The Aramaic Bible · the Prophets
Targum Jonathan on the Prophets Isaiah · chapter 25
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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O Lord, thou art my God: I will exalt thee; I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; surely thou hast brought to pass and hast established the counsels which thou hadst promised of old to bring to pass.
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For thou hast made the unfortified cities heaps; the fortified city is a ruin; the idolatrous house of the nations in the city of Jerusalem, shall never be built up again.
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Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee, the city of terrible nations shall fear thee.
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For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a help to the needy in the time of distress; as those who are protected from before a storm, or who are protected as in a shade from the scorching heat; thus the words of the wicked against the righteous are as a storm that beats against the wall.
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As the scorching heat in a dry land thou shalt bring low the tumult of the mighty: as the shade of a cooling rock in a parched land, thus peace of mind shall be to the righteous, when the wicked shall be humbled.
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And in this mountain shall make a feast and a banquet; they think that it shall be for their glory; but it shall be to them for disgrace and for mighty afflictions, from which they shall not deliver themselves, afflictions through which they shall come to an end.
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The face of the prince, of the prince of all the people shall be destroyed; and the face of the king, of the ruler of all the kingdoms.
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Death shall be forgotten for ever; and the Lord God shall wipe away tears from off all the faces, and the reproach of his people he shall remove from off all the earth, because it hath been decreed thus by the WORD of the Lord.
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And one shall say at that time: Behold, this is our God; this is he for whom we have hoped, and he shall “save us: this is the Lord, for His WORD we have hoped; we will rejoice, and be glad in his salvation.
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For the power of the Lord of hosts shall be revealed in this mountain; and the Moabites shall be trodden under foot even as straw is in the clay.
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And he shall extend the stroke of his power among them, as the swimmer extends himself to swim; and he shall humble his glory, together with the wiles of his hands.
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He shall cast down the fortified city, the great city; he shall thrust it down, it shall come to the earth, even to the dust.
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.