Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy

Section 49

Chapters 21:10-25:10

 

 

WHEN you go out to war against your enemies, and Yahuah your Elohim shall deliver them into your hands, and you take some of them captive:

if you see in the captivity a woman of fair countenance, and you approve of her, and would take her to you to wife;

then thou shalt take her into thy house, and let her cut off the hair of her head, pare her nails,

and put off the dress of her captivity, and, dipping herself, become a proselyte in thy house, and weep on account of the idols of the house of her father and mother. And thou shalt wait three months to know whether she be with child; and afterwards thou mayest go to her, endow her, and make her thy wife.

But if thou hast no pleasure in her, then thou mayest send her away, only with a writing of divorce: but thou shalt in no wise sell her for money, nor make merchandise of her, after thou hast had intercourse with her.

If a man have two wives, and one is beloved and the other hated, and they bear him sons, both the beloved and the hated (wife), and the first-born son be of the hated,

it shall be in the day that he deviseth to his sons the inheritance of the wealth that may be his, he shall not be allowed to give the birthright portion to the son of the beloved, over the head of the son of the hated wife, to whom the birthright belongs;

but (let him acknowledge) the birthright of the son of her who is disliked, and all that belongeth to it, to give him the double portion of all that may be found with him, because he is the beginning of his strength, and to him pertaineth the birthright.

If a man hath a son depraved and rebellious, who will not obey the word of his father or of his mother, and who, when they reprove him, will not receive admonition from them;

his father and mother shall take him, and bring him before the sages of the city at the door of the court of justice in that place,

and say to the sages of the city, We had transgressed the decree of the Word of Yahuah; therefore was born to us this son, who is presumptuous and disorderly; he will not hear our word, but is a glutton and a drunkard.

And it shall be that if he brought to fear and receive instruction, and beg that his life may be spared, you shall let him live; but if he refuse and continue rebellious, then all the men of his city shall stone him with stones that he die; and so shall you put away the evil doer from among you, and all Israel will hear, and be afraid.

When a man hath become guilty of the judgment of death, and is condemned to be stoned, and they afterwards hang him on a beam,

his dead body shall not remain upon the beam, but he shall be certainly buried on the same day; for it is execrable before Elohim to hang a man, but that his guilt gave occasion for it; and because he was made in the image of Elohim, you shall bury him at the going down of the sun, lest wild beasts abuse him, and lest you overspread your land, which Yahuah your Elohim giveth you to possess, with the dead bodies of criminals.

 

Chapter 22

 

Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ox or his lamb going astray, and estrange thy knowledge from them; thou shalt certainly restore them to him.

But if knowledge of thy brother is not thine, if thou knowest him not, thou shalt bring it into thy house, and it shall be supported by thee till the time that thou hast sought out thy brother, and thou shalt restore it to him.

So shalt thou do with his ass, with his garment, and with any lost thing of thy brother’s. If thou find, it is not lawful for thee to hide it from him; thou shalt cry it, and restore it.

Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ass nor his ox thrown on the way, and turn thy eyes from them; thou shalt verily lift it up for him.

Neither fringed robes nor tephillin which are the ornaments of a man shall be upon a woman; neither shall a man shave himself so as to appear like a woman; for every one who doeth so is an abomination before Yahuah thy Elohim.

If thou find the nest of a clean bird before thee in the way, in a tree, or upon the ground, in which there are young ones or eggs, and the mother sitting upon the young ones or eggs,

thou shalt be sure to send the mother away, but thou mayest take the young for thyself that it may be well with thee in this world, and that thou mayest prolong tby days in the world to come.

When thou buildest a new house, thou shalt make a surrounding fence to thy roof, that it may not be the occasion of blood guilt by the loss of life at thy house, by any one through heedlessness falling therefrom.

You shall not sow your vineyard with seeds of different kinds, lest thou be chargeable with burning the mixed seed that you have sown and the produce of the vine.

You shall not plough with an ox and an ass nor with any animals of two species bound together.

You shall not clothe nor warm yourselves with a garment combed (carded) or netted, or interwoven with woollen and linen mixed together.

Nevertheless on a robe of linen thread you may be permitted to make fringes of woollen upon the four extremities of your vestments with which you dress in the day.

If a man take a wife or virgin and go unto her, but afterwards dislike her,

and bring upon her words of calumny in an evil report against her, and say, I took this woman, and lay with her, but found not the witnesses for her;

then the father and mother of the damsel may have license from the court of judgment to produce the linen with the witnesses of her virginity, before the sages of the city, at the door of the beth din.

And the father of the damsel shall say to the sages, I wedded my daughter to this man to be his wife; but after lying with her he hath hated her;

and, behold, he hath thrown upon her occasion of words, saying: I have not found the witnesses of thy daughter’s (virginity) but these are my daughter’s witnesses; and they shall spread the linen before the sages of the city;

and the sages shall take that man, scourge him,

and fine him a hundred shekels of silver, and give to the father of the damsel, because he had brought out an evil report against an upright virgin of Israel; and she shall be his wife, nor shall he have power to put her away all his days.

But if that word be true, and the witnesses of virginity were not found with the damsel

then shall they bring her forth to the door of her father’s house, and the men of that city shall stone her with stones that she die; for she had wrought dishonor in Israel in bringing the ill fame of whoredom against her father’s house; and so shall they put away the evil doer from Israel.

If a man be found lying with another’s wife, both of them shall be put to death; the male who hath lain with the woman, and the woman. Even if she be with child, they shall not wait till she is delivered, but in the same hour they shall put them to death by strangulation with the napkin, and cast away the evil doer from Israel.

If a damsel a virgin is betrothed to a man, and another man find her in the city, and lie with her,

they shall bring forth both of them to the door of the beth din of that city, and stone them with stones that they die; the damsel because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he lay with his neighbors wife; and you shall put away the evil doer from among you.

But if a man find a damsel in the wilderness, and do violence to her and lie with her, the man only shall die who lay with her,

for the damsel is not guilty of death; but her husband may put her away from him by a bill of divorcement; for as when a man lieth in wait for his neighbor and taketh his life, so is this matter:

he found her upon the face of the field; the betrothed damsel cried out for help, but there was no one to deliver her.

If a man find a damsel who is not betrothed, and seize and lie with her, and they be found,

then the man who lay with her shall give to her father, as a fine for her dishonor, fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife, because he humbled her, nor shall he have power to put her away by divorcement all his days.

 

Chapter 23

 

A man should not take a wife who is bowed down (or violated), or who hath had intercourse with his father, much less his father’s wife, nor disclose the skirt that covereth his father.

He who is castrated is not fit to take a wife from the congregation of Yahuah’s people.

He who is born of fornication, or who hath upon him the evil mark which is set upon the unclean Gentiles, is not fit to take an upright wife from the congregation of the people of Yahuah; nor unto the tenth generation shall it be fit for him to enter into the congregation of Yahuah.

Neither an Ammonite nor a Moabite man is fit to take a wife from the congregation of Yahuah’s people, nor unto the tenth generation shall they take a wife from the congregation of the people of Yahuah,

because they met you not with bread and water in the way when you came from Mizraim, but hired against you Bileam bar Beor from Petho Chelmaya, which is built in the land of Aram upon the Phrat, to curse you;

but Yahuah your Elohim would not hearken unto Bileam, but turned in his mouth curses into blessings, because Yahuah your Elohim loveth you.

Ye shall not seek their peace or, their prosperity all your days, because, if even they become proselytes, they will entertain enmity in their hearts for ever.

You shall not abhor an Edomite when he cometh to be a proselyte, for he is your brother; nor shall you abhor a Mizraite, because you were dwellers in their land.

The children who are born to them in the third generation shalt be fit to take wives from the people of the congregation of Yahuah.

When you go forth in hosts against your enemies, beware of every evil thing, of strange worship, the, exposure of the shame, and the shedding of innocent blood.

Should there be a man among you who is unclean from accidents of the night, let him go without the camp, and come not among the tents.

But at evening time let him wash with water, and on the going down of the sun he may come within the camp.

Let a place be prepared for thee without the camp where thou mayest shed the water of thy feet,

and insert a blade with your weapon in the place oil which you bind your swords, and in thy sitting without thou shalt dig with it, and do what thou needest there, and turn and cover it.

For the Shekinah of Yahuah thy Elohim walketh in the midst of thy camp to save you, and to deliver your enemies into your hands; therefore shall the place of your camps be holy, and nothing impure be seen in it, that His Shekinah go not up from you.

Thou shalt not deliver up a stranger into the hand of the worshiper of idols; (the sojourner) who hath escaped to be among you shall be under the protection of My Shekinah; for therefore he hath fled from his idolatry.

Let him dwell with you, and observe the commandments among you; teach him the law, and put him in a school in the place that he chooseth in one of your cities: employ (or, have business with) him, that he may do well, and trouble him not by words.

You shall not profane your daughters to make them harlots; nor shall any man of Israel debase himself by fornication.

You shall not bring a gift of the hire of an harlot, nor the price of a dog to offer it in the sanctuary of Yahuah your Elohim for any vow, much less as any of the oblations; for they are abominable, both of them, before Yahuah your Elohim.

Thou shalt not make usury of that which is thine from thy neighbor upon the loan which thou lendest, either of money, or food, or any thing by which thou mayest make usury.

To a son of the Gentiles thou mayest lend for usury, but to thy brother thou shalt not lend for usury; that Yahuah thy Elohim may bless thee in all that thou puttest thine hand unto, in the land into which thou art entering to possess it.

When you vow a vow before Yahuah your Elohim, delay not to fulfill it in (one of) the three festivals; for Yahuah your Elohim requiring will require it. And in the oblation there shall not be any fault or blemish, for in the prescription of Yahuah of the world it is so ordained. And thou shalt not be guilty of keeping back (delaying) thy vow:

though, if you refrain from vowing, it will not be sin in you,

the oath which goeth from your lips you shall confirm. The precepts of integrity you shall verily perform, but that which is not right to do ye shall not do; and according as you have vowed shall you fulfill; sin offerings, trespass offerings, burnt sacrifices, and consecrated victims shall you present before Yahuah your Elohim, and bring the libations and the gifts of the sanctuary of which you have spoken (in promises), and alms for the poor which your lips have declared.

When thou hast come for hire into thy neighbors vineyard, thou mayest eat there as thou wilt, till thou art satisfied; but thou mayest not put any into thy basket.

When you go to work for hire in the field of thy neighbor, thou mayest gather with thy hands, but thou art not to put forth the sickle upon thy neighbor’s corn (for thyself).

 

Chapter 24

 

When a man hath taken a wife and gone unto her, if she hath not favor in his eyes because he findeth the thing that is wrong in her, then he may write her a bill of divorce before the court of justice, and put it into her power, and send her away from his house.

And departing from his house she may go and marry another man.

But should they proclaim from the heavens about her that the latter husband shall dislike her, and write her a bill of divorce, and put it into her power to go from his house; or should they proclaim about him that lie the latter husband shall die:

it shall not be in the power of the first husband who dismissed her at the beginning to return and take her to be with him as his wife, after that she hath been defiled; for that is an abomination before Yahuah: for the children whom she might bear should not be made abominable, or the land which Yahuah your Elohim giveth you to inherit become obnoxious to the plague.

When a man hath taken a new wife a virgin he shall not go forth with the army, lest anything evil befall him; he shall be at leisure in his house one year, and rejoice with his wife whom he hath taken.

A man shall not take the millstones, lower or upper, as a pledge; for they are necessary in making food for every one. Neither shall a man join bridegrooms and brides by magical incantations; for what would be born of such would perish.

When a man is found stealing a person of his brethren of the sons of Israel, making merchandise of him, and selling him, that man shall die by strangulation with the napkin; and you shall put away the evil doer from among thee.

Take heed that you cut not into flesh in which there is an ulcer; but make careful distinction between the plague of leprosy and ulceration; between the unclean and clean, according to all that the priests of the tribe of Levi shall teach you: whatever, they prescribe to you be observant to perform.

Be mindful that no one contemn his neighbor, lest he be smitten: remember that which Yahuah your Elohim did to Miriam, who contemned Mosheh for that which was not in him, when she was smitten with leprosy, and you were delayed in the way when coming out of Mizraim.

When a man hath lent any thing to his neighbor upon a pledge, he shall not enter into his house to take his pledge;

he shall stand in the street, and the man to whom thou hast made the loan shall bring out the pledge to thee into the street.

If the man be poor, thou shalt not have his pledge all night with thee;

as the sun goeth down, thou shalt return the pledge, that he may lie in his garment and may bless thee; and to thee it shall be righteousness, for the sun shall bear the witness of thee before Yahuah thy Elohim.

You shall not be hard upon your neighbours, or shift (or decrease) the wages of the needy and poor hireling of thy brethren, or of the strangers who sojourn in your land, in your cities.

In his day thou shalt pay him his hire. Nor let the sun go down upon it; because he is poor, and he hopes (for that hire) to sustain his life: lest he appeal against thee before Yahuah, and it be guilt in thee.

Fathers shall not die either by the testimony or for the sin of the children, and children shall not die either by the testimony or for the sin of the fathers: every one shall die, by proper witnesses, for his own sin.

Thou shalt not warp the judgment of the stranger, the orphan, or the widow, nor shall any one of you take the garment of the widow for a pledge, that evil neighbours rise not and bring out a bad report against her when you return her pledge unto her.

And remember that you were bondservants in the land of Mizraim, and that the Word of Yahuah your Elohim delivered you from thence; therefore have I commanded you to observe this thing.

When you have reaped your harvests in your fields, and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not return to take it; let it be for the stranger, the orphan, and the widow, that the Word of Yahuah your Elohim may bless you in all the works of your hands.

When you beat your olive trees, you shall not search them after (you have done it); for the stranger, the orphan, and widow, let it be.

When you gather in your vineyard, you shall not glean the branches after you; they shall be for the stranger, the orphan, and widow.

So remember that you were bondservants in the land of Mizraim; therefore I command you to do this thing.

 

Chapter 25

 

If there be a controversy, between two men, then they shall come to the judges, and they shall judge them, and give the decision (or outweighing of) righteousness to the innocent, and of condemnation to the guilty.

And if the wicked deserve stripes, the judge shall make him lie down, and they shall scourge him in his presence by his judgment, according to the measure of his guilt.

Forty (stripes) may be laid upon him, but with one less shall he be beaten, (the full number) shall not be completed, lest he should add to smite him beyond those thirty and nine, exorbitantly, and he be in danger; and that thy brother may not be made despicable in thy sight.

You shall not muzzle the mouth of the ox in the time of his treading out; nor the wife of the (deceased) brother, who would be mated with one smitten with an ulcer, and who is poorly related, shalt thou tie up with him.

When brethren from the (same) father inhabit this world at the same time, and have the same inheritance, the wife of one of them, who may have died, shall not go forth into the street to marry a stranger; her brother-in-law shall go to her, and take her to wife, and become her husband.

And the first-born whom she beareth shall stand in the inheritance in the name of the deceased brother, that his name may not be blotted out from Israel.

But if the man be not willing, to take his sister-in-law, then shall his sister-in-law go up to the gate of the beth din before five of the sages, three of whom shall be judges and two of them witnesses, and let her say before them in the holy language: My husband’s brother refuseth to keep up the name of his brother in Israel, he not being willing to marry me.

And the elders of his city shall call him and speak with him, with true counsel; and he may rise up in the house of justice, and say in the holy tongue, I am not willing to take her.

Then shall his sister-in-law come to him before the sages, and there shall be a shoe upon the foot of the brother-in-law, a heeled sandal whose lachets are tied, the latchets at the opening of the sandal being fastened; and he shall stamp on the ground with his foot; and the woman shall arise and untie the latchet, and draw off the sandal from his foot, and afterward spit before him, as much spittle as may be seen by the sages, and shall answer and say, So is it fit to be done to the man who would not build up the house of his brother.

And all who are standing there shall exclaim against him, and call his name in Israel the House of the Unshod.

While men are striving together, if the wife of one of them approach to rescue her husband from the hand of him who smiteth him, and putting forth her hand layeth hold of the place of his shame,

you shall cut off her hand; your eyes shall not pity.

You shall not have in your bag weights that are deceitful; great weights to buy with, and less weights to sell with.

Nor shall you have in your houses measures that deceive; great measures to buy with, and less measures to sell with.

Perfect weights, and true balances shalt thou have, perfect measures and scales that are true shall be yours, that your days may be multiplied on the land which Yahuah your Elohim giveth you.

For whosoever committeth these frauds, every one who acteth falsely in trade, is an abomination before Yahuah.

Keep in mind what the house of Amalek did unto you in the way, on your coming up out of Mizraim;

how they overtook you in the way, and slew every one of those among you who were thinking to go aside from My Word; the men of the tribe of the house of Dan, in whose hands were idols (or things of strange worship), and the clouds overcast them, and they of the house of Amalek took them and mutilated them, and they were cast up: but you, O house of Israel, were faint and weary from great servitude of the Mizraee, and the terrors of the waves of the sea through the midst of which you had passed. Nor were the house of Amalek afraid before Yahuah.

Therefore, when Yahuah hath given you rest from all your enemies round about in the land that Yahuah Your Elohim giveth you to inherit for a possession, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under the heavens; but of the days of the King Meshiha you shall not be unmindful.