The Aramaic Bible · the Torah
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Leviticus · chapter 15
Aramaic public domain · English by Etheridge (1862)What is the Aramaic Bible?
After the exile, most Jews spoke Aramaic, not Hebrew, so in the synagogue each Scripture reading was followed by an Aramaic translation read aloud, so ordinary people could follow. Those translations are the Aramaic Bible. Scholars call them the Targums.
Why it’s worth reading: a Targum doesn’t just translate, it quietly explains as it goes. So it’s a window into how the first Jewish readers actually understood a passage. Famously, the Aramaic of Isaiah 53 names the servant “the Messiah” outright.
Why it reads differently from your Bible: a Targum doesn’t just translate, it interprets as it goes, so its wording often expands or differs from the plain Hebrew. That difference is the window into how the first readers understood it.
Tap any Aramaic word to trace it to its Jastrow dictionary entry.
And the Lord spake with Mosheh and with Aharon, saying:
Speak with the sons of Israel, and say to them: A man, whether young or old, who hath a defluxion from his flesh, when he hath seen it three times, is unclean.
And this shall be his uncleanness, the appearance of the colour of white in his defluxion inflaming, the defluxion of his flesh; or when his flesh hath stopped from his defluxion, it is his uncleanness.
Every bed on which one who hath such defluxion lieth shall be unclean; and every thing on which such an one sitteth shall be unclean.
And the man who toucheth his bed shall wash his clothes, and wash himself in forty seahs of water, and shall be unclean until evening.
And whoever may sit upon a thing whereon such an one who hath an issue hath sat, let him wash his clothes, and bathe in forty seahs of water, and be unclean until evening.
And whoever may touch the flesh of one having an issue, let him wash his clothes, and bathe in forty seahs of water, and be unclean until evening.
And if he who hath an issue spit upon any one who is clean, let him wash his clothes, and bathe in forty seahs of water, and be unclean until evening.
And every girdle or saddle upon which he who hath an issue rideth shall be unclean.
And whoever toucheth any thing that hath been under him shall be unclean until evening; and he who carrieth them shall wash his clothes, and bathe in forty seahs of water, and be unclean until evening.
And whoever toucheth him who hath the issue, and washeth not his hands in water, shall be unclean; if he be a man, he shall wash his clothes, and bathe in forty seahs of water, and be unclean until the evening.
And any vessel of earthenware whose inside may have been touched by him who hath the issue shall be broken; and any vessel of wood shall be washed in water.
But if he who hath had the issue shall have ceased from it, he shall number to himself seven days for his purification, and wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in spring water, to be clean.
And on the eighth day let him take for himself two large turtle doves, or two young pigeons, and bring them before the Lord at the gate of the tabernacle of ordinance, and deliver them to the priest.
And the priest shall make one a sin offering and one a burnt offering, and the priest shall atone for him before the Lord, and he shall be cleansed from his issue.
But if a man sin through ignorance and seed goeth from him, let him wash all his flesh in forty seahs of water, and be unclean until evening.
And any garment or skin on which seed may be shall be washed in water, and be unclean until evening;
and secondly, a woman with whom a man lieth shall wash in forty seahs of water, and be unclean until evening.
And if a woman hath an issue of blood, red or dark, yellow as saffron, or water of clay, or as red wine mixed with two parts of water, she hath an uncleanness of blood in her flesh; she shall dwell apart seven days; any one who toucheth her shall be unclean until evening.
Whatever such an one shall lie upon during the time of her separation shall be unclean; and whatever such an one sitteth upon during the time of her separation shall be unclean.
And whoever toucheth her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself with forty seahs of water, and be unclean until evening.
And whoever toucheth any thing upon which such an one hath sat shall wash his clothes, and bathe in forty seahs of water, and be unclean until evening.
And if the effusion of her body be upon her bed, or on a thing upon any part of which she sitteth, what time any one toucheth it, he shall be unclean until evening.
If a man lie with her in the time of her separation, he shall be unclean seven days; and any bed upon which he lieth shall be unclean.
But a woman who hath a defluxion of blood three days beyond the time of her separation, or when it floweth after the days of her separation, all the days of the uncleanness of her defluxion shall she be unclean; he who lieth with her shall be unclean.
And any bed upon which such any one lieth all the days of her defluxion shall be as the bed which was accounted hers during the time of her separation, and any thing upon which such an one sitteth shall be unclean as the uncleanness of her separation.
And whoever toucheth those (things) shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes, and bathe in forty seahs of water, and be unclean until the evening.
But when she is cleansed from her issue, let her number to herself seven days, and afterwards wash in forty seahs of water, and be clean.
And on the seventh day, let her take for herself two turtle doves, or two young pigeons eons, and bring them to the priest, at the door of the tabernacle of ordinance;
and the priest shall make one a sin offering, and the other a burnt offering and the priest shall make atonement before the Lord, on account of the defluxion of her uncleanness.
So shall you separate the children of Israel from their uncleanness, and make them to be separate from their wives at the time of their seclusion, and to give not occasion that they die for their uncleanness in defiling My tabernacle, where the glory of My Shekinah dwelleth among them.
This is the decree of instruction for him who hath a defluxion, and for him whose seed goeth forth and defileth him;
and for her who is unclean in the time of her separation, and for any one who hath an issue, whether male or female, and for a man who lieth with the unclean. All these shall be advised of their uncleanness, and, when purified, shall bring the oblations that make atonement for them.
Aramaic. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, Aramaic: 'Targum Jonathan on Leviticus' (public domain), served by the Sefaria v3 API (sefaria.org)
English. English: J. W. Etheridge (1862) (Public Domain) — an established translation of the Targum itself, joined by verse number. Never an AI rendering (BB-42).
We show the license-cleared original Aramaic and an established English translation, each Aramaic word traceable to a public-domain lexicon. We never machine-translate a primary text.