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  • From: GregStffrd AT aol.com
  • To: dellbert AT buckeyenet.net
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: Re: targums
  • Date: Sat, 15 May 1999 02:01:10 EDT


In a message dated 5/14/99 7:30:10 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
dellbert AT buckeyenet.net writes:

<< I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask this but I was wondering if
what is called the 'targums' are generally trustworthy?

What I mean is, I have read where they are Aramaic paraphrases for the
Hebrew scriptures. Are they 'too' parapharsical to get a sense of Jewish
thought at the time or do they generally present an accurate rendition of
the Hebrew thought, just perhaps stated differently?

Dan Ebert >>


Dear Dan:

There are many instances where the Targums differ from or expand on the
Hebrew text. They are generally considered "interpretive translations," and
as such should be carefully considered just like any interpretive translation
today.

As Jim West said, they were intended to make the Hebrew text intelligible for
those who no longer understood Hebrew.

As an example of the kind of interpretive element present in some readings,
consider the Targum of Psalm 45:7, 8, as translated by Pierre Grelot:

"The throne of your glory, YHWH has established it forever and ever. Your
royal scepter is a scepter of rectitude. And you, O king Messiah, because you
have loved justice and hated impiety, YHWH, your God has anointed you with
the oil of joy in preference to your fellows."

Compare the above to the Hebrew text, and you will get a feel for the kind of
interpretive translation that you sometimes get in the Targums.

Greg Stafford




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