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Targum Psalms

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Psalm 49

1 For praise; by the sons of Korah; a hymn. 2 Hear this declaration, all peoples; give ear, all dwellers on earth. 3 Even the sons of the first Adam, even the sons of Jacob together, righteous and sinner.⁠ 4 My mouth will speak wisdom, and the murmur of my heart is understanding. 5 I will incline my ear to a parable, I will begin to open my riddle with the lyre. 6 Why should I fear on the day of the visitation of evil, except that the guilt of my sin at my end will encompass me? 7 Woe to the sinners, who trust in their possessions, and who boast in the size of their riches. 8 A man will by no means redeem his brother, who was taken captive, by his riches; and he will not give to God his price of redemption. 9 And he gives his glorious redemption, and his evil will cease, and vengeance forever. 10 And he will live again for eternal life; he will not see the judgment of Gehenna. 11 For the wise will see the wicked, in Gehenna they will be judged; together fools and the stupid will perish, and they will leave their money to the righteous.⁠ 12 In their tomb they will abide forever, and they will not rise from their tents for all generations, because they have exalted themselves; and they have acquired an evil name upon the earth. 13 And a wicked man will not lodge in glory with the righteous; he is likened to a beast, he is worth nothing. 14 This their way has caused folly for them; and in their end with their mouth they will recount their offenses in the world to come. 15 Like sheep, they have assigned the righteous to death, and killed them; they have destroyed the righteous and those who serve the Torah, and the upright they have punished; because of this, their bodies will decay in Gehenna, because they extended their hand and wrecked the dwelling place of his Presence. 16 David said in the spirit of prophecy, “Truly God will redeem my soul from the judgment of Gehenna, for he will teach me his Torah forever.” 17 About Korah and his party he prophesied and said, “Do not fear, Moses, because Korah, the man of dispute, has become rich, because the glory of his house will increase.” 18 For in his death he will keep nothing, his glory will not descend after him. 19 For the soul of Moses during his life will bless you; and the righteous will thank you, for you are good to those who worship in your presence. 20 The memory of the righteous will come to the generation of their fathers; but the wicked will not see light forever and ever. 21 The sinful man, when he is in honor, will have no insight; and when his honor is taken from him, he becomes like a beast and worth nothing.

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Compare Revelation 2:11 and Targum Psalm 49:11

New Testament · Targum

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Summary

Revelation refers to the “second death” as the fate of the unrighteous, language also found in the Aramaic Targums, including some versions of Psalm 49. In the translation, the psalm’s reflection on mortality is reshaped into final judgment in Gehenna.

Passages

Revelation 2:11

New Testament
8 “To the angel of the church in Smyrna write the following: “This is the solemn pronouncement of the one who is the first and the last, the one who was dead, but came to life: 9 ‘I know the distress you are suffering and your poverty (but you are rich). I also know the slander against you by those who call themselves Jews and really are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10 Do not be afraid of the things you are about to suffer. The devil is about to have some of you thrown into prison so you may be tested, and you will experience suffering for ten days. Remain faithful even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown that is life itself. 11 The one who has an ear had better hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will in no way be harmed by the second death.’
92–96 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Revelation

Targum Psalm 49:11

Targum
8 A man will by no means redeem his brother, who was taken captive, by his riches; and he will not give to God his price of redemption. 9 And he gives his glorious redemption, and his evil will cease, and vengeance forever. 10 And he will live again for eternal life; he will not see the judgment of Gehenna. 11 For the wise will see the wicked, in Gehenna they will be judged; together fools and the stupid will perish, and they will leave their money to the righteous. 12 In their tomb they will abide forever, and they will not rise from their tents for all generations, because they have exalted themselves; and they have acquired an evil name upon the earth. 13 And a wicked man will not lodge in glory with the righteous; he is likened to a beast, he is worth nothing. 14 This their way has caused folly for them; and in their end with their mouth they will recount their offenses in the world to come.
200–600 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Targum Psalms

References

"... There are six occurrences of the expression Second Death within the official Targums Onqelos and Jonathan, namely Deuteronomy 33:6, Isaiah 22:14, 65:6, 15, and Jeremiah 51:39.57. Moreover, it occurs in some of the Palestinian Targums to Deuteronomy 33:6, and in a variant reading to Targum Psalms 49:11 ... The meturgeman disconnected the positively coloured word ‘wise’ from the negative concept of dying, by taking the wise as the subject of the sentence and adding ‘the wicked’ as direct object. This interpretation reminds of Isaiah 33:17 and 66:24 ..."
Alberdina Houtman and Magda Misset-van de Weg, “The Fate of the Wicked: Second Death in Early Jewish and Christian Texts,” in Empsychoi Logoi: Religious Innovations in Antiquity (Leiden: Brill, 2008), 405–424.

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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Revelation 2:11 and Targum Psalm 49:11

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