pleasing odor, sweet savour

Targumim (or: Targums) are translations of the Hebrew Bible into Aramaic. They were translated and used when Jewish congregations increasingly could not understand the biblical Hebrew anymore. Targum Onqelos (also: Onkelos) is the name of the Aramaic translation of the Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) probably composed in Israel/Palestine in the 1st or 2nd century CE and later edited in Babylon in the 4th or 5th century, making it reflect Jewish Babylonian Aramaic. It is the most famous Aramaic translation and was widely used throughout the Jewish communities.

In many, but not all, cases the translation of Targum Onqelos avoids anthropomorphisms (attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions) as they relate in the original Hebrew text to God.

The Hebrew of these verses that is translated in English as “sweet savour” or “pleasing odor” and refers to God’s reaction to an offering. These cases are translated in Targum Onqelos as “a sacrifice which is being accepted.” (Source: Schochet 1966, p. 29ff.)

Translation commentary on Leviticus 26:31

Lay your cities waste: or “I will completely destroy your cities.”

Make your sanctuaries desolate: some Hebrew manuscripts have the singular “sanctuary,” which would seem to refer to the Temple in Jerusalem. But no version consulted uses the singular. The plural refers to buildings dedicated to pagan worship within the confines of the cities. They will be destroyed along with the rest of the city and will therefore no longer be visited by worshipers.

I will not smell your pleasing odors: the idea here is not that God will be unable to smell the odor; rather it indicates the rejection of sacrifices offered to him. Compare 1.9. New International Version translates “I will take no delight in the pleasing aroma of your offerings.”

Quoted with permission from Péter-Contesse, René and Ellington, John. A Handbook on Leviticus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1990. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .