Parashat Noach — First Aliyah

Torah with Onkelos · Bereshit 6:9 – 6:22 · פרשת נח, ראשון

Noach the righteous, a corrupted earth and the building of the ark, read through Targum Onkelos

Contents

• Orientation
• How this page is laid out
• Unit 1 — Bereshit 6:9–12: Noach the righteous, and a corrupted earth
• Unit 2 — Bereshit 6:13–17: The decree and the plan of the ark
• Unit 3 — Bereshit 6:18–22: The covenant, and the ark’s passengers and provisions
• Conclusion of the aliyah
• Aramaic word list for the aliyah
• Source note

Orientation

What happens in this aliyah. The parasha opens with Noach, a righteous and flawless man in his generations who walked with God, and his three sons, Sheim, Cham and Yafes. Against him stands an earth that has become corrupt before God and filled with violence, for all flesh has corrupted its way. God tells Noach that the end of all flesh has come before Him and that He will destroy them with the earth. He instructs Noach to build an ark of set dimensions, three hundred amos long, fifty wide and thirty high, with compartments, a light, a door in its side and three levels, caulked inside and out. He announces the flood that will destroy all flesh, promises to establish His covenant with Noach, and tells him to bring into the ark his family, two of every kind of living creature, male and female, and food for all of them. The aliyah closes with Noach doing all that he was commanded.

What Onkelos is. Targum Onkelos is the classical Aramaic translation of the Torah, read for centuries alongside the Hebrew; the Talmud speaks of reviewing the weekly portion “twice in the Hebrew and once in the Targum”. Because it is a translation, it rarely adds explanation in so many words. Its interpretation lies in its choices: which Aramaic word it uses, where it adds or omits a word, how it handles a difficult phrase, and where it departs from a word-for-word rendering.

How this page reads Onkelos. The notes compare the Aramaic with the Hebrew and nothing else. No later commentators are brought in. Where a note draws a conclusion about what Onkelos meant, it is stated as an inference from the text, not as established fact.

What to look out for in this aliyah.

• “In the fear of Hashem” (6:9). Noach does not walk ‘with God’ but בְּדַחַלְתָּא דַּה׳, ‘in the fear of Hashem’, which the notes suggest reflects a reluctance to describe a man walking alongside God.
• The Name for Elokim. Wherever the Hebrew of this aliyah has Elokim or ha-Elokim (6:9, 6:11, 6:12, 6:13, 6:22), the printed Targum writes ה׳.
• One root for corruption and destruction. Every form of the Hebrew שחת is rendered from the Aramaic root חבל, so the repetition that drives the Hebrew survives in translation.
• Human guilt made explicit. Small additions point the corruption at people: ‘robberies’ for chamas, ‘all flesh of man’ for ‘all flesh’, and ‘their evil deeds’ for ‘them’.
• Obscure building terms replaced. Gofer wood, the ‘nests’ of the ark and the tzohar become known words: kadrom, medorin, ‘dwellings’, and nehor, ‘light’.
• Shared Aramaic roots. One root, kum, carries the establishing of the covenant, the covenant itself and the keeping alive of the animals; one root, ‘alal, carries both ‘go into’ and ‘bring’.

How this page is laid out

For each verse:

• Torah — the Hebrew verse, with vowels and cantillation, followed by an English Translation of the Hebrew (Metsudah Chumash).
• Onkelos — the Aramaic of Targum Onkelos, followed by Onkelos in English, a close translation of the Aramaic. It uses the same wording as the Torah translation wherever the Aramaic says the same thing, so that the differences from the Hebrew can be seen. Words in square brackets are added for sense.
• What Onkelos tells us — editorial notes comparing the Aramaic with the Hebrew: what is translated literally, what is changed or added, and what that suggests about how Onkelos read the verse. Selected Aramaic words are listed with their Hebrew equivalents.

Each unit ends with a short Unit summary. The page ends with a review of the aliyah and an Aramaic word list.

Divine Names in the Hebrew and Aramaic are printed as ה׳ and אלקים. In English, God’s proper Name is rendered Hashem, and Elokim is rendered God.

Unit 1 — Bereshit 6:9–12: Noach the righteous, and a corrupted earth

Noach is introduced as a righteous and flawless man with three sons, set against an earth that has become corrupt and full of violence in God’s sight.

Bereshit 6:9

Torah

Translation

These are the progeny of Noach. Noach was a righteous man, flawless in his generations; Noach walked with God.

Onkelos

Onkelos in English

These are the progeny of Noach. Noach was a righteous man, flawless in his generations; in the fear of Hashem Noach walked.

What Onkelos tells us

• “A righteous man, flawless”. The description of Noach is rendered word for word: gevar for ish, zakkai for tzaddik, and shelim, ‘whole, complete’, for tamim.
• “In the fear of Hashem Noach walked”. The Hebrew says Noach ‘walked with God’ (אֶת הָֽאֱלֹקִים הִֽתְהַלֶּךְ). Onkelos writes בְּדַחַלְתָּא דַּה׳, ‘in the fear of Hashem’. The reflexive verb of walking (hitpael) becomes the simple הַלִּיךְ. Replacing ‘with God’ by ‘in the fear of Hashem’ perhaps reflects a wish to avoid describing a man as walking alongside God, turning the image into one of reverent conduct. Elokim is also rendered by the Name ה׳ here, as throughout this chunk.

Words to note: גְּבַר gevar — man (אִישׁ) · זַכַּאי zakkai — righteous (צַדִּיק) · שְׁלִים shelim — flawless (תָּמִים) · בְּדָרוֹהִי be-darohi — in his generations (בְּדֹֽרֹתָיו) · בְּדַחַלְתָּא be-dahalta — in the fear · הַלִּיךְ halikh — walked (הִֽתְהַלֶּךְ)

Bereshit 6:10

Torah

Translation

Noach fathered three sons, Sheim, Cham and Yafes.

Onkelos

Onkelos in English

Noach fathered three sons, Sheim, Cham and Yafes.

What Onkelos tells us

• “Noach fathered”. A literal rendering. The causative Hebrew verb וַיּוֹלֶד is matched by the causative Aramaic וְאוֹלִיד, and each et before the names becomes yat.

Words to note: וְאוֹלִיד ve-olid — fathered (וַיּוֹלֶד) · תְּלָתָא telata — three (שְׁלֹשָׁה)

Bereshit 6:11

Torah

Translation

The earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violent crime.

Onkelos

Onkelos in English

The earth was corrupt before Hashem, and the earth was filled with robberies.

What Onkelos tells us

• “Was corrupt”. Hebrew וַתִּשָּׁחֵת (root שחת) is rendered by וְאִתְחַבָּלַת, from the root חבל. Onkelos uses this one root for every form of שחת in these verses (6:11, 6:12 twice, 6:13, 6:17), so the Hebrew repetition is preserved.
• “Before Hashem”. Hebrew לִפְנֵי הָֽאֱלֹקִים becomes קֳדָם ה׳: the usual kodam for ‘before’, and the Name ה׳ for Elokim.
• “Robberies”. For the broad Hebrew חָמָֽס, ‘violence’, Onkelos writes the plural חֲטּוֹפִין, ‘robberies, seizures’. The general word becomes a specific kind of wrongdoing, which may indicate how he understood the violence that filled the earth. The same equivalence recurs in 6:13.

Words to note: וְאִתְחַבָּלַת ve-ithabbalat — was corrupt (וַתִּשָּׁחֵת) · קֳדָם kodam — before (לִפְנֵי) · וְאִתְמְלִיאַת ve-itmeli’at — was filled (וַתִּמָּלֵא) · חֲטּוֹפִין hatofin — robberies (חָמָֽס)

Bereshit 6:12

Torah

Translation

God saw the earth and beheld that it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted its way on the earth.

Onkelos

Onkelos in English

Hashem saw the earth and beheld that it was corrupt, for all flesh of man had corrupted its way on the earth.

What Onkelos tells us

• “Was corrupt … had corrupted”. Both Hebrew forms of שחת, נִשְׁחָתָה and הִשְׁחִית, are rendered from חבל: אִתְחַבָּלַת and חַבִּילוּ. The Hebrew verb is singular, agreeing with kol basar; the Aramaic verb is plural, treating ‘all flesh’ as a collective of many individuals.
• “All flesh of man”. Onkelos adds one word: כָּל בִּסְרָא אֱנַשׁ, ‘all flesh of man’, where the Hebrew has only ‘all flesh’. This narrows the subject to human beings and suggests that he read the corruption of ‘its way’ as moral wrongdoing, which only people can commit.
• “Hashem saw”. Elokim is again rendered ה׳, and וְהִנֵּה is matched by וְהָא, ‘and behold’.

Words to note: וַחֲזָא va-haza — saw (וַיַּרְא) · וְהָא ve-ha — and beheld (וְהִנֵּה) · חַבִּילוּ habbilu — had corrupted (הִשְׁחִית) · בִּסְרָא bisra — flesh (בָּשָׂר) · אֱנַשׁ enash — man

Unit 1 summary

Onkelos renders this opening unit closely, but with several characteristic adjustments. Each time the Hebrew names God here (ha-Elokim, Elokim), the Aramaic writes ה׳, and the Hebrew image of Noach walking ‘with God’ becomes walking ‘in the fear of Hashem’, which suggests a reluctance to speak of a human being in physical proximity to God. The Hebrew key root of the passage, שחת (‘corrupt’), is consistently matched by a single Aramaic root, חבל, so the repetition that drives the Hebrew survives in the translation. Two small additions sharpen the picture: the vague chamas becomes concrete ‘robberies’ (hatofin), and ‘all flesh’ becomes ‘all flesh of man’ (kol bisra enash), which may indicate that Onkelos understood the corruption as human wrongdoing.

Unit 2 — Bereshit 6:13–17: The decree and the plan of the ark

God tells Noach that He will destroy all flesh, instructs him to build an ark of set dimensions with a light, a door and three levels, and announces the coming flood.

Bereshit 6:13

Torah

Translation

God said to Noach, The end of all flesh has come before Me. For the earth is filled with violent crime because of them, and so, I will destroy them with the earth.

Onkelos

Onkelos in English

Hashem said to Noach, The end of all flesh has come before Me. For the earth is filled with robberies because of their evil deeds, and so, I will destroy them with the earth.

What Onkelos tells us

• “Has come before Me”. The Hebrew בָּא לְפָנַי becomes עַלַּת לִקֳדָמַי. The verb is the Aramaic for ‘enter, come in’, and the preposition is built on kodam, the usual Aramaic for ‘before’, applied here to God’s own speech.
• “Because of their evil deeds”. The Hebrew says only מִפְּנֵיהֶם, ‘because of them’. Onkelos expands it to מִן קֳדָם עוֹבָדֵיהוֹן בִּישַׁיָּא, literally ‘from before their evil deeds’. The cause of the destruction is located in what people did rather than in the people themselves, which may be an explanatory addition consistent with ‘all flesh of man’ in 6:12.
• “With the earth”. In the Hebrew אֶת הָאָֽרֶץ the word et could be the object marker or the preposition ‘with’. Onkelos chooses the second, writing עִם אַרְעָא, not yat, so that the earth is destroyed together with them.
• “Robberies”. As in 6:11, chamas is rendered חֲטוֹפִין, and ‘destroy’ (מַשְׁחִיתָם) is again from חבל: מְחַבֶּלְהוֹן.
• Textual note. For the printed עַלַּת the Yemenite text reads עָאל, a different form of the same verb ‘come, enter’; the meaning is unchanged.

Words to note: קִצָא kitza — the end (קֵץ) · עַלַּת allat — has come (בָּא) · לִקֳדָמַי li-kodamai — before Me (לְפָנַי) · עוֹבָדֵיהוֹן ovadeihon — their deeds · בִּישַׁיָּא bishayya — evil · מְחַבֶּלְהוֹן mehabbelhon — destroy them (מַשְׁחִיתָם)

Bereshit 6:14

Torah

Translation

Make for yourself an ark of cedar wood. Make the ark into compartments and caulk the inside and outside with tar.

Onkelos

Onkelos in English

Make for yourself an ark of cedar wood. Make the ark into dwellings and cover it from inside and from outside with tar.

What Onkelos tells us

• “Cedar wood”. The Hebrew עֲצֵי גֹפֶר names a wood, gofer, that occurs nowhere else. Onkelos replaces it with a known tree: דְאָעִין דְּקַדְרוֹם, ‘wood of kadrom’. The name is usually understood as cedar.
• “Dwellings”. Hebrew קִנִּים literally means ‘nests’. Onkelos writes מְדוֹרִין, ‘dwellings, living quarters’, perhaps because a literal ‘nests’ would be obscure in a description of a vessel. He uses the same word again in 6:16.
• “Cover it … with tar”. The Hebrew plays on one root: וְכָֽפַרְתָּ … בַּכֹּֽפֶר, ‘caulk … with caulking’. Onkelos uses two unrelated words, וְתֶחְפֵּי, ‘and cover’, and בְּכּוּפְרָא, ‘with tar’, so the wordplay is lost, though kufra is itself cognate with kofer.
• “From inside”. Hebrew מִבַּיִת, literally ‘from the house’, is idiomatic for ‘inside’; Onkelos gives the plain מִגָּו, ‘from inside’.
• Textual note. The Yemenite text reads דְּקַדְרוֹס for the printed דְּקַדְרוֹם. The point about naming a known tree holds for both; the form ending in -os is closer to the name of the cedar as it is usually explained.

Words to note: תֵּבוֹתָא tevota — ark (תֵּבַת) · דְאָעִין de-a’in — of wood (עֲצֵי) · דְּקַדְרוֹם di-kadrom — of cedar (גֹפֶר) · מְדוֹרִין medorin — dwellings (קִנִּים) · וְתֶחְפֵּי ve-tehpei — and cover (וְכָֽפַרְתָּ) · בְּכּוּפְרָא be-kufra — with tar (בַּכֹּֽפֶר)

Bereshit 6:15

Torah

Translation

This is how you should make it; the ark’s length shall be three hundred amos, its width fifty amos, [and its height thirty amos].

Onkelos

Onkelos in English

This is how you should make it; the ark’s length shall be three hundred amos, its width fifty amos, and its height thirty amos.

What Onkelos tells us

• “Its width … its height”. A literal rendering. The Aramaic has its own standard words for the dimensions: אֻרְכָּא for ‘length’, פְּתָיַהּ for ‘width’ in place of רׇחְבָּהּ, and רוּמַהּ, from the root רום, ‘be high’, for קוֹמָתָֽהּ.

Words to note: אַמִּין ammin — amos (אַמָּה) · אֻרְכָּא urka — length (אֹרֶךְ) · פְּתָיַהּ petayah — its width (רׇחְבָּהּ) · רוּמַהּ rumah — its height (קוֹמָתָֽהּ)

Bereshit 6:16

Torah

Translation

Make a skylight for the ark, and finish it to one amoh at the top. Place the opening of the ark in its side. Make a lower deck, a second and a third deck.

Onkelos

Onkelos in English

Make a light for the ark, and finish it to one amoh at the top. Place the opening of the ark in its side. Make it lower, second and third dwellings.

What Onkelos tells us

• “A light”. The Hebrew צֹהַר occurs only here and its meaning is uncertain. Onkelos chooses נֵהוֹר, ‘light’, which suggests he understood it as an opening or source of light rather than anything else.
• “Finish it”. Hebrew תְּכַלֶּנָּה is rendered תְּשַׁכְלְלִינַהּ, from שכלל, ‘complete, perfect’. The sense of finishing off the structure is kept.
• “Lower, second and third dwellings”. The Hebrew lists three adjectives with no noun: תַּחְתִּיִּם שְׁנִיִּם וּשְׁלִשִׁים. Onkelos supplies one, מְדוֹרִין, the word he used for kinnim in 6:14, so that the three levels are understood as tiers of the same dwellings.

Words to note: נֵהוֹר nehor — light (צֹהַר) · תְּשַׁכְלְלִינַהּ teshakhlelinah — finish it (תְּכַלֶּנָּה) · וְתַרְעָא ve-tar’a — the opening (וּפֶתַח) · בְּסִטְרַהּ be-sitrah — in its side (בְּצִדָּהּ) · מְדוֹרִין medorin — dwellings · אֲרָעִין ara’in — lower (תַּחְתִּיִּם)

Bereshit 6:17

Torah

Translation

Behold I am bringing the flood waters on the earth, to destroy all flesh in which there is the breath of life, from under the heavens. Everything that is on the land will perish.

Onkelos

Onkelos in English

And I, behold I am bringing the flood waters on the earth, to destroy all flesh in which there is the breath of life, from under the heavens. Everything that is on the land will die.

What Onkelos tells us

• “The flood”. Hebrew הַמַּבּוּל is rendered טוֹפָנָא, the Aramaic word for a flood or inundation.
• “To destroy”. לְשַׁחֵת becomes לְחַבָּלָא, again from חבל, completing the consistent rendering of שחת in these verses.
• “Will die”. The Hebrew יִגְוָֽע, ‘perish, expire’, is replaced by the ordinary verb יְמוּת, ‘will die’. The poetic verb gives way to a plainer one.

Words to note: מַיְתֵי maytei — bringing (מֵבִיא) · טוֹפָנָא tofana — the flood (הַמַּבּוּל) · לְחַבָּלָא le-habbala — to destroy (לְשַׁחֵת) · רוּחָא ruha — breath (רוּחַ) · יְמוּת yemut — will die (יִגְוָֽע)

Unit 2 summary

In the speech to Noach Onkelos keeps the structure of the Hebrew while explaining and naming things. The reason for the decree, ‘because of them’, becomes ‘because of their evil deeds’, in line with the earlier unit’s focus on human guilt. The building instructions replace unclear technical terms with known words: the unidentified gofer wood becomes kadrom, the ‘nests’ (kinnim) of the ark become medorin, ‘dwellings’, a word he also supplies as the unstated noun of the three levels in 6:16, and the ambiguous tzohar becomes nehor, ‘light’. The root חבל continues to render every form of שחת, now for the destruction itself, while ‘perish’ is turned into the plain ‘die’. Some Hebrew wordplay is lost: the verb and noun of caulking (וְכָפַרְתָּ … בַּכֹּפֶר) are split into ‘cover’ and ‘tar’.

Unit 3 — Bereshit 6:18–22: The covenant, and the ark’s passengers and provisions

Hashem promises Noach His covenant and tells him who will enter the ark: his family, two of every kind of living creature, and food for all of them. Noach does all that he is commanded.

Bereshit 6:18

Torah

Translation

I established My covenant with you. You shall go into the ark, you, your sons, your wife and your son’s wives, with you.

Onkelos

Onkelos in English

And I will establish My covenant with you, and you shall go into the ark, you, your sons, your wife and your sons’ wives, with you.

What Onkelos tells us

• “And I will establish”. The Hebrew va-hakimoti is a vav-consecutive perfect, a form that looks like a past tense but here points to the future. Onkelos uses a plain future, ve-akem, so the verb carries no ambiguity of tense.
• “My covenant”: keyami. For Hebrew beriti Onkelos writes קְיָמִי, a noun from the root kum, the same root as his verb וְאָקֵם. The Hebrew verb (וַהֲקִמֹתִי) is also from kum, but the noun ברית is not; in the Aramaic, verb and noun now echo each other: “I will establish My established [pact]”. This may be no more than the standard Aramaic word for a covenant, but the effect is a wordplay the Hebrew lacks.
• “You shall go into”. Hebrew u-vata, from the root bo, “come”, is rendered with the root ‘alal, “enter” (ve-te’ol), and the Hebrew preposition “to” (אֶל) becomes the prefix ל. The same Aramaic root already rendered Hebrew בָּא in 6:13 (עַלַּת), and it renders the Hebrew “bring” in 6:19 and “come” in 6:20.
• “With you”. Both occurrences of Hebrew ittakh become immakh, the usual Aramaic preposition “with”.

Words to note: וְאָקֵם ve-akem — and I will establish (וַהֲקִמֹתִי) · קְיָמִי keyami — My covenant (בְּרִיתִי) · וְתֵעוֹל ve-te’ol — and you shall go into (וּבָאתָ) · לְתֵבוֹתָא le-tevota — into the ark (הַתֵּבָה) · וְאִתְּתָךְ ve-ittetakh — your wife (וְאִשְׁתְּךָ)

Bereshit 6:19

Torah

Translation

From all living things, from all flesh, two of each shall you bring to the ark, to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female.

Onkelos

Onkelos in English

And from all that lives, from all flesh, two of all shall you bring into the ark, to keep [them] alive with you. They shall be male and female.

What Onkelos tells us

• “All that lives”. Hebrew ha-hai, “the living”, becomes a relative clause, דְּחַי, “that which lives”, a common Aramaic way of rendering a Hebrew adjective with the article.
• “Shall you bring”: ta’eil. Hebrew tavi, the causative of bo, is rendered with the causative of ‘alal, the root Onkelos used for “you shall go into” in 6:18. The Hebrew pairing of “come” and “bring” from one root is kept in the Aramaic with a different root.
• “To keep [them] alive”: le-kayyama. For Hebrew lehahayot, from חיה, Onkelos uses a form of kum, “sustain, preserve” (לְקַיָּמָא). This is the root of ve-akem and keyami in 6:18, so in the Aramaic the covenant and the keeping alive of the animals share one root, where the Hebrew uses two. Whether this link is intended or simply follows from ordinary Aramaic usage cannot be determined.
• “Male and female”. Dekhar ve-nukva are the regular Aramaic equivalents of zakhar u-nekevah, and the word order of the Hebrew is kept.

Words to note: דְּחַי de-hai — that lives (הָחַי) · בִּסְרָא bisra — flesh (בָּשָׂר) · תָּעֵיל ta’eil — shall you bring (תָּבִיא) · לְקַיָּמָא le-kayyama — to keep alive (לְהַחֲיֹת) · דְּכַר dekhar — male (זָכָר) · וְנוּקְבָא ve-nukva — and female (וּנְקֵבָה)

Bereshit 6:20

Torah

Translation

From the birds of their kind, from the animals of their kind, from every creeping thing of the earth of its kind, two of each will come to you to be kept alive.

Onkelos

Onkelos in English

From the birds of their kind, and from the animals of their kind, and from every creeping thing of the earth of its kind, two of all will come in to you to keep [them] alive.

What Onkelos tells us

• “Of their kind”: liznohi. Hebrew min, “kind”, is rendered with Aramaic zan throughout. Onkelos keeps the Hebrew suffixes: masculine לִזְנוֹהִי for the birds and the creeping things, as the Hebrew has לְמִינֵהוּ, and feminine לִזְנַהּ for the animals, matching לְמִינָהּ.
• “Creeping thing”. Hebrew remes is rendered rihasha, from the Aramaic root רחש.
• “And from every creeping thing”. The printed Targum adds the conjunction “and” before “from every”, which the Hebrew lacks; it smooths the list so that all three classes are joined.
• “Will come in to you”. As in 6:18 and 6:19, the Hebrew root bo is rendered with ‘alal (ya’alun), and Hebrew eleikha becomes levatakh, “to you”.
• “To keep [them] alive”. Onkelos repeats exactly the form he used in 6:19, le-kayyama, just as the Hebrew uses the same verb in both verses.
• Textual note. The Yemenite text reads מִכֹּל, without the conjunction, as in the Hebrew; the added “and” holds for the printed text only.

Words to note: מֵעוֹפָא me’ofa — from the birds (מֵהָעוֹף) · לִזְנוֹהִי liznohi — of their kind (לְמִינֵהוּ) · בְּעִירָא be’ira — the animals (הַבְּהֵמָה) · רִחֲשָׁא rihasha — creeping thing (רֶמֶשׂ) · יַעֲלוּן ya’alun — will come in (יָבֹאוּ) · לְוָתָךְ levatakh — to you (אֵלֶיךָ)

Bereshit 6:21

Torah

Translation

You shall take for yourself from all [the] foods that are eaten, and gather it to yourself, and it will be food for you and for them.

Onkelos

Onkelos in English

And you, take for yourself from all foods that are eaten, and you shall gather [it] to yourself, and it will be food for you and for them.

What Onkelos tells us

• “Take”: sav. Hebrew kah is rendered with the usual Aramaic verb for taking, and the emphatic “and you” of the Hebrew is kept.
• “That are eaten”. The Hebrew passive ye’akhel becomes the Aramaic passive דְּמִתְאֲכֵל, introduced by the relative particle ד in place of Hebrew asher.
• “You shall gather”. Hebrew ve-asafta, a vav-consecutive perfect from the root asaf, becomes a plain future from the root kenash, ve-tikhnosh. As in 6:18, the future sense is expressed directly.
• One word for two. The Hebrew uses two different nouns from אכל: ma’akhal at the start and le-okhla at the end. Onkelos renders both with the same noun, מֵיכַל and לְמֵיכָל, which differ in the printed text only in vocalization; the variation of the Hebrew is not reproduced.
• Textual note. The Yemenite text has the same noun in both places, but with the vowels reversed (מֵיכָל first, לְמֵיכַל last). Either way, one Aramaic word stands for the two Hebrew nouns.

Words to note: סַב sav — take (קַח) · מֵיכַל meikhal — foods (מַאֲכָל) · דְּמִתְאֲכֵל de-mitakhel — that are eaten (יֵאָכֵל) · וְתִכְנוֹשׁ ve-tikhnosh — and you shall gather (וְאָסַפְתָּ) · לְמֵיכָל le-meikhal — food (לְאׇכְלָה)

Bereshit 6:22

Torah

Translation

Noach did so. All that he was commanded by God, he did.

Onkelos

Onkelos in English

And Noach did according to all that Hashem commanded him; so he did.

What Onkelos tells us

• “That Hashem commanded him”. Where the Hebrew has אֱלֹקִים, the Targum reads ה׳, Hashem; the Yemenite text agrees. This is the same rendering found for every Elokim earlier in the aliyah (6:9, 6:11, 6:12, 6:13).
• “Did … did”. The Hebrew frames the verse with two forms of עשה; Onkelos keeps the frame with two forms of עבד, va’avad and avad. Otherwise a literal rendering, with di for asher and yateh for oto.

Words to note: וַעֲבַד va’avad — and [Noach] did (וַיַּעַשׂ) · דִּי di — that (אֲשֶׁר) · פַקֵּיד fakkeid — commanded (צִוָּה) · יָתֵהּ yateh — him (אֹתוֹ) · עֲבָד avad — he did (עָשָׂה)

Unit 3 summary

Onkelos follows these instructions closely, and his main interest lies in vocabulary. A single Aramaic root, kum, carries three different Hebrew words: the verb of establishing the covenant, the covenant itself (keyami), and the verb of keeping the animals alive (le-kayyama), so that the Aramaic links the promise and the rescue more tightly than the Hebrew does. Likewise one Aramaic verb of entering, ‘alal, answers both the Hebrew “go into” and “bring”, Aramaic zan stands for Hebrew min, “kind”, and a single Aramaic word for food, meikhal, covers two distinct Hebrew nouns. The vav-consecutive forms of the Hebrew become plain future verbs, relative clauses replace the Hebrew article (“that lives” for “the living”), and in the closing verse the printed Targum reads Hashem where the Hebrew has Elokim, as it does throughout the aliyah.

Conclusion of the aliyah

The movement of the aliyah

The aliyah moves from a portrait of one righteous man and a corrupt world to God’s decree, the detailed plan of the ark, and the promise of a covenant that will carry Noach, his family and the animals through the flood, ending with Noach’s full obedience. Onkelos follows the Hebrew closely throughout, keeping its order, its repetitions and the frame of ‘did … did’ in the last verse. His departures fall into three groups. In the opening and the decree he makes the human cause of the destruction more explicit and renders God’s Name and nearness with reverent wording. In the building instructions he replaces rare or unclear technical words with known ones and supplies a missing noun. In the final instructions his own vocabulary links words the Hebrew keeps apart, while some Hebrew wordplay, such as the caulking of 6:14, is lost.

What Onkelos tells us in this aliyah

1. “In the fear of Hashem” (6:9). בְּדַחַלְתָּא דַּה׳ replaces ‘with God’, perhaps turning the image of walking alongside God into one of reverent conduct.
2. “Robberies” (6:11). The broad chamas becomes the specific חֲטּוֹפִין, which may indicate how Onkelos understood the violence that filled the earth.
3. “All flesh of man” (6:12). The added word in כָּל בִּסְרָא אֱנַשׁ narrows the subject to human beings and suggests the corruption was read as moral wrongdoing.
4. “Because of their evil deeds” (6:13). מִן קֳדָם עוֹבָדֵיהוֹן בִּישַׁיָּא locates the cause of the destruction in what people did rather than in the people themselves.
5. “With the earth” (6:13). Onkelos reads et as the preposition ‘with’, writing עִם אַרְעָא, so that the earth is destroyed together with them.
6. “Cedar wood” (6:14). The unknown gofer is replaced by a known tree, דְאָעִין דְּקַדְרוֹם, usually understood as cedar.
7. “Dwellings” (6:14, 6:16). The ‘nests’ become מְדוֹרִין, and the same word is supplied as the unstated noun of the three levels in 6:16.
8. “A light” (6:16). The uncertain tzohar becomes נֵהוֹר, suggesting it was understood as an opening or source of light.
9. “Will die” (6:17). The poetic ‘perish’ gives way to the ordinary יְמוּת.
10. “My covenant” (6:18). קְיָמִי shares the root of the verb וְאָקֵם, so verb and noun echo each other in a way the Hebrew does not.
11. “To keep alive” (6:19, 6:20). לְקַיָּמָא is again from kum, linking the covenant with the rescue of the animals; whether this is intended or ordinary usage cannot be determined.
12. “That Hashem commanded him” (6:22). The printed Targum reads ה׳ where the Hebrew has Elokim, and the Yemenite text agrees.

Recurring features

• Elokim rendered by the Name. Each of the five occurrences of Elokim or ha-Elokim in the aliyah appears in the Targum as ה׳.
• One Aramaic root for one Hebrew root. חבל answers every form of שחת (6:11, 6:12 twice, 6:13, 6:17), and kodam serves for ‘before’, so key repetitions of the Hebrew are kept.
• Explanatory additions about human guilt. ‘Robberies’, ‘of man’ and ‘their evil deeds’ each narrow the corruption to human wrongdoing.
• Known words for obscure ones. Rare or unclear Hebrew terms are replaced by familiar Aramaic words, and a missing noun is supplied where the Hebrew leaves it implied.
• Aramaic roots that link what the Hebrew separates. Kum joins covenant and keeping alive; ‘alal joins going in and bringing; one noun, meikhal, covers two Hebrew words for food.
• Grammar made plain. Vav-consecutive perfects become plain futures, Hebrew adjectives with the article become relative clauses, and idioms such as ‘from the house’ become ‘from inside’.

Aliyah takeaway

In this opening aliyah Onkelos is above all a faithful and clarifying translator. He keeps the structure and much of the repetition of the Hebrew, but he makes plain what the Hebrew leaves open: that the corruption of the earth was human wrongdoing, what the unfamiliar parts of the ark were, and how Noach’s closeness to God is to be understood. At the same time the ordinary vocabulary of Aramaic creates connections of its own, so that in the Targum the covenant and the keeping alive of the creatures are spoken of with one root.

Aramaic word list for the aliyah

Source note

Aliyah boundary. Bereshit 6:9 – 6:22, following the aliyah divisions in Sefaria’s index of Bereshit (the next aliyah begins at Bereshit 7:1).

Torah text. Miqra according to the Masorah (CC-BY-SA), the Masoretic text based on the Aleppo Codex, from Wikisource via Sefaria .

Targum Onkelos. The Aramaic is the commonly printed text, from the Torat Emet edition (Public Domain), via Sefaria .

Comparison text. “Targum Onkelos, vocalized according to the Yemenite Taj” (CC-BY-SA), from Wikisource via Sefaria. Its readings were compared with the printed text word by word; only differences that change a word or the meaning are noted.

Translation of the Torah. Metsudah Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009 (CC-BY), via Sefaria, with the Divine Names rendered Hashem and God.

Translation of Onkelos, notes and summaries. New, prepared for this page. The Onkelos translation follows the wording of the Torah translation wherever the Aramaic agrees with the Hebrew, so that the differences stand out.

Divine Names. In the Hebrew and Aramaic, the Tetragrammaton and the Aramaic abbreviation of the Name are printed as ה׳, and Elokim as אלקים.

Notes. The notes compare the Aramaic with the Hebrew only. No later commentaries on Onkelos have been used. Where a note suggests why Onkelos translated as he did, this is presented as an inference from the text.

Licence. The Hebrew and Aramaic texts are shared under their own licences as stated above; CC-BY-SA material remains under CC-BY-SA.

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