Of most special interest is the rendering of Onkelos of Deut. xxxiii. 27, where instead of
'underneath are the everlasting arms,' Onkelos has it: 'And by His Memra was the world
made,' exactly as in St. John i. 10. This divergence of Onkelos from the Hebrew text is
utterly unaccountable, nor has any explanation of it, as far as I know, been attempted.
Winer, whose inaugural dissertation 'De Onkeloso ejusque Paraphrasi chaldaica' (Lips.
1820), most modern writers have simply followed (with some amplifications, chiefly
from Luzatto's 'Philoxenus,' ργη βη) makes no reference to this passage, nor do his
successors, so far as I know. It is curious that, as our present Hebrew text has three
words, so has the rendering of Onkelos, and that both end with the same word.
In classifying the passages in which the word Memra occurs in the Jerusalem Targum and
the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, we have reversed the previous order, and Class I.
represents the passages in which the term undoubtedly applies to the Personal
manifesta tion of God; Class II., in which this is the fair interpretation; Class III., in which
application is, to say the most, doubtful.
Classified List of Passages (according to the above scheme) in which the term 'Memra'
occurs in the Targum Jerushalmi on the Pentateuch.
Class I. Of undoubted application to a Personal Manifestation of God: Gen. i. 27; iii. 9,
22; v. 24; vi. 3; viii. 16; xv. 1; xvi. 3; xix. 24; xxi. 33; xxii 8,14; xxviii. 10; xxx. 22 (bis);
xxxi. 9; xxxv. 9 (quat.); xxxviii. 25; xl. 23; exod. iii. 14; vi. 3; xii. 42 (quat.); xiii. 18; xiv.
15, 24, 25; xv. 12, 25 (bis); xix. 5, 7, 8, 9 (bis); xx. 1, 24; xxv. 4; xxvii. 16; Deut. i. 1; iii.
2; iv. 34; xxvi. 3, 14, 17, 18; xxviii. 27, 68; xxxiii. 15, 39, 51; xxxiii. 2, 7; xxxiv. 9, 10,
11.
Class II. Where such application is fair : Gen. v. 24; xxi. 33; Ex. vi. 3; xv. 1; Lev. i. 1;
Numb. xxiii. 15, 21; xxiv. 4, 16; Deut. xxxii. 1, 40.
Class III. Where such application is doubtful: Gen. vi. 6; xviii. 1, 17; xxii. 14 (bis); xxx.
22; xl. 23; xlix. 18; Ex. xiii. 19; xv. 2, 26; xvii. 19; xix. 3; Deut. i. 1; xxxii. 18; xxxiv. 4,
5.
Classified List of Passages in which the term 'Memra' occurs in the Targum Pseudo-
Jonathan on the Pentateuch.
Class I. Undoubted : Gen. ii. 8, 10, 24; iv. 26; v. 2; vii. 16; ix. 12, 13, 15, 16, 17; xi. 8; xii.
17; xv. 1; xvii. 2, 7, 10, 11; xviii. 5; xix. 24 (bis); xx. 6, 18: xxi. 22; 22, 23, 33; xxii. 1;
xxiv, 3; xxvi. 3, 24, 28; xxvii. 28, 31; xxviii. 10, 15, 20; xxix. 12; xxxi. 3, 50; xxxv. 3, 9;
xxxix. 2, 3, 21, 23; xli.1; xlvi. 4; xlviii. 9, 21; xlix. 25; 1. 20; Exod. i. 21; ii. 5; iii. 12; vii.
25; x. 10; xii. 23, 29; xiii. 8, 15, 17; xiv. 25, 31; xv. 25; xvii. 13, 15, 16 (bis); xviii. 19;
xx. 7; xxvi. 28; xxix. 42, 43; xxx. 6, 36; xxxi. 13, 17; xxxii. 35; xxxiii. 9, 19; xxxiv. 5;
xxxvi. 33; Lev. i. 1 (bis); vi. 2; viii. 35; ix. 23; xx. 23; xxiv. 12 (bis); xxvi. 11, 12, 30, 44,
46; Numb. iii. 16, 39, 51; iv. 37, 41, 45, 49; ix. 18 (bis), 19, 20, (bis), 23 (ter); x. 13, 35,
36; xiv. 9, 41, 43; xvi. 11, 26; xvii. 4; xxi. 5, 6, 8, 9, 34; xxii. 18, 19, 28; xxiii. 3, 4, 8
(bis), 16, 20, 21; xxiv. 13; xxvii. 16; xxxi. 8; xxxiii. 4; Deut. i. 10, 30, 43; ii. 7, 21; iii. 22;