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Onkelos Genesis

About this book

The Seventh Day

Chapter 2

1 The heaven and the earth were finished, and all their hosts.⁠ 2 And the Lord finished on the seventh day His work that He had done, and rested on the seventh day from all His work that He had done. 3 And the Lord blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all His work which the Lord had created to make.

Adam and the Garden

4 These are the history of the heavens and the earth, when they were created when the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. 5 And no trees of the field were yet on the earth, and no plants of the field had yet sprouted, because the Lord God had not caused rain to fall on the earth, and there was no human to cultivate the ground. 6 And a mist rose from the earth, and watered the whole surface of the ground. 7 And the Lord God created Adam from dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and Adam received the power of speech.⁠ 8 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the beginning, and He settled the man whom He had created there. 9 And the Lord God made every tree that was pleasing to look at grow from the earth, and good for food, and the Tree of Life in the middle of the garden, and the Tree from which those who eat its fruit can discern between good and evil.⁠ 10 And a river flowed out from Eden to water the garden, and from there it divided into four main rivers. 11 The name of the first is Pishon, which flows around all the land of Havilah, where there is gold; 12 and the gold of that land is good; there is bedalcha and burilla-stones. 13 And the name of the second river is Gihon, which flows around all the land of Cush. 14 And the name of the third river is Tigris, which flows to the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates. 15 And the Lord God took Adam and placed him in the garden of Eden to cultivate it and guard it. 16 And the Lord God commanded Adam, saying, You may freely eat from every tree of the garden; 17 but you shall not eat from the tree whose fruit gives those who eat it knowledge of good and evil; for on the day you eat from it you shall certainly die.

A Wife for Adam

18 And the Lord God said, It is not right for Adam to be alone; I will make him a helper suited to him. 19 And the Lord God created from the earth every wild animal of the field and every bird of the heavens, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call each one; and whatever name Adam gave each living animal, that was its name. 20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and of the birds of the heavens, and of every wild animal of the field; but no helper suited to Adam was found. 21 And the Lord God caused sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and filled its place with flesh; 22 and the Lord God formed the rib which He took from Adam into a woman, and He brought her to Adam. 23 And Adam said, This at last is bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh: this shall be called wife, because she was taken from her husband.⁠ 24 Therefore a man shall leave the sleeping quarters of his father and mother and cling to his wife, and they shall be of one flesh. 25 And they were both naked, Adam and his wife, and were not ashamed.

Texts in conversation

Compare Genesis 2:7 and Onkelos Genesis 2:7

Hebrew Bible · Targum

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Summary

Genesis describes the human becoming a “living being,” a phrase also used for animals. The Aramaic translation in Targum Onkelos, motivated to distinguish humans and animals, interprets this as “a speaking spirit,” the human ability to speak.
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Passages

Genesis 2:7

Hebrew Bible
6 Springs would well up from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground. 7 The Lord God formed the man from the soil of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. 8 The Lord God planted an orchard in the east, in Eden; and there he placed the man he had formed.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

Onkelos Genesis 2:7

Targum
6 And a mist rose from the earth, and watered the whole surface of the ground. 7 And the Lord God created Adam from dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and Adam received the power of speech. 8 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the beginning, and He settled the man whom He had created there.
50–500 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Onkelos Genesis

References

"... Scripture's lenefesh chayah, 'a living person,' is explained by our targumist by taking the Hebrew nefesh in its postbiblical sense of 'spirit' or 'power,' and the adjective 'living' as 'speaking.' Rashi explains: animals are also living beings, but humans are more elevated since they also think and speak. Thus, the targumist is telling us that Scripture is highlighting the human uniqueness. Onkelos does not render 2:19 as he does here because the context in that verse requires us to consider the human distinction ..."
Israel Drazin and Stanley M. Wagner, Onkelos on the Torah, Genesis: Understanding the Bible Text (Jerusalem: Gefen, 2006), 13.

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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Genesis 2:7 and Onkelos Genesis 2:7

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