The Aramaic Bible

The Aramaic Bible · the Prophets

Targum Jonathan on the Prophets Hosea · chapter 8

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.

Hebrew, Greek & the Aramaic Bible, when to use each →

Tap any Aramaic word to trace it to its Jastrow dictionary entry.

  1. :

    Put the ram’s horn to your lips! An eagle looms over the house of the LORD, because the people have transgressed My covenant and rebelled against My law.

  2. :

    Israel cries out to Me, “O our God, we know You!”

  3. :

    But Israel has rejected good; an enemy will pursue him.

  4. :

    They set up kings, but not by Me. They make princes, but without My approval. With their silver and gold they make themselves idols, to their own destruction.

  5. :

    He has rejected your calf, O Samaria. My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of innocence?

  6. :

    For this thing is from Israel— a craftsman made it, and it is not God. It will be broken to pieces, that calf of Samaria.

  7. :

    For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. There is no standing grain; what sprouts fails to yield flour. Even if it should produce, the foreigners would swallow it up.

  8. :

    Israel is swallowed up! Now they are among the nations like a worthless vessel.

  9. :

    For they have gone up to Assyria like a wild donkey on its own. Ephraim has hired lovers.

  10. :

    Though they hire allies among the nations, I will now round them up, and they will begin to diminish under the oppression of the king of princes.

  11. :

    Though Ephraim multiplied the altars for sin, they became his altars for sinning.

  12. :

    Though I wrote for them the great things of My law, they regarded them as something strange.

  13. :

    Though they offer sacrifices as gifts to Me, and though they eat the meat, the LORD does not accept them. Now He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins: They will return to Egypt.

  14. :

    Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces; Judah has multiplied its fortified cities. But I will send fire upon their cities, and it will consume their citadels.

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.

Targum Jonathan Hosea 8: word by word · Bubble Bible