{lanion works. From certain passages which both lave verbally in common, it has been inferred, probably correctly, that Jonathan used Onkelos : cf. Jg 5», Dt 32", 1 S 12", Nu W\ 2 K 14», Dt ii-', Jer 4S"-" Nu 21^'-. J The Targ. on the historical books is more literal than that on the Prophetce Posteriores, but poetical or dillieult passages are paraphrased : cf. 1 S 2'''", which is exjilained verse by verse with references to Sennacherib, Nebu- chadnezzar, the Greeks, Hasmonu'ans, Mordecai, Esther, etc. ; 1 S 15'^ 17', 2 S 14" 20'". Of the pro- phetic books we have generally a faithful transla- tion, with explanatory additions. F"or examples of paraphrase, cf. Is 28'"- '" 49'= 50" ; for instance? of ImygOdd, Is 12» 33-'- G2'», Mic 6^ With regard to the rendering of anthropomorphic expressions, figurative language, and the like, the usual rules of Targumic interpretation are observed: e.g. the whole story (Hos 1') of the prophet and Gomer gives place to a series of denunciations upon the continued sins of Israel, with promise of pardon on repentance, and the perplexing features of the original never once appear. Geographical names are mostly retained as in the Heb., but are some- times tr. into more modern forms: ■\';yj/ = h2Z ; ]o:^ = [jnD ; k:d pcN [or, more proli., nj alone] = n,-<m:DD'7K ; Tp = 'j'Tp; nDnjin = K'DOiJ. Tlie inlluence of the re- ligious or dogmatic ideas of the author's time is more noticeable than in Onkelos. Tlie Targura in this respect is a mean between Onk. and the Jerus. Targum on the Pentateuch.
First edition of this Targum, Leiria, 1494.
Reference has been made already to the quotations which Jewish writers make from Jerus. Targg. on the Pent., and which are not now found in either of our recensions (the Frag. Targ. or pseudo.Jon.)- Similar fragments of Targg. on the Prophets have been printed from tile Iteuchlin Codex in Lagarrle's ed. of the I*rvphet(v Vhaldaice, and Bacher hjuj investigated their character in ZDMO, 1874. He finds that the variants may be divided into five cliu^ses which come from as many sources, and concludes that they are remains of Jerus. Targg. to the Pro- phets, as they resemble in certain features of language and style the Jerus. Targg. to the Pentateuch. Some of them he considers older than the olllcial Targ. to the Prophets (of. his view, men. tioned almvc, of the relation of the Frag. Targ. to Onk.); others he considers are the result of a hagiiadiatic enlargement of earlier texts at a date later than the Bab. Talmud and UiQ midrdshim (cf. his view of the Targ. pseudo-Jon. in relation to the Fragmentary Targ. and Onkelos).
iii. Targums on the Haoiographa.— A Targ. on the lik. of Job is mentioned as in existence in the 1st cent. A.D., but it is certain that no Taig o)
• Ilab. ileg. 8 a.
f ft. Cnmm. Mer den Jetaia, I. pp. 70, 71.
I Berliner, Targ. Onqelo; p. 124.
682
TAKGUM
TARGUM
that age has come down to us. None of the Tar<;g. to the Hagioj,'. which we possess is earlier than the close of the Talniudic period, and probably all of them are much later. The tirst mention of them is in the 11th century. Unlike the translations of the Law and the Prophets, the Tar"g. on the Hajjiog. are entirely the work of indi\ iiTiial trans- lators, modelled upon the older Targums. They were never meant for public use in synagogue or school, having, in fact, been composed alter the need for Aram, translations had ceased. They may be conveniently divided : 1. Psalms, Job, (I'rov.). 2. The Megilloth. 3. Chronicles.
1. It is possible that tlie Targg. on the Psalms and Job come from a single author ; at anj' rate they exhibit marks of similarity in their general method of handling the Heb. text, and they have some linguistic and other features in common. Unlike the Jerus. Targg. on the Pent., they aim at givin" a jjretty faithful rendering of the ori- ginal, llaggadk additions are met with occasion- ally, but they are concise, and can easily be separated from the translation proper, ilar^jf verses are provide<l with double translations, the second being ascribed to a different Targ. (N"n = •\n» Dijin). In such cases one of the translations is generally haggadic, while the other is more literal. Between forty and fifty verses in Job have such alternative translations, but there are not so many in the Psalms. Half a dozen verses in Job have even a third rendering. The age of the interpolator has been given as the 8th or 9th cent., but tliere is really no reason for claiming a higher age for the Targg. themselves. Their lan- guage is late and artificial ; tliey are compositions in what is no longer to tlie translators a living speech. The general exegetic devices of the older Targg. are reproduced. Anthropomorjjlusms as a rule, and all figures of speech, are set aside ; refer- ences to the history of Israel, to the Law and its study, are frequently introduced ; passages are applied to Edom, Ishiiiael, or Gog ; and the eschato- logical ideas of the synagogue are all met with. We may note that n^D in the Psalms is rendered [•□-y'j (cf. Hab S^- »• ").
The peculiar dialect in which the Targ. to the Proverbs appears has taken up so many features from Syriac that it can only be regarded as an in- congruous mixture of the Aramaic of the Targg. and the Syriac of the Peshitta. Linguistic elements have been gathered from different quarters and placed side by side, without any regard to the unity of structure which must exist in a spoken or written language.* Many entire verses, esti- mated as forming a third of the whole book, are identical with the Syriac translation ; in a further large number tliere are close resemblances between the two versions, all the more striking where they agree as against the Heb. ; cf. 1' 4-" 5' 7'-" '^ 9" 12'" 16*' ^. It has been shown t that the peculiari- ties of the Targ. are due to the use of the Pesh. by the Targuniist. The view that the Pesh. has borrowed from the Targ. does not account for the Syriasms which the latter contains ; the analogy of the Jerus. Talm., where most of the peculiari- ties of the Targ. occur, though in less proportions, does not help us to understand why just in such large proportions these peculiarities are here found together. Apart from the distinctly Syriac forms, the language and style of the Targ. are akin to that of the Targg. on the Psalms and .lob, and there is no reason for assigning it an earlier date.