Exodus 12:12

Hebrew Bible

11 This is how you are to eat it—dressed to travel, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You are to eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover. 12‘I will pass through the land of Egypt in the same night, and I will attack all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both of humans and of animals, and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. I am the Lord. 13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, so that when I see the blood I will pass over you, and this plague will not fall on you to destroy you when I attack the land of Egypt.

Onkelos Exodus 12:12

Targum

11 And thus shall you eat it; with your loins girded, with your sandals on your feet, and your staves in your hands, and you shall eat it in haste; it is the Pascha before the Lord. 12 And I will be revealed in the land of Mizraim in that night, and will kill every firstborn in the land from man unto beast, and on all the idols of Mizraim I will execute judgment: I am the Lord. 13 And the blood shall be for you a sign upon the houses where you are; and I will see the blood, and will have mercy upon you, and there shall not be among you the destruction of death when I slay in the land of Mizraim.

 Notes and References

"... Our targumist avoids the biblical active anthropomorphism 'I will pass through.' Our translator also makes this change in verse 23, but not in such places as 33:22, 34:6 and Deuteronomy 31:3, where the verb is not used in connection with the Passover event. He changes several verbs in the next few sentences from the past tense to the future ..."

Drazin, Israel, and Stanley M. Wagner Onkelos on the Torah, Exodus: Understanding the Bible Text (p. 67) Gefen, 2006

 User Comments

Do you have questions or comments about these texts? Please submit them here.