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Onkelos Genesis

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The Covenant with Abraham

Chapter 17

1 And Abram was ninety-nine years old: and the Lord was revealed to Abram, and said to him, I am El-shadai; serve before Me, and be blameless; 2 and I will set a covenant between My Memra and you, and I will multiply you very greatly. 3 And Abram fell on his face: and the Lord spoke with him, saying, 4 Look, I have dedicated My covenant with you, and you shall be the father of many peoples, 5 and your name shall no longer be called Abram; but your name shall be Abraham, because I have appointed you the father of many peoples. 6 And I will make your descendants very numerous, and I will appoint nations and kings who shall rule peoples to come from you. 7 And I will establish My covenant between My Memra and you, and your descendants after you for all future generations, to be to you a God, and to your descendants after you. 8 And I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land of your residence, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be to them Eloha.

Circumcision as the Covenant Sign

9 And the Lord said to Abraham, And you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you in their generations. 10 This is My covenant which you shall keep between My Memra and you and your descendants after you, to circumcise every male that is among you. 11 And you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between My Memra and you. 12 And every boy eight days old shall be circumcised among you; every male in your generations, born in the house, or bought with money, of any foreigner, who is not of your descendants, 13 you shall certainly circumcise the one born in the house, and him bought with money; and it shall be My covenant in your flesh for a covenant forever. 14 And the male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that man shall perish from the people because he has broken My covenant.

The Promise of Isaac

15 And the Lord said to Abraham, The name of your wife Sarai shall not be called Sarai, for Sarah shall be her name: 16 and I will bless her, and I will also give you a son from her; and I will bless her, and nations and kings who rule peoples shall come from her. 17 And Abraham fell upon his face and rejoiced,⁠ and said to himself, Will a man a hundred years old have a child, and will Sarah give birth at ninety?⁠ 18 And Abraham said before the Lord, If only Ishmael may be established before You! 19 And the Lord said, Truly, your wife Sarah shall bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant to his sons after him. 20 And concerning Ishmael I have accepted your prayer. Look, I have blessed him, and I will make his descendants very numerous. He will father twelve princes, and I will make him a great people. 21 But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you, at this time, next year. 22 And when He had finished speaking with him, the Glory of the Lord ascended from Abraham.⁠ 23 And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and everyone born in his house, and everyone bought with his money, every male, the men of the house of Abraham, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin on that very day, as the Lord had spoken with him. 24 And Abraham was ninety-nine years old, when he circumcised the flesh of his foreskin. 25 And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old, when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised. 26 On that same day Abraham was circumcised, and Ishmael his son, 27 and all the men of his house, whether born in his house, or bought with money from the sons of the Gentiles, were circumcised with him.

Texts in conversation

Compare Genesis 17:17 and Onkelos Genesis 17:17

Hebrew Bible · Targum

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Summary

Genesis 17 describes Abraham laughing when told he would have a child in old age, a moment that suggests doubt. The Aramaic translation in Targum Onkelos reinterprets the moment as one of joy, not skepticism, so Abraham doesn't appear disrespectful.

Passages

Genesis 17:17

Hebrew Bible
15 Then God said to Abraham, “As for your wife, you must no longer call her Sarai; Sarah will be her name. 16 I will bless her and will give you a son through her. I will bless her and she will become a mother of nations. Kings of countries will come from her!” 17 Then Abraham bowed down with his face to the ground and laughed as he said to himself, “Can a son be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” 18 Abraham said to God, “O that Ishmael might live before you!” 19 God said, “No, Sarah your wife is going to bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. I will confirm my covenant with him as a perpetual covenant for his descendants after him.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

Onkelos Genesis 17:17

Targum
15 And the Lord said to Abraham, The name of your wife Sarai shall not be called Sarai, for Sarah shall be her name: 16 and I will bless her, and I will also give you a son from her; and I will bless her, and nations and kings who rule peoples shall come from her. 17 And Abraham fell upon his face and rejoiced, and said to himself, Will a man a hundred years old have a child, and will Sarah give birth at ninety? 18 And Abraham said before the Lord, If only Ishmael may be established before You! 19 And the Lord said, Truly, your wife Sarah shall bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant to his sons after him.
50–500 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Onkelos Genesis

References

"... The ancient and medieval commentators did not understand Abraham’s laughter in this manner. Already the Book of Jubilees, whose fifteenth chapter is an almost verbatim paraphrase of Genesis 17, states, “And Abraham fell on his face and rejoiced” (Jubilees 15:17), an interpretation shared by the Septuagint. The ancient Aramaic Targumim follow a similar path. Thus, for example, Onkelos: (And Abraham fell on his face and rejoiced), followed by Rashi. Similarly, Rav Sa’adya Gaon (va-yismaḥ), Kimhi (samaḥ be-libo), and Nahmanides. The identification of Abraham’s laughter as an expression of joy dictates in turn their explanations further along in the chapter. Thus, regarding Abraham’s question, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old?,” Rashi writes: “There are expressions of astonishment that are fulfilled [i.e., rhetorically] ... So was this one [as if it had been] fulfilled. Thus he said in his heart, ‘Shall this kindness be done after all that the Holy One, blessed be he, has done for me?’ ” Abraham, according to Rashi, is self-effacing: “‘Would that Ishmael would live before you’ - I am not worthy to receive such a reward ..."
Yair Lorberbaum, Yitshak and God’s Separation Anxiety (Journal of Jewish Thought & Philosophy, No., 2013), 105–142.

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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