01_AzuelosVoltaggio_161_178_copia_161_178 10/07/15 11:33 Pagina 166 166 YAACOV AZUELOS – FRANCESCO GIOSUÈ VOLTAGGIO 166 mediately identifies the vya as an angel, thereby eliding the trans- formation between the two stages of the event. The identification of the term vya with angels also appears in translations of other verses of the Pentateuch, when the expressions vya or ~yvna are identified with angels in the biblical or midrashic traditions 13. For such verses, vya is translated in Targum Onqelos as arbg or ayrbg and as “angels” in the Palestinian Targums. Below are a number of examples. 1. In the various Aramaic Targums of Genesis 18,1 14, each of the translations — Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, Targum Neofiti, Marginal Glossa of the Targum Neofiti and the Fragmentary Targum (mss. Vatican 440 and Paris 110) — opens with an ex- tended introduction that describes the three angels who stood before Abraham and the roles assigned to each of them: the announcement to Sarah, the rescue of Lot, and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah 15. With the exception of Targum On- qelos, Abraham’s visitors (“three men standing before him”: Gen 18,2) are treated as angels sent by the Lord 16 in all the Targums, which are also characterized by the angels’ anonymity. In the corresponding midrashic texts, in contrast, they appear 13 BerR 50:2 maintains the change in names: “men” for Abraham, “angels” for Lot. For further discussion of the interchanging of men and angels, see Y. RAHMAN, “The Story of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Light of Traditional In- terpretation”, The Bible in the Light of Its Interpreters. Sarah Kamin Memo- rial Volume (ed. S. YAFET) (Jerusalem 1994) 463-466 (Hebrew); cf. also R. WEISS, Studies in the Text and Language of the Bible (Jerusalem 1981) 91- 93 (Hebrew). 14 For an extensive analysis of Gen 18,1-16 in both the Midrash and Tar- gums, see W.T. MILLER, Mysterious Encounters at Mamre and Jabbok (BJSt 50; Chico, CA 1984) 8-37. 15 Cf. BerR 50:2, where the duties of the angels are: the announcement to Sarah, the healing of Abraham, and the destruction of Sodom. 16 Tg. Onq.: !yrbg atlt ahw; Tg. Ps.-J.: !yrbwg twmdb !ykalm atlt ahw; Tg. Neof.: !yrbg twmdb !ykalm atlt ahw; Frg. Tg. [Paris 110]: !whytltw wx[l]tXya aykalm. The translation of the Midrash fragments on Genesis from Qumran Cave 4 (4Q180) is similar: see WEISS, Studies, 218-220; J.M. AL- LEGRO – A.A. ANDERSON, Qumrân Cave 4:I (4Q 158-4Q 186) (DJD 5; Oxford 1968) 78-79, who read 4Q180 2-4 II,3-4 as follows: “3.[…] three me[n…] 4. [who appeared to Abra]m at the oaks of Mamre were angels” ([…~]yXna tXwlX.3 hmh ~ykalm hrmm ynwlam ~[…].4 ).