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In Shemot 17:12 it says:

וידי משה כבדים

Targum (and Rash"i in a sense) translates כבדים as יקרן, which I gather means "precious".

I don't know where or how this translation fits here. Doesn't כבד mean "heavy"? If it does mean "precious", is this the only occurrence in Tanac"h that has this translation for this word?

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  • BTW the opposite is also true: both are used to designate respect and honor as in "בְּהַרְאֹתוֹ אֶת עֹשֶׁר כְּבוֹד מַלְכוּתוֹ וְאֶת יְקָר תִּפְאֶרֶת גְּדוּלָּתוֹ"
    – Al Berko
    Jun 27, 2019 at 23:26
  • @AlBerko where is kaved there? Jun 30, 2019 at 3:20

1 Answer 1

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"יקר" here actually means something else.
The root Y-K-R is used by the various Targumim in many places to translate heavy.

For example:

Shemos 9:7 reads:

וַיִּכְבַּד לֵב פַּרְעֹה

Onklelos translates as:

וְאִתיַקַר לִיבָא דפרעה

Targum Pseudo-Yonasan translates as:

ואיתייקר יצרא דליבא דפרעה

For more examples of this: see Targumim to Bereishis 48:10, Onkelos to Shemos 4:10, Onkelos to Shemos 7:14, Targumim to Shemos 8:11, Targumim to Shemos 8:28, Targumim to Shemos 18:18, and literally dozens of other places throughout Tanach.

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