Parashat Toldot — Seventh Aliyah

Torah with Onkelos · Bereshit 28:5 – 28:9 · פרשת תולדות, שביעי

Yaakov sets out for Padan Aram and Eisov marries the daughter of Yishmael, read through Targum Onkelos

Contents

• Orientation
• How this page is laid out
• Unit 1 — Bereshit 28:5–9: Yaakov leaves for Padan Aram, and Eisov takes another wife
• Conclusion of the aliyah
• Aramaic word list for the aliyah
• Source note

Orientation

What happens in this aliyah. The last aliyah of Toldot is a short narrative of five verses. Yitzchok sends Yaakov away, and he goes to Padan Aram, to Lavan son of Besueil the Aramean, the brother of Rivkah, the mother of Yaakov and Eisov. Eisov sees that Yitzchok blessed Yaakov and sent him there to take a wife, and that when he blessed him he commanded him not to take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. Yaakov listens to his father and mother and goes. Eisov realizes that the daughters of Canaan are evil in the eyes of his father Yitzchok, and he goes to Yishmael and takes Mochalas, the daughter of Yishmael and sister of Nevayos, as a wife in addition to the wives he already has. A closed paragraph ends the aliyah and the parasha.

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.

• A close rendering. The Aramaic follows the Hebrew word for word and in the same order through most of the aliyah, and the notes describe large parts of 28:6, 28:8 and 28:9 as literal.
• Hebrew grammar recast as Aramaic idiom. The directional ending of פַּדֶּנָה becomes the prefix le- in לְפַדַּן אֲרָם; the kinship phrases “brother of Rivkah”, “mother of Yaakov” and “sister of Nevayos” become a suffixed noun followed by de-, “of” (אֲחוּהָא דְרִבְקָה); and the infinitive “in his blessing him” becomes a finite clause with כַּד, “when”.
• One verb for taking a wife. All three times the Hebrew uses the root לקח for taking a wife, Onkelos uses the root נסב: לְמִסַּב לֵהּ and תִסַּב in 28:6, וּנְסִיב in 28:9.
• “Accepted from” (28:7). Yaakov “listened to” his parents becomes וְקַבִּיל … מִן, “accepted from”, an Aramaic idiom for heeding what one is told. It is the most notable rephrasing in the aliyah.
• Repeated Hebrew, repeated Aramaic. וַאֲזַל renders each “went”, וַחֲזָא each “saw”, and לְוַת both times someone goes “to” a person (28:5, 28:9). One noted exception is “wife”: אִתְּתָא in 28:6 but לְאִנְתּוּ in the phrase “for a wife” in 28:9.
• Printed and Yemenite texts. The Yemenite text reads דַּאֲרָם, “Padan of Aram”, all three times the place is named, has a different word for “when” in 28:6, and in 28:8 reads a plural form for “evil” that agrees with the Hebrew.

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 28:5–9: Yaakov leaves for Padan Aram, and Eisov takes another wife

Yitzchok sends Yaakov to Lavan in Padan Aram. Eisov sees that Yaakov was blessed and sent away with a command not to marry a Canaanite woman, realizes that his father dislikes the daughters of Canaan, and marries Mochalas, the daughter of Yishmael.

Bereshit 28:5

Torah

Translation

Yitzchok sent Yaakov on his way, and he went to Paddan Aram, to Lavan, son of Besueil the Aramean, the brother of Rivkah, mother of Yaakov and Eisov.

Onkelos

Onkelos in English

Yitzchok sent Yaakov, and he went to Padan Aram, to Lavan, son of Besueil the Aramean, the brother of Rivkah, the mother of Yaakov and Eisov.

What Onkelos tells us

• “To Padan Aram”. The Hebrew marks direction with the ending -ah on the name (פַּדֶּנָה אֲרָם). Aramaic has no such ending, and Onkelos uses the prefix le- instead (לְפַדַּן אֲרָם). The same change recurs in 28:6 and 28:7.
• “To Lavan”. Hebrew אֶל, “to”, is rendered לְוַת (levat), “to, toward”, the preposition Onkelos uses for going to a person; it recurs in 28:9 for going “to Yishmael”.
• “The brother of Rivkah, the mother of Yaakov”. The Hebrew uses construct forms (אֲחִי רִבְקָה, אֵם יַעֲקֹב). Onkelos uses the regular Aramaic alternative: a noun with a pronoun suffix followed by de-, “of” (אֲחוּהָא דְרִבְקָה, אִמֵּהּ דְּיַעֲקֹב), literally “her brother, of Rivkah” and “his mother, of Yaakov”. The meaning is unchanged.
• “The Aramean”. Hebrew הָאֲרַמִּי becomes the Aramaic gentilic אֲרַמָּאָה (aramma’ah), with the Aramaic definite ending in place of the Hebrew article. Otherwise a literal rendering.
• Textual note. The Yemenite text reads דַּאֲרָם (da-Aram) for אֲרָם, giving “Padan of Aram” rather than the single name “Padan Aram”. It reads the same way in 28:6 and 28:7.

Words to note: וַאֲזַל va-azal — and he went (וַיֵּלֶךְ) · לְפַדַּן le-Faddan — to Padan (פַּדֶּנָה) · לְוַת levat — to (אֶל) · אֲרַמָּאָה aramma’ah — the Aramean (הָאֲרַמִּי) · אֲחוּהָא ahuha — the brother (of) (אֲחִי) · אִמֵּהּ immeh — the mother (of) (אֵם)

Bereshit 28:6

Torah

Translation

Eisov saw that Yitzchok blessed Yaakov, and sent him to Paddan Aram, to find a wife there; and as he blessed him, he commanded him saying, Do not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.

Onkelos

Onkelos in English

Eisov saw that Yitzchok blessed Yaakov, and sent him to Padan Aram, to take himself a wife from there; when he blessed him, he commanded him saying, Do not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.

What Onkelos tells us

• “To take himself a wife”. Hebrew לָקַחַת לוֹ, “to take for himself”, is rendered לְמִסַּב לֵהּ, from the root נסב. The same root renders the Hebrew לקח again later in this verse (תִקַּח → תִסַּב) and in 28:9 (וּנְסִיב): all three times the Hebrew uses לקח for taking a wife, Onkelos uses נסב.
• “When he blessed him”. The Hebrew uses an infinitive with a prefix, בְּבָרְכוֹ אֹתוֹ, “in his blessing him”. Onkelos turns it into a finite clause introduced by כַּד, “when”: כַּד בָּרִיךְ יָתֵהּ. The verb is the same form used earlier in the verse for “Yitzchok blessed” (בָרִיךְ), so both Hebrew forms of ברך are rendered alike.
• “He commanded him”. Hebrew וַיְצַו עָלָיו, literally “commanded upon him”, is kept word for word as וּפַקֵּיד עֲלוֹהִי. The rest of the verse is a literal rendering, with מִתַּמָּן, “from there”, for מִשָּׁם.
• Textual note. For כַּד בָּרִיךְ, “when he blessed”, the Yemenite text reads בִּדְבָרֵיךְ, a single word with a prefix, also meaning “when he blessed”. The finite clause noted above is common to both texts; only the word for “when” differs.

Words to note: וַחֲזָא va-haza — saw (וַיַּרְא) · לְמִסַּב le-missav — to take (לָקַחַת) · מִתַּמָּן mi-tamman — from there (מִשָּׁם) · כַּד kad — when · וּפַקֵּיד u-fakkeid — he commanded (וַיְצַו) · תִסַּב tissav — take (תִקַּח)

Bereshit 28:7

Torah

Translation

And Yaakov listened to his father and mother, and went to Paddan Aram.

Onkelos

Onkelos in English

Yaakov accepted from his father and from his mother, and went to Padan Aram.

What Onkelos tells us

• “Accepted from”. The Hebrew says Yaakov “listened to” (וַיִּשְׁמַע … אֶל) his father and mother. Onkelos has וְקַבִּיל … מִן, “accepted from”, an Aramaic idiom for heeding what one is told. The change may indicate that Onkelos read “listened” here as “obeyed”, not merely “heard”.
• “From his father and from his mother”. Like the Hebrew, which repeats “to” before each parent, Onkelos repeats מִן, “from”, before each. The ending of the verse, “and went to Padan Aram”, matches 28:5.

Words to note: וְקַבִּיל ve-kabbil — accepted (וַיִּשְׁמַע) · מִן min — from (אֶל) · אֲבוּהִי avuhi — his father (אָבִיו)

Bereshit 28:8

Torah

Translation

Eisov [thus] realized that the daughters of Canaan were evil in the eyes of Yitzchok, his father.

Onkelos

Onkelos in English

Eisov realized that the daughters of Canaan were evil in the eyes of Yitzchok, his father.

What Onkelos tells us

• “In the eyes of Yitzchok”. A literal rendering. Onkelos keeps the idiom “in the eyes of” (בְּעֵינֵי) for Yitzchok’s view, and renders וַיַּרְא, “saw”, with וַחֲזָא as in 28:6.
• “Were evil”. Hebrew רָעוֹת is a feminine plural agreeing with “the daughters”. The printed Onkelos has בִישָׁא (visha), a singular form; the English cannot show the difference. See the textual note.
• Textual note. The Yemenite text reads בִּישָׁן (bishan), a feminine plural that agrees with the Hebrew רָעוֹת. The singular form discussed above belongs to the printed text only.

Words to note: בִישָׁא visha — evil (רָעוֹת) · בְּנַת benat — the daughters (of) (בְּנוֹת) · בְּעֵינֵי be-‘einei — in the eyes of (בְּעֵינֵי)

Bereshit 28:9

Torah

Translation

Eisov [then] went to Yishmael, and took Mochalas, the daughter of Yishmael, the son of Avraham and sister of Nevayos, in addition to his other wives, for a wife.

Onkelos

Onkelos in English

Eisov went to Yishmael, and took Mochalas, the daughter of Yishmael, the son of Avraham, the sister of Nevayos, in addition to his wives, for himself for a wife.

What Onkelos tells us

• “Took”. Hebrew וַיִּקַּח is rendered וּנְסִיב (u-nesiv), from נסב, as in both instances in 28:6.
• “The sister of Nevayos”. As with “the brother of Rivkah” in 28:5, the Hebrew construct אֲחוֹת נְבָיוֹת becomes a suffixed noun followed by de-: אֲחָתֵהּ דִּנְבָיוֹת, literally “his sister, of Nevayos”.
• “For a wife”. The Hebrew uses the same noun for “a wife” in 28:6 (אִשָּׁה) and here (לְאִשָּׁה). Onkelos renders it אִתְּתָא in 28:6, but here, in the phrase “for a wife”, he uses a different form, לְאִנְתּוּ (le-intu). The rest of the verse is literal, with עַל נְשׁוֹהִי, “in addition to his wives”, for עַל נָשָׁיו.
• Textual note. The Yemenite text reads לְאִתּוּ (le-ittu) for לְאִנְתּוּ, apparently the same word spelled without the nun. The point made above, that “for a wife” here differs from אִתְּתָא in 28:6, holds in both texts.

Words to note: לְוַת levat — to (אֶל) · וּנְסִיב u-nesiv — and took (וַיִּקַּח) · אֲחָתֵהּ ahateh — the sister (of) (אֲחוֹת) · נְשׁוֹהִי neshohi — his wives (נָשָׁיו) · לְאִנְתּוּ le-intu — for a wife (לְאִשָּׁה)

Unit 1 summary

Onkelos follows this short narrative closely. His changes are mostly ones of Aramaic idiom: the Hebrew directional ending of “to Padan” becomes a prefixed preposition, the construct phrases “brother of Rivkah”, “mother of Yaakov” and “sister of Nevayos” become the Aramaic pattern of a suffixed noun followed by “of”, and the infinitive “as he blessed him” becomes a finite clause with “when”. One Aramaic verb, נסב, stands for all three occurrences of Hebrew לקח, “take” a wife. The most notable rephrasing is in 28:7, where Yaakov “listened to” his parents becomes “accepted from” them, an idiom of obedience. The Yemenite text differs in reading “Padan of Aram” throughout and, in 28:8, a plural form for “evil” that matches the Hebrew.

Conclusion of the aliyah

The movement of the aliyah

The aliyah moves from Yaakov’s departure to Eisov’s response. Yaakov is sent and goes (28:5); Eisov sees the blessing, the sending and the command (28:6); Yaakov obeys his father and mother and goes (28:7); Eisov realizes how his father regards the daughters of Canaan (28:8); and he goes and takes a wife from the family of Yishmael (28:9). Onkelos keeps this sequence and its repetitions: the same verb וַאֲזַל marks Yaakov’s going in 28:5 and 28:7 and Eisov’s in 28:9, וַחֲזָא marks what Eisov saw in 28:6 and 28:8, and the root נסב marks every taking of a wife. His departures from the Hebrew are mostly matters of Aramaic grammar and idiom, with one rephrasing of substance, “listened” as “accepted from” in 28:7.

What Onkelos tells us in this aliyah

1. “To Padan Aram” (28:5). Aramaic has no directional ending, so לְפַדַּן אֲרָם uses the prefix le- in place of the Hebrew -ah; the same change recurs in 28:6 and 28:7.
2. “To Lavan” (28:5). לְוַת, “to, toward”, renders אֶל for going to a person, as again in 28:9 for going “to Yishmael”.
3. “The brother of Rivkah, the mother of Yaakov” (28:5). אֲחוּהָא דְרִבְקָה and אִמֵּהּ דְּיַעֲקֹב replace the Hebrew construct forms with a suffixed noun followed by de-, “of”, literally “her brother, of Rivkah” and “his mother, of Yaakov”. The meaning is unchanged.
4. “The Aramean” (28:5). אֲרַמָּאָה carries the Aramaic definite ending in place of the Hebrew article.
5. “To take himself a wife” (28:6). לְמִסַּב לֵהּ opens a pattern in which every Hebrew לקח for taking a wife is rendered with נסב, here and in 28:9.
6. “When he blessed him” (28:6). The infinitive בְּבָרְכוֹ אֹתוֹ becomes the finite clause כַּד בָּרִיךְ יָתֵהּ, with the same verb form as “Yitzchok blessed” earlier in the verse, so both Hebrew forms of ברך are rendered alike.
7. “He commanded him” (28:6). וּפַקֵּיד עֲלוֹהִי keeps the Hebrew “commanded upon him” word for word.
8. “Accepted from” (28:7). וְקַבִּיל … מִן for “listened to” may indicate that Onkelos read “listened” here as “obeyed”, not merely “heard”.
9. “Were evil” (28:8). The printed בִישָׁא is a singular form where the Hebrew רָעוֹת is feminine plural; the Yemenite בִּישָׁן agrees with the Hebrew.
10. “For a wife” (28:9). The Hebrew noun rendered אִתְּתָא in 28:6 appears here, in the phrase “for a wife”, as לְאִנְתּוּ, a different form.
11. “The sister of Nevayos” (28:9). אֲחָתֵהּ דִּנְבָיוֹת follows the same suffixed-noun pattern as “the brother of Rivkah” in 28:5.

Recurring features

• Aramaic grammar in place of Hebrew grammar. Prepositions replace the Hebrew directional ending (three times, in 28:5, 28:6 and 28:7), suffixed nouns with de- replace construct forms in the kinship phrases of 28:5 and 28:9, and a finite clause replaces an infinitive in 28:6.
• Consistent verbs. Each Hebrew verb that recurs in the aliyah is rendered the same way each time: נסב for all three instances of לקח, וַאֲזַל for all three instances of “went”, וַחֲזָא for both instances of “saw”, and one verb form for both forms of ברך in 28:6.
• Prepositions of direction. le- marks going to a place and לְוַת going to a person, while מִן, “from”, appears where Yaakov “accepted from” his parents.
• Literal stretches. Outside these changes the notes repeatedly describe the rendering as literal, keeping idioms such as “in the eyes of” and “commanded upon him”.
• Printed and Yemenite texts. The textual notes record the Yemenite דַּאֲרָם in all three verses that name the place, בִּדְבָרֵיךְ for “when he blessed” in 28:6, the plural בִּישָׁן in 28:8, and לְאִתּוּ, spelled without the nun, for “for a wife” in 28:9.

Aliyah takeaway

In the closing passage of Toldot Onkelos is a close translator. What separates his Aramaic from the Hebrew is chiefly the grammar of his own language: prepositions where Hebrew uses endings, suffixed nouns with de- where Hebrew uses construct forms, a finite clause where Hebrew uses an infinitive. He keeps the passage’s repeated verbs repeated, so that Yaakov’s going and Eisov’s going, and every taking of a wife, are worded alike. Against that steady background the one rephrasing stands out: Yaakov “accepted from” his father and mother, an idiom that may indicate Onkelos read his listening as obedience.

Aramaic word list for the aliyah

Source note

Aliyah boundary. Bereshit 28:5 – 28:9, following the aliyah divisions in Sefaria’s index of Bereshit.

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.

← Sixth Aliyah

Back to Parashat Toldot · Torah with Onkelos