As a whole, the version cannot be called a good one, since the translator seems to have been guided by no proper rules of exegesis. Hence he falls into many mis- takes. "Elohim" or "Jehovah" is commonly avoided, and " angel" put instead, to suit the supposed dignity of the divine being. The names of peoples, countries, cit- ies, mountains, and rivers are changed from the old into more modern names, as the following list of geographi- cal names will prove. Thus we read in
Geu. viii, 4, for Ararat, Sarendib, a^lDID.
Numb, xxi, 33, " Bashan, Bathuin, *p2r,3 (Batansea). xxxiv, 10, " Shepham, 'Abamiah, i'l''TZ'2V (Apa- niiBa). 11, " Shepham, 'Afamiah, iT'^By. Deut. ii, 9, " Ar p"), Arshiih, na-iX.
iii, 4, " Ai-gob, Rigobaah, nxai5"'1 ('Pa^a/SJ). 17, " Chinneieth, Genesar, "1555.
iv, 4S, " Sion, Tabar Telgah, njbn "l2'J (Je- bel et Telj).
The same is the case with proper nouns. Thus, " land of the tower" (Babylonia) ; Potipherah (Gen. xlvi, 20) is Cohenan ; Gad, " a troop will depopulate," as it is in the Samaritan, is here rendered "a despiser will despise." In Gen. X, 31, for "these are the sonsofShem," this version has Q^y ■'Ti?'! np1?n il'^t^, "these are the portions oi the sons of Shem." Mistakes are numerous and glaring : thus for " the two of them" (nfT^iir, Gen. iii, 7), the ver- sion has ■|'Tiil35' "^STi, "pursuing them," apparently because the translator read D"'nX3ia. In P^xod. xx, 26, "thou shalt not go up b\' steps" is rendered pOT xb "l"'"ipi:32, "thou shalt not ascend with prevarications." In Numb, xii, 14, iT^3X, "her father," seems to have been taken from XI 3, for it is rendered "in bringing her." In Gen. xlix, 11, tl^"i3.', "his colt," is mistaken
for "citv," and is therefore translated iiri^
In Gen.
X, 10, 11,
12,
30,
Xl, 9,
Shiuar, Tsofah, nsVJ (? Zobah).
Asshur, Astun, "|1wD".
Eehoboth, Satcau, "jraD (? Sitta-
cene). Calah, Laksah, nopb.
Resen, Asfah, tlSD". Mesha, Mesbal, ^30^. Babel, Lilak, pb^b.
xxiv, 63, for " Isaac went out to take a walk" (tTlcb), the Samaritan has " Isaac went out to pray" (tlNbll'cb), taking Tl^'O as equivalent to rT'W; but in this it agrees with Onkelos, the Arabic, and Persian. Another char- acteristic of this version is the great number of glosses found in it. Thus, Gen. i, 15, C^irn "'^p~i2 is ren- dered iT'"2'0 pibs "I^Sa, to which Morinus remarks, "his duabus dictionibus utitur ut firmamentum expli- cet;" Gen. V, 27, S~3"'1 is rendered "ill" X~iai; Gen. ii, 3, rao by poS h'Jil; Gen. v, 11, -pirS by 'iiy^S C)1ip ; Gen. iii, 9, N^p-'l by p'JII N^p"''! ; Gen. v, 12,
11132? nr<r>i by i^s" ^b nn:rxn = t?ie one which
has been brought to me ; Gen. v, 22, cb"b "Til by iPIl cb"b rim (comp. Kohn, Samaritanische Studien, p. 32 sq. The great similarity it has with Onkelos occasion- ally amounts to complete identity; for instance, the fol- lowing example, *
Onkelos in Polyglot. (Numb.
bxTci "sa Dr bb^s ; "i72i-ob noi^ ti'j mni bb^Di -i-i: -iTsb ^inEi Iii*. xnnx ix in3 iinb irsini bn 1T1 pinri nn -i^nr : mni cip iTrb xiitD mir^ bsi inai xb p^niy "nsn-i bni nn -i-cni •biaii xb -p^rjinii "iiaiiii 'pajsi inuji xb ■jina:'
vi, 1, 2.) Samar. Version in Barberini Triglot.
bxitJi IDS 05? bb:a : i^i?cb T\•Q^•Q nv nini bb^i
"iiD n^b iriE^ 12 nrx ix 125 ynb i^c^m
*irn 1171 ::nii nsn 'r : mn-'b niT3n7:b i^ts
1235 rni:; its bri xrai xb ami irm irni
.bsii xb rui2i"i -iiaiai vassJi nnuji xb
Gen. xiii, 3, " AI. Cefrab, IIIES (? Cephiiah, Josh, ix, IT). xiv, 5, " Asbteroth Kamaim, Aflnith Karuiah,
ni;ip rirsr.
" nam, Lishah, ni^ib. 6, " ElParan, Pelishah, etc., rTi^bs DIIS
s^bsb.
xiv, 14, " Dan, Banias, CXija.
15, " Hobah, Fogah, I15"^2.
17, " Shavch, Mifnch, JUS'S.
XV, IS, " Euphrates, Shalmah, ilX'sb'J.
20, " Rephaim, Chasah, nXSn.
XX, 1, " Gerar, Aekelun, "j^bpD".
xxvi, 2, " Mitsraim, Ncfik, piS5 (? Exod.).
xxxvl, 8, 9, etc., " Seir, Gablah, !lb25 (Jebal).
37, " Rehoboth, Fathi, iPB.
taken from a fac- simile by Blanchini (^Evangeliaruni Quadruplex, II, ii, after DCIV). On account of this similarity, many critics, such as Hottinger, Eichhorn, and Kirchheim, have held it to have been copied from On- kelos. This, however, seems to be rather an overstating of the case. It is true that uira^ \eyof.iii'a and words of uncertain meaning are often rendered b\' identical or similar expressions in both. Moreover, when Onkelos borrows from Jewish tradition, the Samaritan Targum often follows him. Yet the two are independent. The latter falls into serious blunders from which the version of Onkelos should have protected it, it often retains dif- ficulties of the Hebrew text where the other gives a translation. For instance, the word 121, "pestilence" (Exod. ix, 15), the Samaritan renders by bb72T3, " word," as if it had read ^31, "a word." If it had followed Onkelos it could not have fallen into such a blunder, where the true reading is iri1''33, i.e. "with death."
SAMARITAN VERSIONS 301 SAMARITANS, MODERN
In Deut. i, 44, we read D'^'i-T, " bees," where the Sa- maritan renders JI'O'Q, " words," as if it read C"~i31, which could not have been the case had it followed ()n- kelos, who renders it correctly by NH^im, '■ bees." That the Samaritan Targum has not followed the ver- sion of Onkelos may be also seen from the number of dilHcult Hebrew words, which, although intelligible to the Samaritan translator, he would not have retained had he followed Onkelos, who explained the same. Of such difficult words Winer mentions : Gen. ii, 12, QniL" ; xlviii, 22, DD^:; xlix, 10, Jlb)^; li, 29, iT^ huh a^; Exod. i, 16, n"i3S!!< hv ; viii, 21, mr ; xiii, 18, 121^7311 ; xxiii, 28, ns-i:£ ; xxvi, 6, iD"ip ; xxvii, 4, -i2Dn ; xxvi, 19, D'^DIX ; xxviii, 8, DTIjn ; xxxiii, 35, SIS ; Lev. i, 15, pb-Q; ii, 2, Uni^TN; ii, 14, UJIS; v, 21, in^ViTi, etc. (comp. p. 39 sq.). Under these circum- stances, we cannot but conclude that the Samaritan translator has not known the version of Onkelos, or that be has not perused it; and we can only suppose that single passages have been interpolated from Onkelos; for, as Eichhorn has justly remarked, " the Samaritan Paraphrase went through different hands, and was after- wards edited by one or more Samaritans" {Introduction, vol. i, § 305).