they committed evil against thee; but forgive, I beseech thee, the guilt of the servants of the God of thy father. [Jerusalem. And they instructed the tribe of Bilhah the handmaid of Rahel to say, Thy father before he was gathered commanded, saying.]

And Joseph wept when they spake with him. And his brethren came also, and bowed themselves before him, and said, Behold, we are thy servants. And Joseph said to them, Fear not, for I will not do you evil, but good; for I fear and humble myself before the Lord. [Jerusalem. And Joseph said to them, Fear not, for the evil that you did me hath ended. Are not the thoughts of the sons of men before the Lord ?] You indeed imagined against me evil thoughts, that when I did not recline with you to eat it was because I retained enmity against you. But the Word of the Lord thought on me for good; for my father hath caused me to sit at the head, and on account of his honour I received; but now not for the sake of my (own) righteousness or merit was it given me to work out for you deliverance this day for the preservation of much people of the house of Jakob. And now fear not; I will sustain you and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake consolation to their heart.

And Joseph dwelt in Mizraim, he and his father's house. And Joseph lived a hundred and ten years. And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation; also the sons of Makir the son of Menasheh, when they were born, were circumcised by Joseph.

And Joseph said to his brethren, Behold, I die; but the Lord remembering will remember you, and will bring you up from this land, into the land which He sware to Abraham, to Izhak, and to Jakob.

Joseph adjured the sons of Israel to say to their sons, Behold, you will be brought into servitude in Mizraim; but you shall not presume to go up out of Mizraim until the time that two Deliverers shall come, and say to you, Remembering, remember ye the Lord. And at the time when ye go up ye shall carry up my bones from hence.

And Joseph died, the son of a hundred and ten years. And they embalmed him with perfumes, and laid him in an ark, and submerged him in the midst of the Nilos of Mizraim. [Jerusalem. And they embalmed him, and laid him in an ark in the land of Mizraim.9

9 The Jerusalem Talmud records the tradition that "the Egyptians enclosed the body of Joseph in a metal coffin, and buried it in the Nile, that thereby the waters of the river might be blessed;" and that at the Exodus the coffin was recovered.—Sotah, 10.

end of the targum of palestine

on the sepher bereshith.

THE TARGUM OF ONKELOS

ON

THE BOOK SHEMOTH,

OR

EXODUS.

[In the Pentateuch the first chapter of Exodus begins the Thirteenth Section of the Law with the initial Shemoth, or Names.]

I. And these are the names of the sons of Israel who came into Mizraim with Jakob; (each) man with the men of his house they came in: Reuben, Shimeon, Levi and Jehudah, Issakar, Zebulon and Benyamin, Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. And all the souls that came forth from the thigh of Jakob were seventy souls, with Joseph who was in Mizraim.

And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation; but the sons of Israel increased and propagated, and became great and very mighty, and the land was filled with them.

And he said sons of Israel

come, let us

But a new king arose over Mizraim who did not hold valid (or confirm) the decree of Joseph. to his people, Behold, the people of the are more numerous and stronger than we deal wisely by them, lest they multiply, and it be that should war happen to us they join themselves with our enemies, and break forth in the war against us, and go up from the land. And they appointed over them evildoing governors (shiltonin) to afflict them in their labours. And they builded cities of treasure houses for

Pharoh, Pithom, and Raamsas. Bat by as much as they afflicted them, so they increased and waxed strong, and the Mizraee had vexation on account of the sons of Israel; and the Mizraee made the sons of Israel serve with rigour, and embittered their lives with hard labour, in clay and in brick, and in all labour of the field,—all the work which they wrought, they made them do with hardship.

And the king of Mizraim spake to the midwives of Jewesses, (Yehuditha,) of whom the name of the one was Shiphra, and the name of the second Puvah; and he said, When you do the office of the midwife among the Jewish women, and you look upon the childbirth, if it be a son, you shall kill him; but if a daughter, let her live. But the midwives feared before the Lord, and did not act as the king of Mizraim had bidden them, but preserved the sons alive. And the king of Mizraim called the midwives and said to them, Why have you done this thing and have kept the sons alive? And the midwives said to Pharoh, It is because the Jewesses are unlike the Mizraite women; they are cunning, and give birth before the midwives come to them. And the Lord did good to the midwives; and the people multiplied and became very strong. And because the midwives feared before the Lord He made for them houses. But Pharoh commanded all his people, saying, Every son who is born to the Jews you shall throw into the river, and every daughter you shall keep alive.

II. And a man of the house of Levi went and took a daughter of Levi (to wife). And the woman conceived, and bare a son; and she saw that he was good, and concealed him three months. But not being able to hide him longer, she took an ark of reed, and covered it with bitumen and pitch, and laid the child

1

within it, and set it in the river upon the brink of the stream. And his sister stationed herself at a distance, to know what would be done to him.

And the daughter of Pharoh came down to wash at the river, and her damsels walked on the river's bank; and she saw the ark in the flood, and reached out her arm and took it. And opening, she saw the child; and, behold, the infant wept. And she had compassion on him and said, This is one of the children of the Jehudaee. Then spake his sister to the daughter of Pharoh, Shall I go and call a nurse-woman of the Jehudaee who will suckle the child for thee? And the daughter of Pharoh said to her, Go; and the maiden went, and called the child's mother. And Pharoh's daughter said to her, Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy recompense. woman took the child and suckled him. child grew, and she brought him to daughter, and he became to her a son, and she called his name Mosheh, saying, Because I drew him out from

the water.

And the

And the

Pharoh's

And it was in those days when Mosheh had grown that he went out to his brethren and beheld their servitude. And he saw a Mizraite man smite a man, a Jehudai, (one) of his brethren. And he turned this way and that, and saw that there was no man; and smote the Mizraite, and buried him in the sand. And he went out the second day, and, behold, two men, Jehudaeen contended. And he said to the guilty one, Why did you strike your companion? But he said, Who set you a chief man and a judge over us? Will you who speak so kill me, as you killed the Mizraya? And Mosheh was afraid, and said, Surely the thing is known. And Pharoh heard that thing, and sought to 1 Sam. Vers., "among the rushes."

2 Ibid.