Megillah 10b

Babylonian Talmud
Rabbinic

And similarly, Rabbi Yoḥanan said: What is the meaning of that which is written: “And the one came not near the other all the night” (Exodus 14:20)? The ministering angels wanted to sing their song, for the angels would sing songs to each other, as it states: “And they called out to each other and said” (Isaiah 6:3), but the Holy One, Blessed be He, said: The work of My hands, the Egyptians, are drowning at sea, and you wish to say songs? This indicates that God does not rejoice over the downfall of the wicked.

Pseudo Jonathan Exodus 14:24

Targum

22 The children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, and the water became solid like walls,29 three hun dred mils high, to their right and to their left. 23 The Egyptians pursued, and went in after them into the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots and his horsemen. 24 At the morning watch, at the time when the hosts from on high come to praise, the Lord looked with anger on the camps of the Egyptians from the pillar of fire to throw burning coals on them, and from the pillar of cloud to throw hail on them, and he threw the camp of the Egyptians into confusion. 25 He sawed the wheels of the armed chariots of Pharaoh so that they drove them with dif ficulty, and they were gradually leaving (them) behind. The Egyptians said one to another, “Let us flee before the people of the children of Israel, because it is the Memra of the Lord who engages in battle for them against the Egyptians.” 26 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Incline your hand over the sea, and let the wa ters come back over the Egyptians, over their chariots and horsemen.”

 Notes and References

"... Pseudo-Jonathan may here be alluding to the tradition about the angels who wanted to chant their hymns when the Egyptians were being drowned in the sea, which is recorded in b. Megillah 10b. On Pseudo-Jonathan's tendency to make allusions to well-known tra­ditions, see Maher, 1992, 6. For other references in Pseudo-Jonathan to the praise of the angels, compare Pseudo-Jonathan Genesis 27:1 to that verse (Maher, 1992, 94) ..."

McNamara, Martin Targum Neofiti 1, Exodus (p. 201) Liturgical Press, 1994

 User Comments

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