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Onkelos Leviticus

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The Consecration of Aaron and His Sons

Chapter 8

1 And the Lord spoke with Moses,⁠ saying: 2 Bring Aaron near, and his sons with him, along with the garments, the anointing oil, the bull for the sin offering, the two rams, and the basket of unleavened bread; 3 and let the entire congregation gather at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. 4 Moses did as the Lord commanded him, and the congregation gathered at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. 5 Moses said to the congregation, This is what the Lord has commanded to be done. 6 Moses brought Aaron and his sons near, and washed them with water; 7 He put the tunic on Aaron, tied the sash around him, clothed him with the robe, and put the ephod on him, fastening it with the ephod’s waistband and securing it;⁠ 8 He placed the breastpiece on him, and in the breastpiece he put the Urim and Thummim.⁠ 9 He placed the turban on his head and attached the gold plate, the holy crown, on the front of the turban, as the Lord had commanded Moses. 10 Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and everything in it, and so consecrated them. 11 He sprinkled some of the oil on the altar seven times, anointing the altar and all its utensils, as well as the basin and its stand, to consecrate them. 12 He poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron’s head and anointed him to consecrate him. 13 Moses then brought Aaron’s sons forward, dressed them in tunics, tied sashes around them, and fastened caps on them, as the Lord had commanded Moses. 14 He brought the bull for the sin offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head. 15 Moses slaughtered the bull, took some of the blood, and put it on all the horns of the altar with his finger, purifying the altar. He poured out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar and consecrated it to make atonement for it. 16 Moses took all the fat around the internal organs, the long lobe of the liver, both kidneys and their fat, and burned it on the altar. 17 But the bull, its hide, its flesh, and its dung, he burned outside the camp, as the Lord commanded Moses. 18 Then he brought the ram for the burnt offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head. 19 Moses slaughtered the ram and sprinkled the blood against the altar on all sides. 20 He cut the ram into pieces and burned the head, the pieces, and the fat. 21 He washed the internal organs and the legs with water and burned the whole ram on the altar as a burnt offering, an offering to be accepted with favor before the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses. 22 Moses then brought the second ram, the ram for the ordination, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head. 23 Moses slaughtered the ram and took some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. 24 Moses also brought Aaron’s sons forward and put some of the blood on the lobes of their right ears, on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet. Then he sprinkled the blood against the altar on all sides. 25 He took the fat, the fat tail, all the fat around the internal organs, the long lobe of the liver, both kidneys and their fat, and the right thigh. 26 From the basket of bread made without yeast, which was before the Lord, he took one loaf, one cake made with oil, and one wafer, and placed them on the fat portions and on the right thigh. 27 He put all these in the hands of Aaron and his sons and lifted them before the Lord as a lifted offering. 28 Then Moses took them from their hands and burned them on the altar on top of the burnt offering as an ordination offering, an offering to be accepted with favor before the Lord. 29 He also took the breast, Moses’ share of the ordination ram, and lifted it before the Lord as a lifted offering, as the Lord commanded Moses. 30 Moses then took some of the anointing oil and some of the blood from the altar and sprinkled them on Aaron and his garments and on his sons and their garments. So he consecrated Aaron and his garments and his sons and their garments. 31 Moses said to Aaron and his sons, Cook the meat at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and eat it there with the bread from the basket of ordination offerings, as I commanded, saying, Aaron and his sons are to eat it. 32 Then burn up the rest of the meat and the bread. 33 Do not leave the entrance to the Tent of Meeting for seven days, until the days of your ordination are completed; for your ordination will last seven days. 34 What has been done today was commanded by the Lord to make atonement for you. 35 You must stay at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting day and night for seven days and do what the Memra of the Lord requires,⁠ so you will not die; for that is what I have been commanded. 36 So Aaron and his sons did everything the Lord commanded through Moses.

Texts in conversation

Compare Leviticus 8:8 and Onkelos Leviticus 8:8

Hebrew Bible · Targum

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Summary

Leviticus 8 says the Urim and Thummim are placed in the high priest’s breast piece, and the Aramaic translation in Targum Onkelos simply repeats this. Both treat them as tools for seeking divine guidance without explaining what they are or how they work.

Passages

Leviticus 8:8

Hebrew Bible
7 Then he put the tunic on Aaron, wrapped the sash around him, and clothed him with the robe. Next he put the ephod on him and placed on him the decorated band of the ephod, and fastened the ephod closely to him with the band. 8 He then set the breastpiece on him and put the Urim and Thummim into the breastpiece. 9 Finally, he set the turban on his head and attached the gold plate, the holy diadem, to the front of the turban just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Leviticus

Onkelos Leviticus 8:8

Targum
7 He put the tunic on Aaron, tied the sash around him, clothed him with the robe, and put the ephod on him, fastening it with the ephod’s waistband and securing it; 8 He placed the breastpiece on him, and in the breastpiece he put the Urim and Thummim. 9 He placed the turban on his head and attached the gold plate, the holy crown, on the front of the turban, as the Lord had commanded Moses.
50–500 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Onkelos Leviticus

References

"... The meaning of Urim and Thummim - parts of the 'breastpiece of judgment' mentioned also in Exodus 28:30 and Numbers 27:21 - is obscure. It was used in some unspecified and enigmatic way to seek answers from God. It may have contained the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet carved on twenty-two separate pieces of wood or metal. The priest may have lifted various letters randomly and combined them to form an answer to his questions by divine manipulation or inspiration. Its name begins with the first and last Hebrew letters (Babylonian Talmud, Yoma 73b.) The Bible relates several instances where the Urim and Thummim was used. In Samuel 14, for example, King Saul used it to discover who had disobeyed ..."
Israel Drazin and Stanley M. Wagner, Onkelos on the Torah, Leviticus: Understanding the Bible Text (Jerusalem: Gefen, 2008), 50.

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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Leviticus 8:8 and Onkelos Leviticus 8:8

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