Full Description
The value and significance of the targums - translations of the Hebrew Bible into Aramaic, the language of Palestinian Jews for centuries following the Babylonian Exile - lie in their approach to translation: within a typically literal rendering of a text, they incorporate extensive exegetical material, additions, and paraphrases. These alterations reveal important information about Second Temple Judaism, its interpretation of its bible, and its beliefs.
This remarkable survey introduces critical knowledge and insights that have emerged over the past forty years, including targum manuscripts discovered this century and targums known in Aramaic but only recently translated into English. Prolific scholars Flesher and Chilton guide readers in understanding the development of the targums, their relationship to the Hebrew Bible, their dates, their language, their place in the history of Christianity and Judaism, and their theologies and methods of interpretation.
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
Section I: Getting Started
1 Introduction
2 Defining Targum
3 The Seven Rules of Targum
4 Rabbinic Literature
Section II: The Pentateuchal Targums
5 Pentateuchal Targums: The Basics
6 Sources of the Palestinian Targums
7 Targum Onqelos and the Targums of Israel
8 The Pentateuchal Targums in Rabbinic Literature
9 Dating the Targums of Israel
Section III: The Targums of the Prophets and the Writings
10 Targum Jonathan of the Prophets: Its Development as Revealed by the Targum of Isaiah
11 Targum Jonathan: Former and Latter Prophets
12 Targums to the Writings
Section IV: The Targums in Late-Antique Judaism
13 Aramaic in Judaism
14 Targums and Translation in the History of Rabbinic Literature
15 Targum as Scripture and Hidden Interpretation
16 Ancient Scripture Translations
Section V: The Targums and Early Christianity
17 Comparing the Targums and the New Testament
18 The Aramaic Retroversion of Jesus Sayings
19 The Fourth Gospel and Targumic Memra
Section VI: Conclusions and Prospects
20 Genesis 22 in the Targumim and in Early Jewish and Christian Interpretation
21 Targums in the Rabbinic World and Beyond
Appendix A: The Parallel Expansions of Genesis 28-50
Appendix B: A Guide to Babylonian Pointing
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
