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Pseudo Jonathan Genesis

About this book
Chapter 6

1 When the children of men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and beautiful daughters were born to them.⁠ 2 The sons of the great ones saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, that they painted their eyes and put on rouge, and walked about with naked flesh. They conceived lustful thoughts,⁠ and they took wives to themselves from among all who pleased them.⁠ 3 The Lord said in his Memra, 'None of the evil generations that are to arise (in the future) will be judged according to the order of judgment applied to the generation of the Flood, (that is) to be destroyed and wiped out from the world. Did I not put my holy spirit in them that they might perform good deeds? But behold, their deeds are evil. Behold, I gave them an extension of a hundred and twenty years that they might repent, but they have not done so.' 4 Shamhazai and Azael fell from heaven⁠ and were on earth in those days, and also after the sons of the great ones had gone in to the daughters of men, who bore them children; these are called the heroes of old, the men of renown.⁠ 5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man increased on earth, and that every impulse of his heart's designs was nothing but evil every day. 6 And the Lord regretted in his Memra that he had made man on earth, and he debated in his Memra about them. 7 Then the Lord said, 'I will wipe out from the face of the earth the men whom I created, man and beast and creeping things and birds of the air, for I regret in my Memra that I made them.' 8 But Noah, because he was a righteous man, found favor before the Lord. 9 This is the genealogy of the family of Noah. Noah was an innocent man, he was perfect in good works, in his age. Noah walked in the fear of the Lord. 10 Noah begot three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 11 The earth became corrupt because of its inhabitants, who strayed from the ways that are right before the Lord, and the earth was filled with acts of robbery. 12 The Lord saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, because all flesh, without exception, had corrupted its ways upon the earth. 13 So the Lord said to Noah, 'The end of all flesh has come, for the earth is full of acts of robbery because of their evil deeds. Behold, I shall destroy them with the earth.' 14 Make yourself an ark of cedar wood; you shall make a hundred and fifty compartments for the ark on the left, and thirty-six in its breadth, and ten cabins in the middle in which food may be stored, and five reservoirs on the right and five on the left. And you shall plaster it inside and out with bitumen. 15 ... 16 Go to Pishon, and from there take a gem, and put it in the ark to give you light. You shall complete it to a cubit from the top. Put the door of the ark in its side. With lower, second, and third compartments shall you make it. 17 For my part, behold, I will bring floodwaters upon the earth to destroy all flesh under the heavens in which there is the breath of life; everything on earth shall perish. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall enter the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. 19 Of all that lives, of all flesh, you shall take two of each into the ark to keep alive with you; they shall be male and female. 20 From birds according to their kinds, from the animals according to their kinds, from every creeping thing of the earth according to its kind, two of each shall come to you, brought by an angel that will catch them and bring them to you to keep them alive. 21 For your part, take of every food that is eaten, so that it may serve as food for you and for them. 22 Noah did according to all that the Lord had commanded him.

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Compare Genesis 6:4 and Pseudo Jonathan Genesis 6:4

Hebrew Bible · Targum

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Summary

Genesis 6 describes the Nephilim as born from the Sons of God and human women, leaving the phrase unclear. The Aramaic translation in Targum Pseudo-Jonathan replaces this with Sons of the Great, shifting the story from heavenly beings to human figures.

Passages

Genesis 6:4

Hebrew Bible
3 So the Lord said, “My Spirit will not remain in humankind indefinitely, since they are mortal. They will remain for 120 more years.” 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days (and also after this) when the sons of God would sleep with the daughters of humankind, who gave birth to their children. They were the mighty heroes of old, the famous men. 5 But the Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind had become great on the earth. Every inclination of the thoughts of their minds was only evil all the time. 6 The Lord regretted that he had made humankind on the earth, and he was highly offended.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

Pseudo Jonathan Genesis 6:4

Targum
3 The Lord said in his Memra, 'None of the evil generations that are to arise (in the future) will be judged according to the order of judgment applied to the generation of the Flood, (that is) to be destroyed and wiped out from the world. Did I not put my holy spirit in them that they might perform good deeds? But behold, their deeds are evil. Behold, I gave them an extension of a hundred and twenty years that they might repent, but they have not done so.' 4 Shamhazai and Azael fell from heaven and were on earth in those days, and also after the sons of the great ones had gone in to the daughters of men, who bore them children; these are called the heroes of old, the men of renown. 5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man increased on earth, and that every impulse of his heart's designs was nothing but evil every day. 6 And the Lord regretted in his Memra that he had made man on earth, and he debated in his Memra about them.
300–1200 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Pseudo Jonathan Genesis

References

"... To Himbaza, the reason for the change in this verse was not a defense of monotheism but rather its use of the term ‘angels of God’. The problem with this term stems from the interpretation of Genesis 6, Exodus 21:6 and 22:7. In Genesis 6:1-4, a notoriously difficult passage, 'the sons of God' lie with 'the daughters of men' resulting in 'the Nephilim', a race of giants. While the LXX translates this literally, 'the sons of God', the Targums here interpret this as ‘the sons of the great’ ..."
Philip Mark Reid, “A Preliminary Investigation into the Samaritan Pentateuch as an Intralingual Translation” (MA diss., University of the Free State, 2021), 90–01.

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 6:4 and Pseudo Jonathan Genesis 6:4

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