This article is about the Aramaic translation of the Hebrew Bible. For other uses, see Targum (disambiguation).
A targum (Imperial Aramaic: תרגום 'interpretation, translation, version') was an originally spoken translation of the Hebrew Bible (also called the Tanakh) that a professional translator (מְתוּרגְמָןmǝturgǝmān) would give in the common language of the listeners when that was not Biblical Hebrew. 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.[1] The translator frequently expanded his translation with paraphrases, explanations and examples, so it became a kind of sermon.
Writing down the targum was initially prohibited; nevertheless, some targumitic writings appeared as early as the middle of the first century AD.[1] They were not then recognized as authoritative by the religious leaders.[1] Some subsequent Jewish traditions (beginning with the Babylonian Jews) 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 continue to use the targumim liturgically.
As translations, the targumim largely reflect midrashic interpretation of the Tanakh from the time they were written and are notable for favoring allegorical readings over anthropomorphisms.[2] (Maimonides, for one, notes this often in The Guide for the Perplexed.) 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 wrote and published the Sefer Meturgeman, explaining all the Aramaic words found in the Targum[which?].[3][4]
Targumim are used today as sources in text-critical editions of the Bible (Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia refers to them with the abbreviation 𝔗).
^ abcSchühlein, Franz (1912). Targum. New York: Robert Appleton.
^Oesterley, WOE; Box, GH (1920). A Short Survey of the Literature of Rabbinical and Mediæval Judaism. New York: Burt Franklin.
^"Levita, Elijah", in the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia.
A targum (Imperial Aramaic: תרגום 'interpretation, translation, version') was an originally spoken translation of the Hebrew Bible (also called the Tanakh)...
The Targum Sheni, also known as the Second Targum of Esther, is an Aramaic translation (targum) and elaboration of the Book of Esther. Notably, the biblical...
Targum Neofiti (Neof.) and the fragments (FTP and FTV), on the verse Deutoronomy 33:6, the "second death" is "the death that the wicked die." Targum Isaiah...
Targum Jonathan (Hebrew: תרגום יונתן בן עוזיאל), otherwise referred to as Targum Yonasan/Yonatan, is the official eastern (Babylonian) targum (Aramaic...
The Daily Targum is the official student newspaper of Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Founded in 1867, it is the second-oldest collegiate...
Targum Neofiti (or Targum Neophyti) is the largest of the western or Palestinian Targumim on the Torah. The name derives from the ecclesiastical Latin...
however, no "official" eastern (Babylonian) targum to Ketuvim, equivalent to Targum Onkelos on the Torah and Targum Jonathan on Nevi'im. In fact, the Babylonian...
The Targum Rishon, also known as the First Targum of Esther in the Hebrew, is an Aramaic translation (targum) and elaboration of the Book of Esther. Much...
which led to the creation of Jewish Targums such as Targum Onkelos. Samaritans have traditionally ascribed the Targum to Nathanael, a Samaritan priest who...
literature such as the Dead Sea Scrolls. It is only afterwards in the targums and rabbinic literature that the Hebrew term shekhinah, or Aramaic equivalent...
original Targum titles. Subsequently, they began reprinting Targum books in a more modern style. In the 1990s books were published using "Targum/Feldheim"...
print. A Targum is a translation of the Bible into Aramaic. The classic Targumim are Targum Onkelos on the Chumash (a Torah in printed form), Targum Jonathan...
the Babylonian Talmud (which was completed in the seventh century), the Targum Onqelos, and of post-Talmudic (Gaonic) literature, which are the most important...
Temurah, Keritot, and Me'ilah; the second dialect is closer in style to the Targum. From the time of its completion, the Talmud became integral to Jewish scholarship...
Targum Sheni. However, according to the Encyclopaedia Judaica Targum Sheni is dated to around 700 similarly the general consensus is to date Targum Sheni...
High Priest once and for all. Chazalic literature – specifically Targum Jonathan, Targum Yerushalmi, and the Babylonian Talmud – presents his name (מלכי־צדק)...
Tannaic times (c. 35–120 CE). He is considered to be the author of the Targum Onkelos (c. 110 CE). Onkelos is mentioned several times in the Talmud. According...
suggestions that the Targum was written down at an early date, although for private use only. The official recognition of a written Targum and the final redaction...
rabbinic sources, including the Mishnah, Tosefta, the halakhic midrashim the Targums. It apparently drew upon a version of Talmud Yerushalmi that resembles...
developed by the Ashkenazi community in Jerusalem Targum Yerushalmi Targum Pseudo-Jonathan (Targum Yerushalmi) Yerushalmi (surname) Jerusalem (disambiguation)...
including the Septuagint, Theodotion, Latin Vulgate, Samaritan Targum, Targum Onkelos, and Targum Neofiti – interpret the word to mean "giants". Symmachus translates...
simply as "Yerushalmi," is precisely analogous to that of the Palestinian Targum. The term originated in the geonic period, when, however, the work received...