The Aramaic Bible · the Prophets
Targum Jonathan on the Prophets Isaiah · chapter 39
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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At that time Merodach-Baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and presents to Hezekiah, when he had heard that he had been sick, and was recovered.
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And Hezekiah was glad of them, and showed them the house of his treasures, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his vessels, and everything that was found in his treasury: and there was not anything in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah showed them not.
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Then came Isaiah the prophet unto king Hezekiah, and said unto him, What said these men? and from whence came they unto thee? And Hezekiah said, They are come from a far country unto me, even from Babylon.
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Then said he, What have they seen in thine house? And Hezekiah answered, All that is in mine house have they seen: there is not anything in my treasures that I have not showed them.
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Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the Lord of hosts:
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Behold the days come, that all that is in thy house shall be taken away, and that which thy fathers have treasured up unto this day, yea, it shall be carried to Babylon, nothing shall be left, saith the Lord.
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And thy sons which shall come forth from thee shall be in the palace of the king of Babylon.
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Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, Right is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken: and he said, for there shall be peace and truth in my days.
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.