beast shall make it good; but he who killeth a man shall be put to death. One judgment shall you have, for the stranger as for the native born shall it be; for I am the Lord your God. And Mosheh spake with the sons of Israel, and they brought out the blasphemer without the camp, and stoned him with stones; and the sons of Israel did as the Lord commanded Mosheh.

 

SECTION XXXII.

 

BEHAR SINAI.

 

XXV. AND the Lord spake with Mosheh in the mountain of Sinai, saying: Speak with the children of Israel, and say to them: When you have entered into the land that I will give you, the land shall have rest by an intermission (shemet shemittha) before the Lord. Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years prune thy vineyard, and gather in its fruit; but in the seventh year the land shall have a respite of rest (neach shemittha), a respite before the Lord; thou shalt not sow thy field nor prune thy vineyard. The after crop of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither make vintage of the grapes which thou mayest have left, it shall be a year of remission to the land. Yet the remission of the land[1] shall be to thee for food, to thee, and to thy servant, and to thy handmaid, and to thy hireling, and to the sojourner who dwelleth with thee. And for thy cattle, and for the beasts that are in thy land, shall all the produce of it be for meat.

 

And number to thee seven (such) years of Release, which are seven times seven years; and the days of the seven years of release shall be to thee (in all) forty and nine years. And thou shalt make the sound of the trumpet to pass forth, in the seventh month on the tenth of the month, on the day of the expiations shall you make (the sound of) the trumpet to pass through all your land. And you shall sanctify the year of the fifty years, and proclaim liberty in all the land to all its inhabitants; it is and it shall be a jubilee to you; and each man shall return to his inheritance, and each to his family shall return. A jubilee shall that year of fifty years be to you. Ye shall not sow nor reap the after crop, nor make vintage of the remainder, for it is a jubilee; it shall be sacred to you; of the growth of the field you may eat. In the year of this jubilee a man shall return to his inheritance.

 

And when thou sellest a sale to thy neighbour, or buyest of thy neighbour's hand, you shall not impose, a man upon his brother. For the number of the years after the (last) jubilee thou shalt buy of thy neighbour; for the number of the years of the produce he shall sell to thee: according to the multitude of the years thou shalt increase the price, and according to the fewness of the years thou shalt diminish the price; for he selleth thee the amount of the fruits. And you shall not impose, a man upon his neighbour; but thou shalt fear thy God, for I am the Lord your God. And you shall perform My statutes, and keep My judgments, and do them, and dwell in the land in security. And the land shall yield her fruitage, and you shall eat unto the full, and dwell upon it in security. And if you say, What shall we eat in the seventh year; behold, we are not to sow, nor to gather in our fruit? I will command My benediction upon you in the sixth year, and it shall produce for three years. And you shall sow in the eighth year, and eat of the old produce unto the ninth year: until the fruit come in, you shall eat of the old.

 

But you may not sell the ground absolutely: for the land is Mine, for you are guests and sojourners before Me; and in all the land of your inheritance you shall let the ground have redemption.

 

When thy brother hath become poor, and shall have sold his possession, his redeemer who is of kin to him may come and release that which his kinsman has sold. And if he have no one to release it, and it pertaineth to his hand to find sufficient means for its redemption; then let him reckon the years of its sale, and restore the full amount to the man who bought it, that he may return to his possession. But if his hand find not sufficiency to give him, the (property) sold shall be in the hand of the buyer until the year of Jubilee, and shall go out in the Jubilee, and return to his possession.

 

And if a man sell a dwelling house in a town surrounded with a wall, he may redeem it within the full year of the sale of it; within that time shall be its redemption. But if it be not repurchased when the whole year is completed, the house that is in the walled town shall belong absolutely to him who bought it for his generations; it shall not go out at the Jubilee. But the houses of the villages which have no wall round about them shall be accounted as the field of the land; they may be redeemed, or shall go out at the Jubilee.

 

And the cities of the Levites, the houses of the cities of their inheritance, may be always redeemed by the Levites (or, be a perpetual redemption for the Levites). And (so of him) who purchaseth of the Levites, the purchased house in the city of their possession shall go out at the Jubilee; for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their inheritance among the sons of Israel. But a field in the suburbs of their cities may not be sold; for it is an everlasting possession for them.

 

And if thy brother hath become poor, and his band waver with thee, then thou shalt strengthen him, and he shall be a guest and a sojourner with thee. Thou shalt not take from him any usuries,[2] nor interest (increase), but shalt fear thy God, and let thy brother live with thee. Thou shalt not give him thy money for usury,1 nor thy food for increase. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from the land of Mizraim, to give you the land of Kenaan, and to be your God.

 

      And if thy brother hath become poor with thee, and hath sold himself to thee, thou shalt not make him do the works of slaves, but as a hired man and an inmate shall he be with thee; until the year of Jubilee shall he serve with thee: then shall he go out from being with thee, he and his children with him, and return to his family and to the inheritance of his fathers. For they are My servants, whom I brought out from the land of Mizraim; they shall not be sold as the selling of bond­ men. Thou shalt not make him serve with rigour, but shalt fear thy God. Thy bondmen and thy handmaids thou shalt have from the Gentiles who are about thee; from them thou mayest obtain bondmen and handmaids. And also from the sons of the uncircumcised strangers who sojourn with you, of them and of their children who are with you which are born in the land, you may ob­tain a possession, and may make them an inheritance for your children after you to inherit them for a possession to serve them perpetually; but among your brethren the sons of Israel no man shall make his brother labour with hardness. And if the hand of an uncircumcised sojourner with thee wax strong, and thy brother with thee become poor and sell himself to the uncircumcised sojourner with thee, or to an Aramite of the race of the stranger, after that he is sold he may have redemption; one of his brethren may redeem him. Either his father's brother, or the son of his father's brother, may redeem him; or any one of kin to the flesh of his family may redeem him; or if his hand be able, he may redeem himself. And he shall reckon with his purchaser from the year that he sold himself, unto the year of Jubilee, and the money of his payment shall be according to the number of the years, according to the days of an hireling shall it be with him. If the years be yet many, according to them shall he give the price of his redemption; or if but few years remain unto the year of Jubilee, he shall compute with him, and according to the years shall give for his redemption. As a hireling year by year shall he be with him; he shall not work him with rigour before thine eyes. But if he be not redeemed within those years, he shall go out at the year of Jubilee, he and his children with him. For the sons of Israel are My servants; they are servants whom I brought out of the land of Mizraim: I am the Lord your God.

 

XXVI. You shall make to you no idols, nor image, nor set up for you a statue; nor a stone for worship shall you make on your land to worship upon it, for I am the Lord your God. The days of my Sabbaths you shall keep, and reverence the house of my sanctuary: I am the Lord.

 

 

SECTION XXXIII.

 

BECHUKKOTHAI.

 

If you walk in My statutes, and observe My commandments and perform them, then will I give you rains in their season, and your land shall yield her produce, and the tree of the field its fruit. And for you the threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the shooting forth of the seed; and you shall eat your bread with sufficiency, and dwell safely in your land. And I will give peace in the land, and you shall inhabit, and no one (be among you) who disturbeth. And I will make the evil beast to cease from the land, neither shall they who destroy with the sword pass through on your land. And you shall chase your adversaries, and they shall fall before you by the sword. And five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you put a myriad to flight, and your adversaries shall fall before you by the sword. For I will have regard to you2 in my Word, to do you good, and will add to you, and multiply you, and establish My covenant with you. And you shall eat the old of the old, and shall turn out the old before the new. And I will set My Tabernacle among you, and My Word shall not reject you. And I will make My Shekinah to dwell among you, and I will be to you Eloha, and you shall be a people before Me. I am the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Mizraim, that you should not be bondmen to them; and I brake off the yoke of the Gentiles from you, and brought you into liberty.[3]

 

But if you will not be obedient to My Word, nor perform all these commandments; and if you despise My statutes, and your soul abhor My judgments, so as not to do all My commandments, by your making My covenant of no effect, (or, by your changing My covenant,) I also will do this unto you: I will visit you with trouble, wasting and burning with darkness of eyes, and exhaustion of soul; and ye shall sow your seed in vain for your enemies shall eat it. And I will reveal My anger against you, and you shall be broken before your enemies; they that hate you shall reign over you, and ye shall flee when no one pursueth you. And if yet with these ye will not obey My Word, I will add sevenfold chastisement upon your sins. And I will break the glory of your power, and will make the heavens above you obdurate as iron, to give no rain, and the ground beneath you hard as brass in yielding no fruit; and your strength shall be put forth in vain, for your ground will not yield its produce, nor the tree of the earth its fruit. And if you will walk on forwardly before Me, and will not turn again to obey My Word, I will add to bring upon you a stroke sevenfold (heavier) according to your sins. And I will send the beast of the wilderness against you, and it shall devour you, and consume your cattle, and diminish you, and make your ways desolate. And if through these (calamities) ye will not be corrected by My Word, but will walk before Me with hardness (of heart), I also will proceed with you in hardness,[4] and will smite you, even I, sevenfold for your sins. And I will bring upon you those who kill with the sword, who shall take vengeance upon you in punishment for your transgressions against the words of the law. And you will congregate in your cities; but I will send forth the pestilence among you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies. When I shall have broken for you the support of food, ten women will prepare your bread in one oven, and return your bread by weight, and you will eat, but will not be satisfied. And if with this you will not be obedient to My Word, but will walk before me with obstinacy, I will proceed with you with strengthened anger, and will chastise you, even I, sevenfold for your sins. And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters will you eat. And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and will throw your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and My Word shall abhor you. And I will make your cities a waste, and lay waste your sanctuary, and accept no more the offering of your congregation. And I will make your country a wilderness, and your enemies who will dwell in it shall spread desolation upon it. And I will disperse you among the nations, and draw out after you them who kill with the sword, and your country shall be a desert and your cities a waste. Then shall the land enjoy her repose all the days in which it shall be a desert, and you be in the land of your enemies: so shall the land repose, and enjoy her remission: all the days of its desolateness it shall rest; because it did not rest in your times of intermission, when you were inhabitants upon it. And to the heart of those of you who are left in the land of their enemies will I send brokenness, and they shall flee at the sound of a falling leaf; they shall flee as flying from before those who kill with the sword, and fall, while no man pursueth. They shall thrust, one man against his brother, as (fugitives) from before them who destroy with the sword, while no one is pursuing and ye shall have no power against your adversaries; and ye shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall consume you. And they who are left of shall pine away in your sins, in their adversaries’ land, and for their sins, also, the evil deeds of their fathers which their own hands hold fast, shall they pine away.[5]

 

But, if they will confess their sins, and the sins of their fathers, and their falseness with which they have acted falsely before My Word, and that they have walked before me in obduracy, (while) I also have dealt against them with sharpness, and brought them into the land of their enemies; when then their stout heart shall be broken, and they concur with (the punishment of) their sins, I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and my covenant with Izhak, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember, and I will remember the land. But the land shall be left by them, and shall enjoy her repose while made desolate for them, and they shall receive (the punishment of) their sins; curses instead of blessings will I have brought upon them who had cast away My judgments, and whose soul had abhorred My statutes. Yet, even in the land of their enemies I will not strike them down, nor cast them away to consume them utterly, and to make My covenant with them to change; for I am the Lord their God. But I will remember the former covenant with them whom I brought out of the land of Mizraim in the eyes of the nations, that I might be their God. I am the Lord.

 

These are the statutes and judgments and laws which the Lord appointed between His Word and the sons of Israel, in the mountain of Sinai, by the hand of Mosheh.

 

XXVII. And the Lord spake with Mosheh, saying: Speak with the sons of Israel, and say to them: When a man setteth apart a votive offering, (it shall be) by estimation of the life before the Lord. If it be the valuation for a male from twenty years to sixty years old, the valuation shall be fifty shekels of silver, in the shekel of the sanctuary. And if a female, the valuation shall be thirty shekels. And if the age be from five years to twenty years, the valuation for a male shall be twenty shekels, and for a female ten shekels. And if the age be from a month unto five years, the valuation for a male shall be twenty shekels, and for a female ten shekels. And if the age be from a month unto five years, the valuation for a male shall be five shekels of silver, and for a female three shekels of silver shall be the valuation. But if (the age) be sixty years and upwards, for a male the valuation shall be fifteen shekels, and for a female ten shekels. But if he be too poor (for the sum of) his valuation, then he shall stand before the priest, and the priest shall make valuation for him upon the word of that which the hand of him who maketh the vow may possess; so shall the priest make his estimate.

 

And if it be an animal of which (some portion) will be offered an oblation before the Lord, all that he giveth of it before the Lord shall be sacred; he shall not alter it or change it, good for bad, or bad for good; and if he will indeed change animal for animal, both it and that for which it is changed shall be sacred. And if it be any unclean animal, of which none may be offered an oblation before the Lord, he shall present the animal before the priest, and the priest shall value it, whether good or bad; according to the estimate of the priest so shall it be. Arid if he will redeem it, then he shall add the fifth upon its value.

 

And when a man shall sanctify his house, to be consecrated before the Lord, the priest shall value it, whether good or bad; as the priest shall value it, so shall it stand. And if he who had consecrated it will redeem his house, then let him add the fifth of the price of its value upon it, and it shall be his.

 

And if a man consecrate a field of his possession before the Lord, its valuation shall be according to (the quantity of) its seed; if sown with barley, a measure[6] shall be (valued at) fifty shekels of silver. If he consecrate his field from the year of Jubilee, it shall stand according to its value. But if he consecrate his field after the year of Jubilee, the priest shall reckon the money with him according to the years which remain until the (next) year of Jubilee, and it shall be abated from the valuation. But if he will redeem the field that he had consecrated, let him add to it a fifth of its valuated price, and it shall be confirmed to him. But if he will not redeem the field, or if he have sold the field to another man, it shall not be redeemed any more: but the field, when it would have gone out at the Jubilee, shall be consecrated before the Lord as a field devoted (hekel cherema); the possession of it shall be to the priest. And if a man will consecrate before the Lord a field which he hath bought, and which is not of the fields of his inheritance, then the priest shall reckon the sum (receipt) of its value until the year of Jubilee, and he shall give the price of it in that day, a holy thing before the Lord. In the year of Jubilee the field shall return unto him who sold it, to whom the possession of the land had belonged. And every valuation shall be in the shekel of the sanctuary, twenty maheen before the Lord.

 

Moreover, the first‑born among cattle which is to be a firstling, before the Lord, no man may consecrate, whether ox or sheep; it is the Lord's already. And if it be an unclean animal, then he shall redeem it according to its valuation, and add one fifth thereto: or if it be not redeemed, then it shall be sold according to its valuation. Nevertheless, no devoted thing which a man shall have devoted before the Lord of all that he hath of man or of beast and of the field of his pos­session may be sold or redeemed; every devoted thing is most sacred before the Lord. No devoted one who is devoted (or accursed) of men, (as the criminal doomed to death,) shall be redeemed; being slain, he shall be killed.

 

And all the tythe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's; it is sacred before the Lord. But if a man will redeem any of his tythe, a fifth shall be add upon it. And every tything of oxen or sheep, whatever passeth under the tything rod, shall be sacred before the Lord. He shall not choose between the good and bad, neither shall he change it. But if he will commute it, both it and that for which it was exchanged shall be consecrate, and not be redeemed.

 

These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Mosheh for the children of Israel, in the mountain of Sinai.

 

END OF THE TARGUM OF ONKELOS ON THE BOOK

 

VAIYIKRA.