The Aramaic Bible · the Prophets
Targum Jonathan on the Prophets Ezekiel · chapter 15
Aramaic public domain · English where it exists, else the Bible (BSB)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.
Tap any Aramaic word to trace it to its Jastrow dictionary entry.
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Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
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“Son of man, how does the wood of the vine surpass any other branch among the trees in the forest?
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Can wood be taken from it to make something useful? Or can one make from it a peg on which to hang utensils?
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No, it is cast into the fire for fuel. The fire devours both ends, and the middle is charred. Can it be useful for anything?
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Even when it was whole, it could not be made useful. How much less can it ever be useful when the fire has consumed it and charred it!
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Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Like the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so I will give up the people of Jerusalem.
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And I will set My face against them. Though they may have escaped the fire, yet another fire will consume them. And when I set My face against them, you will know that I am the LORD.
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Thus I will make the land desolate, because they have acted unfaithfully,’ declares the Lord GOD.”
Aramaic. Targum Jonathan to the Prophets, Aramaic: 'Mikraot Gedolot' (public domain), served by the Sefaria v3 API (sefaria.org)
English. The Masoretic verse (Berean Standard Bible, public domain), shown for reference, Targum Jonathan is the ancient Aramaic rendering of this verse.
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.