; He has revealed the glory of the Lord to you in order to test you, and so that the fear of Him may be before you, so that you do not sin. 18 And the people stood at a distance, but Moses came near to the darkness where the glory of the Lord was. 19 And the Lord said to Moses, This is what you shall say to the children of Israel: You have seen that I have spoken to you from the heavens. 20 You shall not make idols of silver before Me,⁠ and you shall not make idols of gold for yourselves. 21 You shall make an altar of earth before Me, and offer on it your burnt offerings and your holy sacrifices, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause My Shekinah to dwell, there I will send My blessing and bless you. 22 And if you make Me an altar of stone before Me, you shall not build it of cut stones, for if you lift your cutting tool on it, you will profane it. 23 And you shall not go up to My altar by steps, so that your nakedness is not seen on it.

Texts in conversation

Compare Exodus 20:5 and Onkelos Exodus 20:5

Hebrew Bible · Targum

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Summary

Exodus 20 shows divine punishment extending to later generations, raising questions about punishing the innocent. The Aramaic translation in Targum Onkelos tries to resolve this, saying that only those who repeat their parents’ sin are punished.

Passages

Exodus 20:5

Hebrew Bible
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, responding to the transgression of fathers by dealing with children to the third and fourth generations of those who reject me, 6 and showing covenant faithfulness to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Exodus

Onkelos Exodus 20:5

Targum
4 You shall not make for yourself an image or likeness of anything that is in the heavens above, or on the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth: 5 you shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the rebellious children for the sins of the fathers to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate Me, when the children continue to sin as their fathers did; 6 but doing good to thousands of generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments.
50–500 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Onkelos Exodus

References

"... In addition to wisdom statements directly related to collective accountability, the role of wisdom instruction in the rearing of children is also relevant. The interpreter who produced the Targum Onkelos to Exodus 20:4-6 avoided the theological problem of innocent children suffering for the sins of their fathers by describing the children as “rebellious” and continuing “to sin after their fathers.” This solution to the theological problem of collective punishment may have an analogy in wisdom literature. Several texts from non-wisdom books of the Hebrew Bible with wisdom affinities, as well as from the New Testament, suggest a widespread notion that like begets like. Is this concept also present in the Hebrew biblical wisdom tradition and does it play any role in Israel’s wisdom literature’s understanding of the origins of good and wicked children? If so, this would suggest that wicked parents who deserve punishment produce wicked children who also deserve punishment; righteous parents who deserve reward produce righteous children who also deserve reward. Collective accountability does not create a theological problem in this scenario ..."
Hilary Claire Kapfer, “Collective Accountability among the Sages of Ancient Israel” (diss., Harvard University, 2013), 19.
"... Targum Onkelos bolts from its customary literalism, when it is deemed imperative to spare the reader from misconceptions. Verse 20:5 portrays a zealous God, who regards idolatry as a heinous act, He would punish children, even unto the third or fourth generation, of a father who was guilty of such behavior. This presents the reader with a theological dilemma. Is it possible that God would punish innocent children for the sins of their fathers? The oral tradition modified the biblical statement by insisting that the punishment would befall only children who followed their parents' wicked ways. Our translator also resolved the problem by inserting this view. While this exegesis is characteristic of the ancient oral tradition, it required boldness on his part to include it in his translation. An intended reader, who was probably unable to understand the Hebrew text, would have depended upon the Onkelos rendition of the Bible. That reader might have concluded erroneously that the targumist's addition was part of the biblical text. Nevertheless, he opted, in this case and in many others, for clarity over literalism ..."
Israel Drazin and Stanley M. Wagner, Onkelos on the Torah, Exodus: Understanding the Bible Text (Jerusalem: Gefen, 2006), 130.

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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