The Aramaic Bible · the Torah
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Numbers · chapter 28
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:
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Instruct the children of Israel, and say to them: The priests may eat of My oblation the bread of the order of My table; but that which you offer upon My altar may no man eat. Is there not a fire that will consume it? And it shall be accepted before Me as a pleasant smell. Sons of Israel, My people, be admonished to offer it from the firstlings on the Sabbath, an oblation before Me in its time.
And say to them: This is the order of the oblations you shall offer before the Lord; two lambs of the year, unblemished, daily, a perpetual burnt offering.
The one lamb thou shalt perform in the morning to make atonement for the sins of the night; and the second lamb thou shalt perform between the suns to atone for the sins of the day;
and the tenth of three seahs of wheaten flour as a mincha mingled with beaten olive oil, the fourth of a hin.
It is a perpetual burnt offering, such as was (ordained to be) offered at Mount Sinai, to be received with favour as an oblation before the Lord.
And its libation shall be the fourth of a hin for one lamb; from the vessels of the house of the sanctuary shall it be outpoured, a libation of old wine. But if old wine may not be found, bring wine of forty days to pour out before the Lord.
And the second lamb thou shalt perform between the suns, according to the presentation of the morning, and according to its oblation shalt thou make the offering, that it may be accepted with favour before the Lord
but on the day of Shabbatha two lambs of the year without blemish, and two-tenths of flour mixed with olive oil for the mincha and its libation.
On the Sabbath thou shalt make a Sabbath burnt sacrifice in addition to the perpetual burnt sacrifice and its libation.
And at the beginning of your months you shall offer a burnt sacrifice before the Lord; two young bullocks, without mixture, one ram, lambs of the year seven, unblemished;
and three tenths of flour mingled with oil for the mincha for one bullock; two tenths of flour with olive oil for the mincha of the one ram;
and one tenth of flour with olive oil for the mincha for each lamb of the burnt offering, an oblation to be received with favour before the Lord.
And for their libation to be offered with them, the half of a bin for a bullock, the third of a bin for the ram, and the fourth of a hin for a lamb, of the wine of grapes. This burnt sacrifice shall be offered at the beginning of every month in the time of the removal of the beginning of every month in the year;
and one kid of the goats, for a sin offering before the Lord at the disappearing (failure) of the moon, with the perpetual burnt sacrifice shalt thou perform with its libation.
And in the month of Nisan, on the fourteenth day of the month, is the sacrifice of the Pascha before the Lord.
On the fifteenth day of this month is a festival; seven days shall unleavened be eaten.
On the first day of the festival a holy convocation; no servile work shall ye do;
but offer an oblation of a burnt sacrifice before the Lord, two young bullocks, one ram, and seven lambs of the year, unblemished, shall you have.
And their minchas of wheat flour, mingled with olive oil, three tenths for each bullock, two tenths for the ram,
and for a single lamb a tenth, so for the seven;
and one kid of the goats, to make an atonement for you:
beside the burnt sacrifice of the morning, the perpetual burnt sacrifice, you shall make these offerings.
According to these oblations of the first day you shall do daily through the seven days of the festival. It is the bread of the oblation which is received with favour before the Lord; it shall be made beside the perpetual burnt offering, with its libation.
And on the seventh day you shall have a holy convocation; no servile work shall you do.
Likewise on the day of your firstlings, when you offer the gift from the new produce before the Lord in your ingatherings, after the seven weeks are completed, you shall have a holy convocation, no servile work shall you do;
but offer a burnt sacrifice to be received with favour before the Lord, two young bullocks, one ram, seven lambs of the year;
also their mincha of wheaten flour mingled with olive oil, three tenths for each bullock, two tenths for the ram,
a tenth to a lamb; so for the seven lambs
one kid of the goats to make an atonement for you;
beside the perpetual burnt offering you shall make these; they shall be unblemished, with their libation of wine.
Aramaic. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, Aramaic: 'Targum Jonathan on Numbers' (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.