## Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Shemot

###### Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Shemot 19:1
[Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Shemot 19:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Midrash%20Tanchuma%20Buber/s/Shemot/r/19:1)

ויקח משה את אשתו ואת בניו וירכיבם על החמור (שמות ד כ), זה אחד מן הדברים ששינו רבותינו לתלמי המלך כשכתבו לו את התורה יוונית, אלו הן,

**Midrash Tanhuma, S. Buber Recension; trans. by John T. Townsend, 1989.:**
(Exod. 4:20:) SO MOSES TOOK HIS WIFE AND CHILDREN AND MOUNTED THEM ON AN ASS. This is one of the passages which our masters changed for King Ptolemy (II Philadelphus) when they wrote the Torah for him in Greek.⁸⁰., Exod. 1:22; *Mekhilta de Rabbi Ishmael, Pisha*, 14; *Meg*. 9ab; similarly Gen. R. 8:11; Exod. R. 5:5; *ARN*, B, 37; cf. *Soferim* 1:7. These passages are the following:

footnotes:
⁸⁰ Tanh


###### Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Shemot 19:2
[Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Shemot 19:2](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Midrash%20Tanchuma%20Buber/s/Shemot/r/19:2)

אלהים ברא בראשית (בראשית א א),

**Midrash Tanhuma, S. Buber Recension; trans. by John T. Townsend, 1989.:**
(Gen. 1:1) "God created in the beginning" (with this word order).⁸¹

footnotes:
⁸¹ This wording, which puts “God” first in the sentence, does not agree with the Septuagint, which follows the Masoretic Text.


###### Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Shemot 19:3
[Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Shemot 19:3](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Midrash%20Tanchuma%20Buber/s/Shemot/r/19:3)

זכר ונקבה בראם (שם שם כז),

**Midrash Tanhuma, S. Buber Recension; trans. by John T. Townsend, 1989.:**
(Gen. 1:27) "Male and his female he created them."⁸² parallel has “created him.” Other parallels (e.g., the *Mekhilta*) read: “A male and his female parts he created him.”

footnotes:
⁸² The only difference from the Masoretic Text is that “them” is expressed as a verbal suffix instead of as a separate word, nor does the Septuagint make any change. The Tanhuma


###### Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Shemot 19:4
[Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Shemot 19:4](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Midrash%20Tanchuma%20Buber/s/Shemot/r/19:4)

ויכל ביום הששי וישבות ביום השביעי (שם ב ב),

**Midrash Tanhuma, S. Buber Recension; trans. by John T. Townsend, 1989.:**
(Gen. 2:2) "So he finished on the sixth day and rested on the seventh."⁸³

footnotes:
⁸³ The emendation agrees with the Septuagint and avoids the suggestion that, by finishing on the seventh day, the Holy One worked on the Sabbath.


###### Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Shemot 19:5
[Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Shemot 19:5](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Midrash%20Tanchuma%20Buber/s/Shemot/r/19:5)

ויברא אלהים את האדם בצלם ובדמות (שם א כז)

**Midrash Tanhuma, S. Buber Recension; trans. by John T. Townsend, 1989.:**
(Gen. 1:27) "Then God created the human in an image and in a likeness."⁸⁴

footnotes:
⁸⁴ The Masoretic Text here reads: “THEN GOD CREATED THE HUMAN IN HIS IMAGE, IN THE IMAGE OF GOD HE CREATED HIM.” The Septuagint follows the Masoretic Text in affirming the divine nature of the human image but alters the text to read: “God made the human, according to the image of God he made him.”


###### Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Shemot 19:6
[Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Shemot 19:6](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Midrash%20Tanchuma%20Buber/s/Shemot/r/19:6)

הבה ארדה ואבלה (שם יא ד),

**Midrash Tanhuma, S. Buber Recension; trans. by John T. Townsend, 1989.:**
(Gen. 11:7) "Come, let me go down and confound."⁸⁵

footnotes:
⁸⁵ Again unlike the Septuagint as well as the Masoretic Text, this passage stresses the oneness of the Holy One by changing “us” to “me.”


###### Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Shemot 19:7
[Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Shemot 19:7](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Midrash%20Tanchuma%20Buber/s/Shemot/r/19:7)

כי באפם הרגו שור וברצונם עקרו אבוס (שם מט ו),

**Midrash Tanhuma, S. Buber Recension; trans. by John T. Townsend, 1989.:**
(Gen. 49:6) "For in their anger they slew a bull, and in their delight they uprooted a manger."⁸⁶

footnotes:
⁸⁶ Against both the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint, the emendation clears Simeon and Levi of homicide.


###### Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Shemot 19:8
[Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Shemot 19:8](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Midrash%20Tanchuma%20Buber/s/Shemot/r/19:8)

ויקח משה את אשתו ואת בניו וירכיבם על נושא בני אדם (שמות ד כ),

**Midrash Tanhuma, S. Buber Recension; trans. by John T. Townsend, 1989.:**
(Exod. 4:20) "So Moses took his wife and children and had them ride on a carrier of human beings."⁸⁷

footnotes:
⁸⁷ Thus the emendation avoids the indignity of having Moses’ family ride on an ass.


###### Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Shemot 19:9
[Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Shemot 19:9](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Midrash%20Tanchuma%20Buber/s/Shemot/r/19:9)

ומושב בני ישראל אשר ישבו במצרים ובשאר ארצות (שם יב מ),

**Midrash Tanhuma, S. Buber Recension; trans. by John T. Townsend, 1989.:**
(Exod. 12:40) "Now the time that the children of Israel dwelt in Egypt and in other lands was four hundred and thirty years."⁸⁸ and in *Mekhilta*, which add “the land of Goshen” to Egypt and Canaan. The reason for the additions is that the Biblical record indicates elsewhere that Israel must have spent far less than four hundred years in Egypt. See Rashi on Exod. 12:40.

footnotes:
⁸⁸ The emendation tends to agree with the Septuagint, which reads: “in Egypt and in the land of Canaan,” over against the Masoretic Text, which simply reads: “IN EGYPT.” Cf. the parallels in Tanhuma


###### Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Shemot 19:10
[Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Shemot 19:10](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Midrash%20Tanchuma%20Buber/s/Shemot/r/19:10)

אשר חלק ה' אותם להאיר (דברים ד יט),

**Midrash Tanhuma, S. Buber Recension; trans. by John T. Townsend, 1989.:**
(Deut. 4:19) "Which the LORD has allotted to give light to all peoples ."⁸⁹

footnotes:
⁸⁹ Both the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint omit “to give light.” Without these words, one might understand the verse to mean that, while Israel was forbidden to bow down to the heavenly host, they were allotted to other peoples as lesser deities.


###### Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Shemot 19:11
[Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Shemot 19:11](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Midrash%20Tanchuma%20Buber/s/Shemot/r/19:11)

אשר לא צויתי לעובדם (דברים יז ג),

**Midrash Tanhuma, S. Buber Recension; trans. by John T. Townsend, 1989.:**
(Deut. 17:3) "Which I have not commanded those who serve them."⁹⁰

footnotes:
⁹⁰ Both the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint omit “those who serve them.”


###### Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Shemot 19:12
[Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Shemot 19:12](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Midrash%20Tanchuma%20Buber/s/Shemot/r/19:12)

וכתבו את צעירת רגלים (ויקרא יא ו), ולא כתבו את הארנבת, הוי ויקח משה את אשתו ואת בניו וגו'.

**Midrash Tanhuma, S. Buber Recension; trans. by John T. Townsend, 1989.:**
They also wrote (in Lev. 11:6): "The slender footed." They did not write: THE HARE.⁹¹) has the literal meaning, “hairy footed.” According to *Meg*. 9b, The Greek translators avoided the more common word for “hare” (i.e., *Lagos*) because it was the name of Ptolemy’s wife. In actual fact, however, it was Ptolemy’s father who was named *Lagos*. Thus (in Exod. 4:20): SO MOSES TOOK HIS WIFE AND CHILDREN….

footnotes:
⁹¹ The Septuagint has “hare” here, but the Greek word used (dasupous