The Aramaic Bible · the Torah
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Leviticus · chapter 8
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, saying:
Bring near Aharon who is afar off on account of the work of the calf; and take the vestments that I commanded thee, and the oil of consecration, and the bullock, and the two rams, with the basket of unleavened cakes.
And let all the congregation gather together at the gate of the tabernacle of ordinance.
And Mosheh did as the Lord commanded, and the congregation assembled on the twenty and third of the days of the month of Adar, at the gate of the tabernacle of ordinance.
And Mosheh said to the congregation: This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded to be done.
And Mosheh took Aharon and his sons, and washed them with water.
And he set in order upon him the vestment, and girded him with the girdle, and clothed him with the mantle robe, and put upon him the ephod, and bound him with the band of the ephod, and ordained him therewith.
And he set the breast plate upon him, and ordered in the breastplate the uraia and the tummaia.
And, he put the mitre upon his head, and set upon the mitre over his forehead the plate of gold, the diadem of holiness, as the Lord commanded Mosheh.
And Mosheh took the oil of consecration, and anointed the tabernacle, and sanctified it.
And he sprinkled upon the altar seven times, and sanctified the altar and all its vessels, and the laver and its foundation to sanctify them.
And he poured of the oil of consecration upon Aharon's head, and anointed him after he had invested him, to sanctify him.
And Mosheh brought near Aharon and his sons, and clothed them with vestments, and girded them with girdles, and decked them with mitres, as the Lord commanded Mosheh.
And he brought the bullock for the sin offering, and Aharon and his sons laid their right hands upon the head of the bullock, for their sin offering.
And Mosheh killed the bullock: and Mosheh took the blood and put it upon the horns of the altar round about with his finger, and anointed the altar (to expiate it) from all double-mindedness, constraint, and force, from the thoughts of his heart, should any one of the princes of the sons of Israel have taken his separation from his brethren by violence, and brought it for the work of the tabernacle, or lest any one was found among the children of Israel who had it not in his heart to bring for the work, but heard the voice of the crier, and was constrained, and brought without willingness; therefore cleansed he it with the blood of the bullock, and poured the rest of the blood at the foot of the altar, and sanctified it to make atonement thereon.
And he took all the fat that was on the inwards, and the caul of the liver, and the two kidneys with their fat, and Mosheh burned them at the altar.
But the bullock, and the skin, and his flesh, and his offal, he burned in fire without the camp, as the Lord commanded Mosheh.
And he took the ram for the burnt offering, and Aharon and his sons laid their right hand upon the head of the ram.
And he killed the ram; and Mosheh sprinkled the blood upon the altar round about.
And he divided the ram after its parts, and Mosheh burned the head and the parts and the fat.
And the inwards and the feet he washed with water; and Mosheh burned the ram at the altar, a burnt sacrifice to be received with acceptance, an oblation before the Lord, as the Lord commanded Mosheh.
And he brought the second ram, the ram of completion which completed all; and Aharon and his sons laid their hand upon the head of the ram.
And he killed the ram, and Mosheh took of its blood, and put it upon the etremity of Aharon's ear, the middle cartilage of the right ear, and upon the middle joint of his right foot.
And he brought the sons of Aharon, and Mosheh put of the blood upon the middle cartilage of their right ears, and upon the middle joint of their right feet, and Mosheh poured out all the remaining blood upon the altar round about.
And he took the fat, and the tail, and all the fat which was upon the inwards, and the caul of the liver, and the two kidneys, and their fat, and the right shoulder;
and from the basket of unleavened cakes which was before the Lord he took one unleavened cake of bread mixed with oil, and one wafer, and put it upon the fat and upon the right shoulder,
and laid the whole in order upon Aharon's hands, and upon the hands of his sons, lifted them up, an elevation before the Lord.
And Mosheh took them from off their hands, and burned (them) upon the altar with the burnt sacrifice; a completing offering were they to complete all, to be received with acceptance before the Lord.
And he took the breast, and uplifted it, an elevation before the Lord: of the oblation-ram that was the separated portion of Mosheh, as the Lord commanded Mosheh.
And Mosheh took the consecrating oil, and of the blood which was upon the altar, and sprinkled upon Aharon, and upon his vestments, and on his sons, and on their vestments with him; and sanctified Aharon and his vestments, and his sons and their vestments with him.
And Mosheh said to Aharon and to his sons, Boil the flesh of the oblations in pots at the door of the tabernacle of ordinance, and there shall you eat it with the bread which is in the basket of oblation, according to the precept which was spoken; Aharon and his sons shall eat it.
And what remaineth of the flesh, and of the bread, you shall burn with fire.
And from the door of the tabernacle you shall not go forth seven days, until the day that your consecration be completed, (because in seven days is the tabernacle set up and taken in pieces,) and your oblation be offered.
(So did he, and ordained the order of the oblations on that day.) Likewise the Lord hath commanded to be done by you after the days of consecration, to make atonement for you.
And at the door of the tabernacle of ordinance you shall reside day and night seven days, and watch the vigils of the Word of the Lord, that you may not die, for thus it hath been commanded.
And Aharon and his sons did all the things which the Lord had commanded by the hand of Mosheh.
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.