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Onkelos Leviticus

About this book

Priestly Service Begins

Chapter 9

1 And on the eighth day Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel. 2 And he said to Aaron, Take for yourself a calf, a young bull from the herd, for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering unblemished, and offer them before the Lord. 3 And he spoke with the sons of Israel, saying, Take a young goat for a sin offering, and a calf, and a year-old lamb, unblemished, for a burnt offering; and a bull and a ram for a holy offering, 4 to sacrifice before the Lord; and a mincha of flour sprinkled with oil: for today⁠ the glory of the Lord will be revealed to you. 5 And they brought what Moses had commanded before the Tent of Meeting, and all the congregation approached and stood before the Lord. 6 And Moses said, This is the thing that the Lord has commanded to be done, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed to you. 7 And Moses said to Aaron, Approach the altar, and make your sin offering and your burnt sacrifice, and make atonement for yourself and for the people, and perform the offering of the people, and make atonement for them, as the Lord commanded. 8 And Aaron drew near to the altar, and slaughtered the calf for the sin offering for himself. 9 And the sons of Aaron brought the blood to him, and he dipped his finger in the blood, and put it on the horns of the altar, and poured out the blood at the base of the altar. 10 But he burned the fat, the kidneys, and the covering of the liver of the sin offering on the altar, as the Lord commanded Moses. 11 And he burned the meat and the skin in the fire outside the camp. 12 And he killed the whole burnt offering; and the sons of Aaron brought the blood to him, and he sprinkled it all around the altar. 13 And they brought to him the whole burnt offering in pieces with the head, and he burned it on the altar. 14 And he washed the internal organs and the legs, and burned them with the offering at the altar. 15 And he brought the offering of the people, and took the young goat for the sin offering of the people, and killed it, and made atonement with its blood, as before. 16 And he brought the whole burnt offering, and offered it according to the prescribed procedure. 17 And he took the mincha, and filled his hand with it, and burned it on the altar beside the morning sacrifice. 18 And he slaughtered the bull and the ram for the holy offerings of the people; and the sons of Aaron brought the blood to him, and he sprinkled the blood all around the altar. 19 Also the fats of the bull and of the ram, the tail, and the covering of the internal organs, with the kidneys, and the covering of the liver; 20 and they placed the fats on the breast, and burned the fats at the altar. 21 And Aaron lifted the breast with the right shoulder as a lifted offering before the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses. 22 And Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them, and came down from performing the sin offering, and the burnt sacrifice, and the holy offerings. 23 And Moses and Aaron entered the Tent of Meeting, and came out and blessed the people; and the glory of the Lord was revealed to all the people: 24 and fire came out from before the Lord, and consumed on the altar the burnt sacrifice and the fats: and all the people saw, and gave praise, and fell on their faces.

Texts in conversation

Compare Leviticus 9:4 and Onkelos Leviticus 9:4

Hebrew Bible · Targum

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Summary

Leviticus says God will appear to the people during a ceremony, implying a physical presence. The Aramaic translation in Targum Onkelos says the “glory” of God will appear to avoid this, the only place in Leviticus where the Targum makes this change.

Passages

Leviticus 9:4

Hebrew Bible
3 Then tell the Israelites: ‘Take a male goat for a sin offering and a calf and a lamb, both a year old and flawless, for a burnt offering, 4 and an ox and a ram for peace offerings to sacrifice before the Lord, and a grain offering mixed with olive oil, for today the Lord is going to appear to you.’” 5 So they took what Moses had commanded to the front of the Meeting Tent, and the whole congregation presented them and stood before the Lord.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Leviticus

Onkelos Leviticus 9:4

Targum
3 And he spoke with the sons of Israel, saying, Take a young goat for a sin offering, and a calf, and a year-old lamb, unblemished, for a burnt offering; and a bull and a ram for a holy offering, 4 to sacrifice before the Lord; and a mincha of flour sprinkled with oil: for today the glory of the Lord will be revealed to you. 5 And they brought what Moses had commanded before the Tent of Meeting, and all the congregation approached and stood before the Lord.
50–500 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Onkelos Leviticus

References

"... Our Targumist transforms scripture's anthropomorphic “for today the Lord appears to you” by adding yekara, “glory,” the only instance in Leviticus where this insertion is made. Rashbam and Ibn Ezra explain that the Bible's "revelation of God" was not meant to be taken literally: it is a metaphor for the miraculous fire that will consume the sacrifice at the end of the ceremony, which is described in verse 24. However, Sforno maintains that the word nirch is actually past tense and refers to the glory of God that had already filled the Tabernacle in Exodus 40:34, and that the sacrifices were being brought now to honor His present presence ..."
Israel Drazin and Stanley M. Wagner, Onkelos on the Torah, Leviticus: Understanding the Bible Text (Jerusalem: Gefen, 2008), 58.

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 9:4 and Onkelos Leviticus 9:4

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