Leviticus 19:4
Hebrew Bible
3 Each of you must respect his mother and his father, and you must keep my Sabbaths. I am the Lord your God. 4 Do not turn to idols, and you must not make for yourselves gods of cast metal. I am the Lord your God. 5 “‘When you sacrifice a peace-offering sacrifice to the Lord, you must sacrifice it so that it is accepted for you.
Date: 5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition) (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Onkelos Leviticus 19:4
Targum
3 A man shall reverence his mother and his father, and you shall keep the day of My Sabbath: I am the Lord your God. 4 Turn not after idols, nor make molten things (for worship): I am the Lord your God. 5 And when you offer the sacrifice of consecrated things before the Lord, make the sacrifice thereof with your own free will.
Date: 100-200 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Notes and References
"... The Onkelos targumist, ever respectful of God, was concerned to avoid creating any misleading intimation of divinity to idols. Thus, when the Torah uses a form of el, “god,” to describe an idol, he does not insert this noun into his translation, but downgrades the idol to a sham, thereby precluding his unsophisticated readers from imagining that many gods exist. He substitutes a form of the words dachal or ta'avat. The first denotes “a fearful thing” and the second “a mistake.” The former appears only once in the Leviticus translation, in 19:4, while the latter occurs thrice, in 19:4, 26:1, and 26:30 ..."
Drazin, Israel, and Stanley M. Wagner
Onkelos on the Torah, Leviticus: Understanding the Bible Text
(p. 156) Gefen, 2006
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
Your Feedback:
User Comments
Anonymous comments are welcome. All comments are subject to moderation.