Leah's Tender Eyes
The King James Version translates Genesis 29:17 as follows: "Leah
was tender eyed; but Rachel was beautiful and well favoured." The New
International Version has, "Leah had weak [footnote: 'or delicate']
eyes," while the New American Bible reads, "Leah had lovely
eyes." The Hebrew text reads, literally, "And the eyes of Leah
were tender, and [i.e., but] Rachel was beautiful of stature and beautiful
of appearance."
The Septuagint, the second-century B.C. Greek translation of the
Hebrew Scriptures, used the Greek word asthenes (weak; feeble, sickly)
to describe Leah's eyes. The uncertainty of the Targums (Aramaic translations
of Scripture) about how to translate this enigmatic Hebrew adjective created
a plethora of paraphrases: Targum Onkelos: "And the eyes of Leah were
beautiful"; Targum Jonathan: "And the eyes of Leah were moist
[or, dripping, running] from weeping and praying before the LORD that he
would not destine her for Esau the wicked"; Palestinian (Geniza) Targum: &
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