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Pseudo Jonathan Genesis

About this book
Chapter 1

1 At the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, desolate of people and empty of all animals;⁠ darkness was upon the surface of the deep and a merciful wind from before God was blowing over the surface of the water. 3 God said: 'Let there be light to illuminate the world'⁠ and immediately there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. 5 And God called the light Day, and he made it so that the inhabitants of the world might labor during it; and he called the darkness Night, and he made it that creatures might rest during it. And there was evening and there was morning, one day. 6 God said, 'Let the firmament be in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the upper waters from the lower waters.'⁠ 7 God made the firmament—its thickness being three finger breadths—between the limits of the heavens and the waters of the ocean, and he separated the waters that were under the firmament from the waters that were above in the reservoir of the firmament. And it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day. 9 God said, 'Let the lower waters that remain under the heavens be gathered together to one place, and let the earth be dried up so that the dry land may appear.' And it was so. 10 And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering place of the waters he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. 11 God said, 'Let the earth grow vegetation, plants whose seed is sown, and fruit trees that produce fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, upon the earth.' And it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants whose seed is sown, and fruit trees producing fruit in which is their seed, according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, a third day. 14 God said, 'Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs and as festival times, and for counting the reckoning of days, and for sanctifying the beginnings of months and the beginnings of years, the intercalations of months and the intercalations of years, the solstices, the new moon, and the cycles of the sun.' 15 'And let them serve as lights in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth.' And it was so. 16 God made the two great lights, and they were equal in glory for twenty-one hours less six hundred and seventy-two parts of an hour. After that, the moon spoke with a slanderous tongue against the sun, and it was made smaller. And he appointed the sun which was the greater light to rule over the day, and the moon which was the lesser light to rule over the night, and the stars. 17 And God arranged them in their courses in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth. 18 And to minister in the day and in the night, and to separate the light of the day from the darkness of the night. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day. 20 God said, 'Let the alluvial mud of the waters swarm forth a swarm of living creatures, and birds that fly, whose nests are on the earth, and the course of their flight across the air of the firmament of heaven.' 21 God created the great sea monsters, Leviathan and his mate, that are designated for the day of consolation, and all living creatures that creep, that the clear waters swarmed forth, according to their kinds, kinds that are clean and kinds that are not clean, and all birds that fly with wings, according to their kind, kinds that are clean and kinds that are not clean. And God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.' 23 And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day. 24 God said, 'Let the clay of the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kind, kinds that are clean and kinds that are not clean, cattle and creeping things, and creatures of the earth according to their kind.' And it was so. 25 God made the beasts of the earth according to their kind, kinds that are clean and kinds that are not clean, and the cattle according to their kind, and all the creeping things of the earth according to their kinds, kinds that are clean and kinds that are not clean. And God saw that it was good. 26 And God said to the angels who minister before him, who were created on the second day of the creation⁠ of the world, 'Let us make man in our image,⁠ in our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds that are in the air of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.' 27 And God created Adam in his own likeness, in the image of God he created him, with two hundred and forty-eight members, with six hundred and sixty-five nerves, and he formed a skin over him, and filled it with flesh and blood;⁠ male and female in their appearance he created them. 28 God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Increase and multiply and fill the earth with sons and daughters, and become powerful in possessions upon it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens, and over every creeping animal that creeps upon the earth.' 29 God said, 'Behold I have given to you every plant whose seed is sown, that is upon the face of all the earth, and every unfruitful tree for the requirements of building and for burning; and every tree on which there is fruit whose seed is sown shall be yours for food.' 30 To every beast of the earth, to every bird of the heavens, and to everything that creeps upon the earth, in which there is the breath of life, I give every green plant.' And it was so. 31 And God saw all that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.

Texts in conversation

The Aramaic Translation of Genesis Adds Details the Hebrew Leaves Out

Hebrew Bible · Targum

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Summary

In Genesis 1:2, the Aramaic translation of Targum Pseudo-Jonathan adds details drawn from other biblical texts, including Psalms and Jeremiah. Rather than leave the phrase vague, it uses familiar imagery like desolation and emptiness to clarify.

Passages

Genesis 1:2

Hebrew Bible
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was without shape and empty, and darkness was over the surface of the watery deep, but the Spirit of God was hovering11 over the surface of the water. 3 God said, “Let there be light.” And there was light!
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

Pseudo Jonathan Genesis 1:2

Targum
1 At the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, desolate of people and empty of all animals; darkness was upon the surface of the deep and a merciful wind from before God was blowing over the surface of the water. 3 God said: 'Let there be light to illuminate the world' and immediately there was light.
300–1200 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Pseudo Jonathan Genesis

References

"... Pseudo Jonathan, like Neofiti and other Targums, gives an Aramaic transcription of the words tôhu wabôhu. These Targums then explain each of these terms, using “desolate and empty,” the words used by Targum Onkelos to translate tôhu wabôhu. Shinan claims that the additions made by Pseudo Jonathan and the Palestinian targums are prompted by Psalm 104:14 (which mentions grass, cattle, plants and men who cultivate the earth), and possibly by Genesis 2:5. See also Jeremiah 4:23,25; 33:10 ..."
Michael Maher, Targum Pseudo-Jonathan: Genesis, ArBib 1B (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1992), 16.

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 1:2 and Pseudo Jonathan Genesis 1:2

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