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A targum ( arc, תרגום 'interpretation, translation, version') was an originally spoken translation of the
Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''
Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
. This had become necessary near the end of the first century BC, as the common language was Aramaic and Hebrew was used for little more than schooling and worship. The translator frequently expanded his translation with paraphrases, explanations and examples, so it became a kind of
sermon A sermon is a religious discourse or oration by a preacher, usually a member of clergy. Sermons address a scriptural, theological, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law, or behavior within both past and present contexts. El ...
. Writing down the targum was initially prohibited; nevertheless, some targumitic writings appeared as early as the middle of the first century AD. They were not then recognized as authoritative by the religious leaders. Some subsequent Jewish traditions (beginning with the
Babylonian Jews The history of the Jews in Iraq ( he, יְהוּדִים בָּבְלִים, ', ; ar, اليهود العراقيون, ) is documented from the time of the Babylonian captivity c. 586 BC. Iraqi Jews constitute one of the world's oldest and mos ...
) accepted the written targumim as authoritative translations of the Hebrew scriptures into Aramaic. Today, the common meaning of ''targum'' is a written Aramaic translation of the Bible. Only
Yemenite Jews Yemenite Jews or Yemeni Jews or Teimanim (from ''Yehudei Teman''; ar, اليهود اليمنيون) are those Jews who live, or once lived, in Yemen, and their descendants maintaining their customs. Between June 1949 and September 1950, the ...
continue to use the targumim liturgically. As translations, the targumim largely reflect
midrash ''Midrash'' (;"midrash"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''.
he, מִדְרָשׁ; ...
ic interpretation of the Tanakh from the time they were written and are notable for favoring allegorical readings over
anthropomorphism Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...
s. (
Maimonides Musa ibn Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (); la, Moses Maimonides and also referred to by the acronym Rambam ( he, רמב״ם), was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah s ...
, for one, notes this often in ''
The Guide for the Perplexed ''The Guide for the Perplexed'' ( ar, دلالة الحائرين, Dalālat al-ḥā'irīn, ; he, מורה נבוכים, Moreh Nevukhim) is a work of Jewish theology by Maimonides. It seeks to reconcile Aristotelianism with Rabbinical Jewish the ...
''.) That is true both for those targums that are fairly literal as well as for those that contain many midrashic expansions. In 1541,
Elia Levita Elia Levita (13 February 146928 January 1549) ( he, אליהו בן אשר הלוי אשכנזי), also known as Elijah Levita, Elias Levita, Élie Lévita, Elia Levita Ashkenazi, Eliahu Levita, Eliyahu haBahur ("Elijah the Bachelor"), Elye Bok ...
wrote and published the ''Sefer Meturgeman,'' explaining all the Aramaic words found in the Targum."Levita, Elijah"
in the 1906 ''Jewish Encyclopedia.''
Targumim are used today as sources in text-critical editions of the Bible (''
Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia The Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, abbreviated as BHS or rarely BH4, is an edition of the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible as preserved in the Leningrad Codex, and supplemented by masoretic and text-critical notes. It is the fourth edition in ...
'' refers to them with the abbreviation 𝔗).


Etymology

The noun "Targum" is derived from the early semitic quadriliteral
root In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the sur ...
''trgm'', and the Akkadian term ''targummanu'' refers to "translator, interpreter".Philip S. Alexander, (1992) "Targum, Targumim," in ''The Anchor Bible Dictionary'', ed. David Noel Freedman (New York: Doubleday), 6:320–31 It occurs in the Hebrew Bible in
Ezra Ezra (; he, עֶזְרָא, '; fl. 480–440 BCE), also called Ezra the Scribe (, ') and Ezra the Priest in the Book of Ezra, was a Jewish scribe (''sofer'') and priest (''kohen''). In Greco-Latin Ezra is called Esdras ( grc-gre, Ἔσδρα ...
4:7 "... and the writing of the letter was written in Aramaic (''aramit'') and interpreted (''meturgam'') into Aramaic." Besides denoting the translations of the Bible, the term Targum also denote the oral rendering of Bible
lection A lection, also called the lesson, is a reading from scripture in liturgy. In many Christian denominations, the readings of the day are appointed in the lectionary. History The custom of reading the books of Moses in the synagogues on Sabbat ...
s in
synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worsh ...
, while the translator of the Bible was simply called ''hammeturgem'' (he who translates). Other than the meaning "translate", the verb ''Tirgem'' also means "to explain". The word ''Targum'' refers to "
translation Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...
" and argumentation or "
explanation An explanation is a set of statements usually constructed to describe a set of facts which clarifies the causes, context, and consequences of those facts. It may establish rules or laws, and may clarify the existing rules or laws in relation ...
".


Two major targumim

The two most important targumim for liturgical purposes are: *
Targum Onkelos Interlinear text of Hebrew Numbers 6.3–10 with British_Library.html"_;"title="Aramaic_Targum_Onkelos_from_the_British_Library">Aramaic_Targum_Onkelos_from_the_British_Library. Targum_Onkelos_(or_Onqelos;_Hebrew_language.html" "title="B ...
on the
Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...
(
Written Law The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...
) *
Targum Jonathan Targum Jonathan (), otherwise referred to as Targum Yonasan/Yonatan, is the official eastern (Babylonian) targum (Aramaic translation) to the Nevi'im ("prophets"). It is not to be confused with " Targum Pseudo-Jonathan", an Aramaic translation of ...
on the
Nevi'im Nevi'im (; he, נְבִיאִים ''Nəvīʾīm'', Tiberian: ''Năḇīʾīm,'' "Prophets", literally "spokespersons") is the second major division of the Hebrew Bible (the ''Tanakh''), lying between the Torah (instruction) and Ketuvim (wri ...
(Prophets) These two targumim are mentioned in the Babylonian
Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the center ...
as ''targum dilan'' ("our Targum"), giving them official status. In the synagogues of talmudic times, Targum Onkelos was read alternately with the Torah, verse by verse, and Targum Jonathan was read alternately with the selection from Nevi'im (i.e., the
Haftarah The ''haftara'' or (in Ashkenazic pronunciation) ''haftorah'' (alt. ''haftarah, haphtara'', he, הפטרה) "parting," "taking leave", (plural form: ''haftarot'' or ''haftoros'') is a series of selections from the books of ''Nevi'im'' ("Prop ...
). This custom continues today in Yemenite Jewish synagogues. The
Yemenite Jews Yemenite Jews or Yemeni Jews or Teimanim (from ''Yehudei Teman''; ar, اليهود اليمنيون) are those Jews who live, or once lived, in Yemen, and their descendants maintaining their customs. Between June 1949 and September 1950, the ...
are the only Jewish community to continue the use of Targum as liturgical text, as well as to preserve a living tradition of pronunciation for the Aramaic of the targumim (according to a Babylonian dialect). Besides its public function in the synagogue, the Babylonian Talmud also mentions ''targum'' in the context of a personal study requirement: "A person should always review his portions of scripture along with the community, reading the scripture twice and the ''targum'' once" (Berakhot 8a–b). This too refers to Targum Onkelos on the public Torah reading and to Targum Jonathan on the
haftarot The ''haftara'' or (in Ashkenazic pronunciation) ''haftorah'' (alt. ''haftarah, haphtara'', he, הפטרה) "parting," "taking leave", (plural form: ''haftarot'' or ''haftoros'') is a series of selections from the books of ''Nevi'im'' ("Prop ...
from Nevi'im. Medieval biblical manuscripts of the Tiberian mesorah sometimes contain the Hebrew text interpolated, verse-by-verse, with the ''targumim''. This scribal practice has its roots both in the public reading of the Targum and in the private study requirement. The two "official" ''targumim'' are considered eastern (Babylonian). Nevertheless, scholars believe they too originated in the Land of Israel because of a strong linguistic substratum of
Western Aramaic The Western Aramaic languages represent a specific group of Aramaic languages once spoken widely throughout the ancient Levant, from ancient Nabatea and Judea, across Palestine and Samaria, further to Palmyra and Phoenicia, and into Syria prope ...
. Though these ''targumim'' were later "orientalised", the substratum belying their origins still remains. When most Jewish communities had ceased speaking Aramaic, in the 10th century CE, the public reading of Targum along with the Torah and Haftarah was abandoned in most communities, Yemen being a well-known exception. The private study requirement to review the Targum was never entirely relaxed, even when Jewish communities had largely ceased speaking Aramaic, and the Targum never ceased to be a major source for Jewish exegesis. For instance, it serves as a major source in the Torah commentary of Shlomo Yitzhaki, "
Rashi Shlomo Yitzchaki ( he, רבי שלמה יצחקי; la, Salomon Isaacides; french: Salomon de Troyes, 22 February 1040 – 13 July 1105), today generally known by the acronym Rashi (see below), was a medieval French rabbi and author of a compre ...
", and has always been the standard fare for Ashkenazi (French, central European, and German)
Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
onward. For these reasons, Jewish editions of the Tanakh which include commentaries still almost always print the Targum alongside the text, in all Jewish communities. Nevertheless, later halakhic authorities argued that the requirement to privately review the ''targum'' might also be met by reading a translation in the current vernacular in place of the official Targum, or else by studying an important commentary containing midrashic interpretation (especially that of Rashi).


Targum Ketuvim

The Talmud explicitly states that no official ''targumim'' were composed besides these two on Torah and Nevi'im alone, and that there is no official ''targum'' to
Ketuvim The Ketuvim (; hbo, , Modern: ''Kəṯūvīm'', Tiberian: ''Kăṯūḇīm'' "writings") is the third and final section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible), after Torah (instruction) and Nevi'im (prophets). In English translations of the Hebrew Bi ...
("The Writings"). The Talmud (Megilah 3a) states "The Targum of the Pentateuch was composed by Onkelos the proselyte from the mouths of R. Eleazar and R. Joshua. The Targum of the Prophets was composed by Jonathan ben Uzziel under the guidance of Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi (Jonathan b. Uzziel was a disciple of Hillel, so he had traditions handed down from them-Maharsha), and the land of Israel hereuponquaked over an area of four hundred parasangs by four hundred parasangs, and a Bath Kol (heavenly voice) came forth and exclaimed, "Who is this that has revealed My secrets to mankind?" Jonathan b. Uzziel thereupon arose and said, "It is I who have revealed Thy secrets to mankind. It is fully known to Thee that I have not done this for my own honour or for the honour of my father's house, but for Thy honour l have done it, that dissension may not increase in Israel." He further sought to reveal ya targum he inner meaningof the Hagiographa, but a Bath Kol went forth and said, "Enough!" What was the reason? Because the date of the Messiah is foretold in it". possible reference to the end of the book of Daniel.But did Onkelos the proselyte compose the targum to the Pentateuch? Has not R. Ika said, in the name of R. Hananel who had it from Rab: What is meant by the text, Neh. VIII,8 "And they read in the book, in the law of God, with an interpretation. and they gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading? And they read in the book, in the law of God: this indicates the ebrewtext; with an interpretation: this indicates the targum,..." (which shows that the targum dates back to the time of Ezra). Nevertheless, most books of Ketuvim (with the exceptions of Daniel and Ezra-Nehemiah, which both contain Aramaic portions) have ''targumim'', whose origin is mostly western (Land of Israel) rather than eastern (Babylonia). But for lack of a fixed place in the liturgy, they were poorly preserved and less well known. From Palestine, the tradition of ''targum'' to Ketuvim made its way to Italy, and from there to medieval
Ashkenaz Ashkenaz ( he, ''ʾAškənāz'') in the Hebrew Bible is one of the descendants of Noah. Ashkenaz is the first son of Gomer, and a Japhetic patriarch in the Table of Nations. In rabbinic literature, the descendants of Ashkenaz were first associ ...
and
Sepharad Sepharad ( or ; ''Səp̄āraḏ''; also ''Sefarad'', ''Sephared'', ''Sfard'') is the Hebrew name for Spain. A place called Sepharad, probably referring to Sardis in Lydia ('Sfard' in Lydian), in the Book of Obadiah (, 6th century BC) of the Hebrew ...
. The targumim of Psalms, Proverbs, and Job are generally treated as a unit, as are the targumim of the five scrolls (Esther has a longer " Second Targum" as well.) The targum of Chronicles is quite late, possibly medieval, and is attributed to a Rabbi Joseph.


Other Targumim on the Torah

There are also a variety of western ''targumim'' on the Torah, each of which was traditionally called ''Targum Yerushalmi'' ("Jerusalem Targum"), and written in Western Aramaic. An important one of these was mistakenly labeled "Targum Jonathan" in later printed versions (though all medieval authorities refer to it by its correct name). The error crept in because of an abbreviation: the printer interpreted the abbreviation ''T Y'' (ת"י) to stand for ''Targum Yonathan'' (תרגום יונתן) instead of the correct ''Targum Yerushalmi'' (תרגום ירושלמי). Scholars refer to this ''targum'' as
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Targum Jonathan is a western targum (interpretation) of the Torah (Pentateuch) from the land of Israel (as opposed to the eastern Babylonian Targum Onkelos). Its correct title was originally Targum Yerushalmi (Jerusalem Targum), which is how it wa ...
. To attribute this ''targum'' to
Jonathan ben Uzziel Jonathan ben Uzziel ( he, יונתן בן עוזיאל) was one of the 80 ''tannaim'' who studied under Hillel the Elder during the time of Roman-ruled Judea. A book of kabbalah known as ''Sefer Migdanim'' has been attributed to him. Jonathan ben ...
flatly contradicts the talmudic tradition (Megillah 3a), which quite clearly attributes the ''targum'' to Nevi'im ''alone'' to him, while stating that there is ''no'' official ''targum'' to Ketuvim. In the same printed versions, a similar fragment ''targum'' is correctly labeled as ''Targum Yerushalmi''. The Western Targumim on the Torah, or Palestinian Targumim as they are also called, consist of three manuscript groups:
Targum Neofiti Targum Neofiti (or Targum Neophyti) is the largest of the Western Targumim on the Torah, or Palestinian Targumim. The extant copy consists of 450 folios covering all books of the Torah, with only a few damaged verses. More than a mere Aramaic tran ...
I, Fragment Targums, and Cairo Geniza Fragment Targums. Of these
Targum Neofiti Targum Neofiti (or Targum Neophyti) is the largest of the Western Targumim on the Torah, or Palestinian Targumim. The extant copy consists of 450 folios covering all books of the Torah, with only a few damaged verses. More than a mere Aramaic tran ...
I is by far the largest. It consist of 450 folios covering all books of the Pentateuch, with only a few damaged verses. The history of the manuscript begins 1587 when the censor Andrea de Monte (d. 1587) bequeathed it to Ugo Boncompagni—which presents an oddity, since Boncompagni, better known as
Pope Gregory XIII Pope Gregory XIII ( la, Gregorius XIII; it, Gregorio XIII; 7 January 1502 – 10 April 1585), born Ugo Boncompagni, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 May 1572 to his death in April 1585. He is best known for ...
, died in 1585. The route of transmission may instead be by a certain "Giovan Paolo Eustachio romano neophito." Before this de Monte had censored it by deleting most references to idolatry. In 1602 Boncompagni's estate gave it to the College of the Neophytes, a college for converts from Judaism and Islam, until 1886, when the
Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...
bought it along with other manuscripts when the Collegium closed (which is the reason for the manuscripts name and its designation). Unfortunately, it was then mistitled as a manuscript of Targum Onkelos until 1949, when Alejandro Díez Macho noticed that it differed significantly from Targum Onkelos. It was translated and published during 1968–79, and has since been considered the most important of the Palestinian Targumim, as it is by far the most complete and, apparently, the earliest as well.McNamara, M. (1972) ''Targum and Testament''. Shannon, Irish University Press.Sysling, H. (1996
Tehiyyat Ha-Metim
Tübingen, JCB Mohr.
The Fragment Targums (formerly known as Targum Yerushalmi II) consist of many fragments that have been divided into ten manuscripts. Of these P, V and L were first published in 1899 by M Ginsburger, A, B, C, D, F and G in 1930 by P Kahle and E in 1955 by A Díez Macho. Unfortunately, these manuscripts are all too fragmented to confirm what their purpose were, but they seem to be either the remains of a single complete targum or short variant readings of another targum. As a group, they often share theological views and with Targum Neofiti, which has led to the belief that they could be variant readings of that targum. The Cairo Genizah Fragment Targums originate from the Ben-Ezra Synagogues genizah in Cairo. They share similarities with The Fragment Targums in that they consist of many fragmented manuscripts that have been collected in one targum-group. The manuscripts A and E are the oldest among the Palestinian Targum and have been dated to around the seventh century. Manuscripts C, E, H and Z contain only passages from Genesis, A from Exodus while MS B contain verses from both as well as from Deuteronomium. The Samaritan community has their own Targum to their text of the Torah. Other Targumim were also discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls.


Peshitta

The
Peshitta The Peshitta ( syc, ܦܫܺܝܛܬܳܐ ''or'' ') is the standard version of the Bible for churches in the Syriac tradition, including the Maronite Church, the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Syriac Catholic Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church, ...
is the traditional Bible of
Syriac Syriac may refer to: *Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic *Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region * Syriac alphabet ** Syriac (Unicode block) ** Syriac Supplement * Neo-Aramaic languages ...
-speaking Christians (who speak several different dialects of Aramaic). The translation of the Peshitta is usually thought to be between 1 and 300 CE.For the date of translation, see


See also

* Aaron ben Mordecai of Rödelheim


References

Tadmor, H., 1991. "On the role of Aramaic in the Assyrian empire", in M. Mori, H. Ogawa and M. Yoshikawa (eds.), Near Eastern Studies Dedicated to H.I.H. Prince Takahito Mikasa on the Occasion of his Seventy-Fifth Birthday, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, pp. 419–426


External links


English translations of Targum

*
Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes (; hbo, קֹהֶלֶת, Qōheleṯ, grc, Ἐκκλησιαστής, Ekklēsiastēs) is one of the Ketuvim ("Writings") of the Hebrew Bible and part of the Wisdom literature of the Christian Old Testament. The title commonly use ...
in ''The Song of Songs and Coheleth'',
Christian David Ginsburg Christian David Ginsburg (, 25 December 1831 – 7 March 1914) was a Polish-born British Bible scholar and a student of the Masoretic tradition in Judaism. He was born to a Jewish family in Warsaw but converted to Christianity at the age of 15. ...
(1857) pages 503–519. * * * * * *
Aramaic Targums
��The Aramaic text o
Targum Onkelos
an
Samaritan Targum
with a new English translation for each version and critical apparatus.


Other sources on Targum

* * —contains critical editions of all the ''targumim'' along with lexical tools and grammatical analysis. * * , analyzing the status of the Targumim in Jewish law * {{Authority control 1st-millennium BC introductions