Overview
Summary
Targum Onkelos on Exodus shapes the narrative of redemption through consistent theological lenses: the Memra initiates and executes liberation, anti-anthropomorphism governs all theophanies (burning bush, Sinai, the cleft of the rock), and Shekinah language defines God's dwelling among Israel. The Poem of Four Nights at Exodus 12:42 is a unique targum composition linking creation, Abraham, Exodus, and Messiah.
Notable Renderings
The burning bush theophany is rendered as revelation rather than appearance. The Song of the Sea celebrates the Memra. Sinai's thunder is the voice of the Memra. Moses' request to see God's glory is carefully managed — he sees the Shekinah's aftereffect, never God's face. The Poem of Four Nights (12:42) is the most distinctive Onkelos/Palestinian targum addition in the entire Torah.
Theological Themes
Memra as the agent of liberation and covenant; Shekinah as God's tabernacling presence (directly connected to the Tabernacle construction); anti-anthropomorphism at every theophany; the eschatological Poem of Four Nights linking Exodus typology to Messianic expectation.
Hebrew (MT)
וַיִּשְׁמַע אֱלֹהִים אֶת־נַאֲקָתָם וַיִּזְכֹּר אֱלֹהִים אֶת־בְּרִיתוֹ
And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant.
Targum (Aramaic)
ushtamia' qodam Adonai yat tzan'athon udekhir Adonai yat keyameih
Targum Rendering
And it was heard before the LORD their groaning, and the LORD remembered his covenant.
Onkelos uses the passive 'it was heard before the LORD' rather than God actively hearing, a circumlocution that avoids implying God has ears while preserving the theological reality that Israel's cries reached heaven.
Hebrew (MT)
וַיֵּרָא מַלְאַךְ יְהוָה אֵלָיו בְּלַבַּת־אֵשׁ מִתּוֹךְ הַסְּנֶה
And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of the bush.
Targum (Aramaic)
ve'itchazi leih malakha daAdonai beshalhoveita de'esha migo'o de'asna
Targum Rendering
And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of the bush.
Onkelos preserves the angel as the visible agent at the burning bush, maintaining the intermediary that the Hebrew text itself provides.
Hebrew (MT)
וַיִּקְרָא אֵלָיו אֱלֹהִים מִתּוֹךְ הַסְּנֶה
And God called to him from the midst of the bush.
Targum (Aramaic)
uqra leih Adonai migo'o de'asna
Targum Rendering
And the LORD called to him from the midst of the bush.
Onkelos does not insert Memra here — God's direct speech from the bush is preserved, consistent with the pattern of allowing first-person divine address.
Hebrew (MT)
כִּי אֶהְיֶה עִמָּךְ
For I will be with you.
Targum (Aramaic)
arei Memri yehei besiyyakhah
Targum Rendering
For my Memra will be in your help.
The promise of divine presence to Moses is mediated through the Memra, following the patriarchal pattern (Gen 28:15, 39:2). The Memra is the mode of God's accompaniment with his appointed leaders.
Hebrew (MT)
אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה
I Am Who I Am.
Targum (Aramaic)
Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh
Targum Rendering
I Am Who I Am.
Onkelos preserves the divine name revelation without interpretation, treating it as too sacred to paraphrase. This is remarkable given Onkelos' general willingness to interpret — the Name itself is beyond targum.
Hebrew (MT)
אֲנִי יְהוָה וָאֵרָא אֶל־אַבְרָהָם... בְּאֵל שַׁדָּי וּשְׁמִי יְהוָה לֹא נוֹדַעְתִּי לָהֶם
I am the LORD. And I appeared to Abraham... as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD I was not known to them.
Targum (Aramaic)
ana Adonai ve'itgeleiti le'Avraham... be'El Shadday ushmei Adonai la hodeiti lehon
Targum Rendering
I am the LORD. And I revealed myself to Abraham... as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them.
The theophany to the patriarchs is rendered as self-revelation (itgeleiti), and knowledge of the Name is described as God's active disclosure (hodeiti) rather than passive recognition.
Hebrew (MT)
וְעָבַרְתִּי בְאֶרֶץ־מִצְרַיִם... אֲנִי יְהוָה
And I will pass through the land of Egypt... I am the LORD.
Targum (Aramaic)
ve'itgelei be'ar'a deMitzrayim... ana Adonai
Targum Rendering
And I will reveal myself in the land of Egypt... I am the LORD.
God does not 'pass through' Egypt like a traveler. Onkelos replaces physical movement with divine self-revelation, consistent with the theology that God acts without spatial displacement.
Hebrew (MT)
וְרָאִיתִי אֶת־הַדָּם וּפָסַחְתִּי עֲלֵכֶם
And I will see the blood and I will pass over you.
Targum (Aramaic)
ve'echzei yat dema ve'echush aleikhon
Targum Rendering
And I will see the blood and I will have mercy upon you.
Onkelos interprets 'pass over' (pasach) as 'have mercy' (echush), shifting from a physical action (skipping over houses) to a theological one (exercising mercy). This deepens the Passover from spatial movement to divine compassion.
Hebrew (MT)
וְלֹא יִתֵּן הַמַּשְׁחִית לָבֹא אֶל־בָּתֵּיכֶם
And he will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses.
Targum (Aramaic)
vela yitten malakha demachei le'me'al levatekhon
Targum Rendering
And he will not allow the destroying angel to enter your houses.
The 'destroyer' (mashchit) is identified as 'the destroying angel' (malakha demachei), an angelic agent rather than an impersonal force. This clarifies the agent of the plague while distancing God from direct destruction.
Hebrew (MT)
לֵיל שִׁמֻּרִים הוּא לַיהוָה
It was a night of watching for the LORD.
Targum (Aramaic)
leilya denetira hu qodam Adonai... arba'a leilavvan
Targum Rendering
It is a night of watching before the LORD... four nights [are recorded in the memorial book].
This is the Poem of Four Nights, the most famous unique composition in the targum tradition. Onkelos (and more fully Pseudo-Jonathan and Neofiti) expands this verse into a cosmic four-night schema: (1) the night of creation when God's Memra illuminated the darkness, (2) the night of Abraham's covenant/Aqedah, (3) the night of the Exodus, and (4) the night of the Messiah's coming. This links all of salvation history into a single nocturnal typology.
Hebrew (MT)
וַיהוָה הֹלֵךְ לִפְנֵיהֶם יוֹמָם בְּעַמּוּד עָנָן
And the LORD was going before them by day in a pillar of cloud.
Targum (Aramaic)
vaAdonai madbar qodamehon bimama be'amuda da'anana
Targum Rendering
And the LORD was leading before them by day in a pillar of cloud.
'Going' (holekh) becomes 'leading' (madbar), shifting from physical locomotion to purposeful guidance. God does not walk but directs.
Hebrew (MT)
וַיַּרְא יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת־הַיָּד הַגְּדֹלָה אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה יְהוָה בְּמִצְרַיִם
And Israel saw the great hand which the LORD had wielded against Egypt.
Targum (Aramaic)
vachaza Yisrael yat gevurta rabbeta da'avad Adonai beMitzrayim
Targum Rendering
And Israel saw the great power which the LORD had wrought in Egypt.
'The great hand' becomes 'the great power' (gevurta rabbeta), removing the anthropomorphic image of God's hand and replacing it with an abstract attribute.
Hebrew (MT)
אָז יָשִׁיר־מֹשֶׁה וּבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת־הַשִּׁירָה הַזֹּאת לַיהוָה
Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the LORD.
Targum (Aramaic)
bedain shabbach Mosheh uvenei Yisrael yat tushbechta hada qodam Adonai
Targum Rendering
Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song of praise before the LORD.
The Song of the Sea is described as praise (tushbechta) offered 'before the LORD' (qodam Adonai), aligning the Exodus celebration with synagogue worship patterns.
Hebrew (MT)
עָזִּי וְזִמְרָת יָהּ וַיְהִי־לִי לִישׁוּעָה
The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.
Targum (Aramaic)
tushbechti vetiqfi Adonai vahava li lefurqan
Targum Rendering
My praise and my strength is the LORD, and he has become for me redemption.
Salvation (yeshu'ah) is rendered as redemption (furqan), the same Aramaic term used in messianic contexts, linking the Exodus redemption typologically to eschatological deliverance.
Hebrew (MT)
יְהוָה אִישׁ מִלְחָמָה יְהוָה שְׁמוֹ
The LORD is a man of war; the LORD is his name.
Targum (Aramaic)
Adonai gevur qaravayya Adonai shemeih
Targum Rendering
The LORD is a warrior in battle; the LORD is his name.
'Man of war' (ish milchamah) becomes 'warrior in battle' (gevur qaravayya), removing the word 'man' (ish) from any description of God while preserving the martial imagery.
Hebrew (MT)
יְמִינְךָ יְהוָה נֶאְדָּרִי בַּכֹּחַ
Your right hand, O LORD, is glorious in power.
Targum (Aramaic)
yeminakh Adonai meshabbachta becheilah
Targum Rendering
Your right hand, O LORD, is glorious in power.
Onkelos preserves 'right hand' in the poetic Song of the Sea, treating it as established liturgical language. The targum tradition is more tolerant of anthropomorphism in poetry than in narrative.
Hebrew (MT)
כִּי־יָד עַל־כֵּס יָהּ מִלְחָמָה לַיהוָה בַּעֲמָלֵק
For a hand upon the throne of the LORD — war for the LORD against Amalek.
Targum (Aramaic)
arei bishevuah min qodam kurseih deyeqara daAdonai qerav laAdonai ba'Amaleq
Targum Rendering
For by an oath from before the throne of the glory of the LORD, the LORD will wage war against Amalek.
The cryptic 'hand upon the throne of Yah' is interpreted as a solemn oath from before God's glorious throne. Onkelos transforms a physical gesture into a juridical act, and introduces the 'glory' (yeqar) as a buffer for direct reference to God's throne.
Hebrew (MT)
וּמֹשֶׁה עָלָה אֶל־הָאֱלֹהִים וַיִּקְרָא אֵלָיו יְהוָה מִן־הָהָר
And Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain.
Targum (Aramaic)
uMosheh seliq leqodam Adonai uqra leih Adonai min tura
Targum Rendering
And Moses went up before the LORD, and the LORD called to him from the mountain.
Moses goes up 'before the LORD' (leqodam Adonai) rather than 'to God,' using the reverential circumlocution that avoids implying God is spatially located on the mountain.
Hebrew (MT)
וַיּוֹצֵא מֹשֶׁה אֶת־הָעָם לִקְרַאת הָאֱלֹהִים מִן־הַמַּחֲנֶה
And Moses brought the people out to meet God from the camp.
Targum (Aramaic)
ve'appeiq Mosheh yat amma le'araa shekhinteih daAdonai min mashrita
Targum Rendering
And Moses brought out the people to meet the Shekinah of the LORD from the camp.
Israel does not meet God directly but the Shekinah of the LORD. This is one of the most significant Shekinah passages in Onkelos — the Sinai theophany is an encounter with God's indwelling presence, not God's essence.
Hebrew (MT)
מִפְּנֵי אֲשֶׁר יָרַד עָלָיו יְהוָה בָּאֵשׁ
Because the LORD descended upon it in fire.
Targum (Aramaic)
min qodam de'itgeli aloi Adonai be'esha
Targum Rendering
Because the LORD revealed himself upon it in fire.
God does not 'descend' upon Sinai. The descent is replaced with revelation (itgeli), preserving divine transcendence even at the most dramatic theophany in the Torah.
Hebrew (MT)
וַיֵּרֶד יְהוָה עַל־הַר סִינַי
And the LORD came down upon Mount Sinai.
Targum (Aramaic)
ve'itgeli Adonai al tura deSinai
Targum Rendering
And the LORD revealed himself upon Mount Sinai.
Repeated rendering: every instance of divine descent at Sinai is transformed into divine revelation. Onkelos is systematic and consistent in this substitution.
Hebrew (MT)
וַיְדַבֵּר אֱלֹהִים אֵת כָּל־הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה
And God spoke all these words.
Targum (Aramaic)
umalil Adonai yat kol pitgamayya ha'ilein
Targum Rendering
And the LORD spoke all these words.
At the giving of the Ten Commandments, Onkelos uses 'the LORD' rather than Elohim, emphasizing that the covenant God of Israel (YHWH) — not a generic deity — delivers the commandments.
Hebrew (MT)
וְכָל־הָעָם רֹאִים אֶת־הַקּוֹלֹת
And all the people were seeing the thunderings.
Targum (Aramaic)
vekhol amma chazin yat qalayya
Targum Rendering
And all the people were seeing the thunderings.
Onkelos preserves the synesthetic 'seeing the thunderings,' which rabbinic tradition interprets as the people seeing the voice of God — each commandment emerging as visible fire.
Hebrew (MT)
וַיַּעַמְדוּ מֵרָחֹק... וְאַל־יְדַבֵּר עִמָּנוּ אֱלֹהִים פֶּן־נָמוּת
And they stood afar off... and let not God speak with us, lest we die.
Targum (Aramaic)
veqamu merachiq... vela yitmalal immana min qodam Adonai dilma nemut
Targum Rendering
And they stood afar off... and let not [a word] be spoken with us from before the LORD, lest we die.
The people's fear of God speaking directly is rendered as fear of speech 'from before the LORD,' adding the reverential circumlocution even in the people's own words.
Hebrew (MT)
וַיִּרְאוּ אֵת אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל
And they saw the God of Israel.
Targum (Aramaic)
vechazo yat yeqara de'Elaha deYisrael
Targum Rendering
And they saw the glory of the God of Israel.
This is one of the most critical anti-anthropomorphic moves in all of Onkelos. The elders cannot have 'seen God' — they saw 'the glory (yeqar) of the God of Israel.' No human sees God directly; they see the kavod/yeqar.
Hebrew (MT)
וַיֶּחֱזוּ אֶת־הָאֱלֹהִים וַיֹּאכְלוּ וַיִּשְׁתּוּ
And they beheld God, and they ate and drank.
Targum (Aramaic)
vechazo yat yeqara daAdonai vechadiu be'qorbanehon de'itqabilu keilu akhalu veshatiu
Targum Rendering
And they saw the glory of the LORD, and they rejoiced in their offerings which were accepted as though they ate and drank.
Onkelos cannot allow the casual statement that the elders saw God and then had a meal. The seeing is redirected to God's glory, and the eating/drinking is reinterpreted as joy over accepted sacrifices — transforming a covenant meal into a liturgical celebration.
Hebrew (MT)
וְעָשׂוּ לִי מִקְדָּשׁ וְשָׁכַנְתִּי בְּתוֹכָם
And let them make me a sanctuary, and I will dwell among them.
Targum (Aramaic)
veya'avdun qodomi maqdasha ve'ashrei Shekhineti beineihon
Targum Rendering
And let them make before me a sanctuary, and I will cause my Shekinah to dwell among them.
The foundational Tabernacle verse: God does not dwell among Israel directly but causes his Shekinah to dwell among them. This establishes the Shekinah as the mode of divine indwelling in sacred space — the theological heart of the Tabernacle.
Hebrew (MT)
וְשָׁכַנְתִּי בְּתוֹךְ בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְהָיִיתִי לָהֶם לֵאלֹהִים
And I will dwell among the children of Israel and will be their God.
Targum (Aramaic)
ve'ashrei Shekhineti bego benei Yisrael ve'ehei lehon l'Elah
Targum Rendering
And I will cause my Shekinah to dwell among the children of Israel, and I will be their God.
Repeated Shekinah formula: God's indwelling is consistently expressed through the Shekinah. The covenant formula 'I will be their God' is preserved without mediation — the relationship is direct even if the mode of presence is the Shekinah.
Hebrew (MT)
וְיָדְעוּ כִּי אֲנִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיהֶם אֲשֶׁר הוֹצֵאתִי אֹתָם מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם לְשָׁכְנִי בְתוֹכָם
And they shall know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell among them.
Targum (Aramaic)
viyeid'un arei ana Adonai Elahehon de'appiqit yathon me'ar'a deMitzrayim le'ashraah Shekhineti beineihon
Targum Rendering
And they shall know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out from the land of Egypt, to cause my Shekinah to dwell among them.
The purpose of the Exodus is Shekinah-dwelling. Onkelos ties liberation directly to divine presence: God freed Israel so that his Shekinah could tabernacle in their midst.
Hebrew (MT)
כִּי אוֹת הִוא בֵּינִי וּבֵינֵיכֶם
For it is a sign between me and you.
Targum (Aramaic)
arei ata hi bein Memri uveineikhon
Targum Rendering
For it is a sign between my Memra and you.
The Sabbath sign, like the rainbow sign (Gen 9:12), is placed between the Memra and Israel rather than between God directly and Israel. Covenant signs are mediated through the Word.
Hebrew (MT)
בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי שָׁבַת וַיִּנָּפַשׁ
On the seventh day he ceased and was refreshed.
Targum (Aramaic)
beyoma shevi'a'ah shevat venach
Targum Rendering
On the seventh day he ceased and rested.
The Hebrew vayinnafash ('was refreshed,' from nefesh/soul) is softened to 'rested' (nach), removing any implication that God needed refreshment or has a soul that required restoration.
Hebrew (MT)
וְעַתָּה הַנִּיחָה לִּי וְיִחַר־אַפִּי בָהֶם
Now therefore let me alone, that my anger may burn against them.
Targum (Aramaic)
ukh'an sh'voq min qodamai viyitqaf rug'zi behon
Targum Rendering
And now, desist from before me, and let my anger be strong against them.
'Let me alone' becomes 'desist from before me,' and 'anger burning' becomes 'anger being strong' (yitqaf) — Onkelos subtly adjusts the metaphors to reduce the anthropomorphic intensity while preserving the drama of the Golden Calf crisis.
Hebrew (MT)
וַיִּנָּחֶם יְהוָה עַל־הָרָעָה אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר לַעֲשׂוֹת לְעַמּוֹ
And the LORD relented concerning the evil which he had spoken of doing to his people.
Targum (Aramaic)
vetav qodam Adonai al bishta di malil leme'bad le'ammeih
Targum Rendering
And it was good before the LORD concerning the evil which he had spoken to do to his people.
God does not 'relent' or 'change his mind' in Onkelos. The anthropopathic verb nacham is replaced with 'it was good before the LORD,' a reverential formula that preserves divine immutability.
Hebrew (MT)
פָּנַי יֵלֵכוּ וַהֲנִחֹתִי לָךְ
My presence shall go, and I will give you rest.
Targum (Aramaic)
Shekhineti tehakh ve'anikha lakh
Targum Rendering
My Shekinah shall go, and I will give you rest.
'My face' (panai, literally 'my faces') is rendered 'my Shekinah.' God's face — the most intimate anthropomorphism — becomes the Shekinah, the divine presence that accompanies Israel without compromising God's transcendence.
Hebrew (MT)
לֹא תוּכַל לִרְאֹת אֶת־פָּנָי כִּי לֹא־יִרְאַנִי הָאָדָם וָחָי
You cannot see my face, for no man shall see me and live.
Targum (Aramaic)
la tikdar lemechzei yat appai arei la yechzinnani enasha veyeqayyam
Targum Rendering
You are not able to see my face, for no man shall see me and live.
Remarkably, Onkelos preserves 'my face' here rather than substituting Shekinah or glory. The point is prohibition: no one can see God's face. The literal rendering reinforces the impossibility of direct vision of God, which is the very principle that drives Onkelos' anti-anthropomorphism everywhere else.
Hebrew (MT)
וְרָאִיתָ אֶת־אֲחֹרָי וּפָנַי לֹא יֵרָאוּ
And you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.
Targum (Aramaic)
vetechzei yat di vatrai ve'appai la yitchazun
Targum Rendering
And you shall see what is behind me, but my face shall not be seen.
'My back' becomes 'what is behind me' (di vatrai), subtly shifting from a body part to a spatial/temporal concept — what follows after God's passing, not God's physical backside.
Hebrew (MT)
וַיֵּרֶד יְהוָה בֶּעָנָן
And the LORD descended in the cloud.
Targum (Aramaic)
ve'itgeli Adonai be'anana
Targum Rendering
And the LORD revealed himself in the cloud.
God does not descend into the cloud but reveals himself in it. The cloud remains the medium of theophany, but divine movement is replaced with self-disclosure.
Hebrew (MT)
יְהוָה יְהוָה אֵל רַחוּם וְחַנּוּן
The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious.
Targum (Aramaic)
Adonai Adonai Elaha rachama vechanina
Targum Rendering
The LORD, the LORD, God compassionate and gracious.
The Thirteen Attributes of Mercy are rendered with minimal change. Onkelos treats this divine self-description as authoritative and does not adjust the attributive language — these qualities describe God's character, not his body.
Hebrew (MT)
יֵלֶךְ־נָא אֲדֹנָי בְּקִרְבֵּנוּ
Let the Lord go in our midst.
Targum (Aramaic)
tehakh ke'an Shekhinteih daAdonai begavvana
Targum Rendering
Let the Shekinah of the LORD go now in our midst.
Moses' plea for God's presence is a plea for the Shekinah. God does not 'go' in Israel's midst — the Shekinah does. This is one of the clearest Shekinah passages in Exodus.
Hebrew (MT)
וַיְכַס הֶעָנָן אֶת־אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד וּכְבוֹד יְהוָה מָלֵא אֶת־הַמִּשְׁכָּן
And the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the Tabernacle.
Targum (Aramaic)
vekhassa anana yat mashkan ziman viyeqara daAdonai malei yat mishkena
Targum Rendering
And the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the Tabernacle.
At the climax of Exodus, Onkelos renders 'glory' (kavod/yeqar) literally. The glory filling the Tabernacle is the culmination of the Shekinah theology developed throughout the book — God's presence has come to dwell among his people.
Hebrew (MT)
וְלֹא־יָכֹל מֹשֶׁה לָבוֹא אֶל־אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד כִּי־שָׁכַן עָלָיו הֶעָנָן
And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting, because the cloud had settled upon it.
Targum (Aramaic)
vela yakhil Mosheh le'me'al lemashkan zimna arei sherat aloi anana
Targum Rendering
And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting, because the cloud had settled upon it.
The verb sherat ('settled/rested') replaces shakhan ('dwelt'), using a term that emphasizes the cloud's tangible presence. The Shekinah is so powerfully manifest that even Moses cannot enter.