The Aramaic Bible · the Prophets
Targum Jonathan on the Prophets Isaiah · 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.
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.
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The Burden Of The Cup Of Cursing To Give Moab To Drink. Because in the night Leheyath Moab is destroyed, and they were asleep. Yea, in the night the fortified city of Moab was subdued, and they were in deep slumber.
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They went up to the houses in Dibon, to the high places, to weep. Over Nebo, and over Medeba the Moabites are howling: on every head is baldness; every beard is shorn.
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In their streets they shall gird themselves with sackcloth: on their house-tops, and in their broad-places all of them shall howl, crying and weeping.
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And the inhabitants of Heshbon and Elealeh shall cry out aloud; unto Jahats is their voice heard: therefore the armed of Moab are howling, and crying out aloud for their souls.
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The Moabites shall think to flee to Zoar, unto Eglath Tiltum' Rabb'tha; for the ascent of Luhith they shall ascend it as with weeping; because in the descent of Horonaim they shall declare the cry of the broken in battle.
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For the waters of Nimrim shall become desolate; for the herbage is withered away; the grass faileth, there is no green herb.
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Therefore the remnant of their riches, shall be plundered; and their border, which is by the western sea, shall be taken from them.
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For the cry encompasses the border of Moab; unto Eglaim are they howling, and unto Beer Elim they are crying aloud.
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For the waters of Dimon shall be full of blood: for I will appoint upon Dimon an assembly of armies. Upon the escaped of Moab, a king with his army shall ascend; yea, to spoil the remainder of their land.
Aramaic. Targum Jonathan to the Prophets, Aramaic: 'Mikraot Gedolot' (public domain), served by the Sefaria v3 API (sefaria.org)
English. English: London "Chaldee Paraphrase," 1871 (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.