RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Bible Versions
manuscript in which the supralinear system _ of vocalization had been changed into that of Tiberias, but with many faults and inconsistencies. The most original system of vocalization is that preserved in manuscripts from Yemen, on which cf. the works of Merx, Berliner, Landauer, Kautzsch, Margoliouth (The Superlinear Punctuation, in PSBA , xxiii° 164-205), and Barnstein (The Targum of Onkelos to Genesis, London, 1896), and the editions of Pratorius (Joshua, Berlin, 1899; Judges, 1900).
For the greater part of the Old Testament there
is more than one Targum. One on the Pentateuch
is attributed in some passages of the Talmud to
the helpers of Ezra. According to the
8oTkrSsm Babylonian Talmud (Megillot 3a), On-
n e °S' kelos delivered it orally in Palestine; but this is the result of confusing Onkelos with Aquila, who translated the Old Testament into Greek (see above, I, 2, § 1), and "Judaic Pentateuch-Targum " is a better name than "Targum of Onkelos," which has been in use since Bomberg's Rabbinic Bible of 1517- In the third century its text seems to have been considered fixed, and manuscripts are mentioned several times, but Origen and Jerome apparently did not know a Targum, and hence we may conclude that it did not find official recognition before the fifth century. Its language is different from that of both Talmuds, and seems to render the original into the language of the place and time of its origin (Palestine) as faithfully as a translation which is somewhat paraphrastic can do. The Hebrew text on which it rests is practically our Masoretic text, and it is of interest as representing the exegetical tradition of the Jews. It is quite literal, gives a messianic interpretation of Gen. xlix, 10, and Num. xxiv, 17, additions to Gen. xlix, Num. xxiv, Deut. xxxii, 33, and avoids all anthropomorphisms. Like the Hebrew text, it has been the subject of Masoretic studies, which have been edited by Berliner (Die Massorah zum Targum Onkelos, Leipsic, 1877).
The Targum of the Prophets has been ascribed
to Jonathan ben Uzziel, Hillel's greatest disciple;
others give as its redactor Joseph ben Hiyyaof Baby-
Ion (d. about 333) ; but it did not receive
Jonathan™ its final written form before the fifth century. It is more paraphrastic than
the Targum of the Law, which induced Cornill to think that it is older. Eichhom and Bertholdt thought they recognized different hands. The paraphrase is greatly influenced by the book of Daniel. Isa. liii is understood of the Messiah, whose suffering atones for Israel. Great enmity is shown against Rome.
The two Targums just described represent the Judaic Aramaic; of a mixed character is the language of Targums Yerushalmi I and II on the . . Law. Some verses are missing from the
Targums former' an(* the latter is preserved only of the m fragments. Certain other fragments Law and f°un(i m various manuscripts and edi- Prophets. ^lons of the Pentateuch are designated by Dalman (Grammatik, § 6, 3) as Yerushalmi III. There are similar fragments of a Targum on the Prophets published by Lagarde from the
margins of Reuchlin's codex (on which cf . Bacher, in ZDM G, xxviii ) . Bassf reund (Das Fragmententargu m zum Pentateuch, Breslau, 1896) and similarly Dalman (Grammatik, § 6, 4) see in Onkelos the "oldest Palestinian Targum and in Yerushalmi I and II a later development. M. Ginsburger, on the contrary (Pseudo-jonathan, Berlin, 1903, preface), and Bacher find in them traces of a very old Palestinian Targum, which has been worked over by Onkelos. The comment in these pieces is sometimes very fantastic.
The Targums of the Hagiographa are not translations, but commentaries; the Targum of the Song of Solomon, for instance, is a panegyric of the Jewish nation with foolish anachronisms, the Targum of
5. The Hagiog--
ranha ^e Psalms is m some parts literal, in others explanatory. The Targum of Proverbs is a working over of the Syriac translation (cf. Pinkuss, in ZATW, xiv, 65, 161). As the Hagiographa were not read in the Synagogue as regularly as the Law and the Prophets (cf. Lk. iv, 16; Acts xiii, 15; xv, 21), their Targums are to some extent private literary works of differing character. For Ezra-Nehemiah and Daniel no Targum is known, unless the Aramaic parts of Daniel are fragments of a Targum. For Esther there are two Targums. E. Nestle.
Bibliography: The best grammar is G. Dalman, Grammatik des judisch-palastinischen Aramaisch, Leipsic, 1S94, Ausgabe mit Dialektproben, 1896, 2d ed., 1905 (gives valuable compend of literature). The first special dictionary for the Targum is the Meturgeman of Elias Levita, Isny, 1541; quite complete but unsatisfactory linguistically is J. Levy, Chaldaisches Worterbuch ilber die Targumim, 2 vols., Leipsic, 1867-68. The whole range of Aramaic literature is treated in Nathan her. vshiel Sepher he-aruk (c. 1100 a.d.), first printed without place and date, but before 1480 a.d., new ed., by A. Kohut, Vienna, 1878-92 (cf. JE, ix, 180-182). Others are: G. F. Boderianus (1573), printed in the Antwerp Polyglot; J. Buxtorf, Lexicon chaldaicum, 1640, new ed., B. Fischer, Leipsic, 1869-75; M. Jastrow, Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Jerushalmi and the Midrashic Literature, 2 vols., New York, 1903 (the most accessible); G. Dalman, Aramaisch-neuhebraisches Worterbuch mit Lexikon der Abbreviaturen, von G. Handler, Frankfort, 1897-1901.
The Targum of Onkelos was first printed Bologna, 1482, with Hebr. text and Rashi's commentary; best edition by Foa, at Sabbionetta, 1557, republished by A. Berliner at Berlin, 1884 (cf. Lagarde, Mittheilungen, ii, 163-182); latest edition in the Hebrew Pentateuch Sefer keter tora at Jerusalem, 1894-1901. Parts are in A. Merx, Chrestomathia Targumica, Berlin, 1883; in E. Kautzsch, Ueber eine alte Handschrift des Targum Onkelos, Halle, 1893; and G. Dalman, Aramaische Dialektproben, Leipsic, 1896. Translations are that in Eng. by J. W. Etheridge, including Onkelos, Jonathan, and the Jerusalem fragment.-, 2 vols., London, 1862, and the Latin transl. by P. Fagius, Strasburg, 1546. On the text-critical value and other relations consult: S. Landauer, Die Masorah zum Onkelos, Leipsic, 1877; H. Barnstein, Targum of Onkelos to Genesis, London, 1896; G. Diettrich, Grammatische Beobachtungen, in ZATW, xx (1900), 148-159; E. Brederek, in TSK, lxxiv (1901), 351-377; A. Merx, Die Vokalisation der Taraume, in Verhandlung des Sten orientalischen Congress, ii, part 1, pp. 142-188. On the person of Onkelos consult: D. Luzzatto, Philoxenus, Cracow, 1895; M. Friedmann, Onkelos und Akylas, Vienna, 1896; JE, ii, 36-38, ix, 405, xii, 58-59. _ .,
The editions of the Targums of Jonathan are: ior the- " Former Prophets " 1st edition, Leiria, 1494, for the whole, in the first Rabbinic Bible, Venice, 1517; by lagarde after Reuchlin's MS., 1872 (cf. A. KkMerniaruv in TSK, xlvi, 1873, 731-767); Joshua and Judges by trie-
Bible Versions