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Onkelos Genesis

About this book

The Serpent and the Forbidden Fruit

Chapter 3

1 And the serpent was more cunning than all the animals of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, Did the Lord really say, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2 And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, the Lord has said, You shall not eat of it, or⁠ approach it, or you will die. 4 And the serpent said to the woman, You certainly will not die: 5 for it is known to the Lord that on the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be as the⁠ Great-ones, knowing good and evil. 6 And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a cure for the eyes,⁠ and a tree desirable to look at; and she took some of its fruit and ate; and she gave some to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed for themselves the leaves of the fig-tree, and made for themselves loincloths.

8 And they heard the voice of the Memra of the Lord God walking in the garden in the evening of the day; and Adam and his wife hid themselves from before the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 And the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, Where are you? 10 And he said, I heard the voice of Your Memra in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid. 11 And He said, Who showed you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat? 12 And Adam said, The woman whom you gave me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate. 13 And the Lord God said to the woman, What have you done? And the woman said, The serpent led me astray, and I ate.

Judgment on the Serpent and the Humans

14 And the Lord God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, you are more cursed than all cattle, and than all the wild animals of the field; you shall move on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life. 15 And I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your son and her son. He will remember what you did to him from the beginning, and you shall watch for him at the end.⁠ 16 And to the woman He said, I will greatly increase⁠ your sorrows and your pains. You shall give birth to children in sorrow; and your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you. 17 And to Adam He said, Because you have obeyed the word of your wife, and have eaten of the tree about which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat of it, the ground is cursed because of you. You shall eat from it through hard work all the days of your life. 18 It shall produce thorns and thistles for you, and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 You shall eat bread by the sweat of your brow, until you return to the earth, because from it you were created; for you are dust, and to dust you will return. 20 And Adam named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all human beings. 21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of honor⁠ to wear on their skin, and clothed them.

Expulsion from Eden

22 And the Lord God said, Look, man has become unique in the world by himself, knowing good and evil;⁠ and now he might reach out his hand and also take from the Tree of Life, eat, and live forever. 23 and the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to cultivate the ground from where he had been created. 24 And He drove out the man. In early times, he stationed the cherubim, and the sharp sword which turned⁠ to guard the way of the Tree of Life.

Texts in conversation

Compare Genesis 3:15 and Onkelos Genesis 3:15

Hebrew Bible · Targum

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Summary

Genesis describes conflict between the serpent and the woman’s children using physical terms, “head” and “heel.” The Aramaic translation in Targum Onkelos says “beginning” and “end,” shifting from physical struggle to teaching about mastering desire.

Passages

Genesis 3:15

Hebrew Bible
14 The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all the cattle and all the living creatures of the field! On your belly you will crawl and dust you will eat all the days of your life. 15 And I will put hostility between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.” 16 To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your labor pains; with pain you will give birth to children. You will want to control your husband, but he will dominate you.”
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

Onkelos Genesis 3:15

Targum
14 And the Lord God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, you are more cursed than all cattle, and than all the wild animals of the field; you shall move on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life. 15 And I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your son and her son. He will remember what you did to him from the beginning, and you shall watch for him at the end. 16 And to the woman He said, I will greatly increase your sorrows and your pains. You shall give birth to children in sorrow; and your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.
50–500 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Onkelos Genesis

References

"... Bible: 'He will strike your head and you will strike his heel.' The targumist transforms the literal meaning of the biblical statement and understands that it is a metaphor intended to teach humanity to conquer their base behavior. The words 'head' and 'heel' are taken to signify 'beginning' and 'end.' Onkelos is telling us that humans should remember this story, remember where they were misled, and always act to avoid their base desires ..."
Israel Drazin and Stanley M. Wagner, Onkelos on the Torah, Genesis: Understanding the Bible Text (Jerusalem: Gefen, 2006), 19–20.

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 3:15 and Onkelos Genesis 3:15

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