Biblical Hebrew Forum

[James Read <J.Read-2 AT sms.ed.ac.uk>]

Ok. So let's suppose that the caves were no longer in use for a  
century or so before the destruction of Jerusalem. And so let's  
suppose that on this basis we can accurately date these targumim.  
Doesn't that then call into question that the LXX was the first  
translation of the Tanakh?

James Christian


Quoting dwashbur AT nyx.net:

> Three Targumim were found at Qumran, so at least somebody was using   
> them for a century
> or more before the destruction of Jerusalem.  There were several   
> other items in Aramaic
> found in the caves, as well.
>
> On 30 Aug 2009 at 9:03, James Read wrote:
>
> > Thanks for that. I've had a look round and all the Targum MSS I can
> > find seem to have been found outside of Isreal. A lot of them in
> > Iraq.
> > This would seem to suggest that the Aramaic translations were used
> > by
> > and large by Jewish communities outside of Isreal. Aramaic, being a
> > lingua franca of the time, would seem to be the obvious choice of
> > language to translate the Hebrew Tanakh into for these
> > communities.
> >
> > As regards dates, I haven't been able to find any particularly old
> > MSS
> > of Targumim. They all seem to be pretty late. It would seem that you
> > are suggesting that the Aramaic translations predated the Greek LXX.
> > This would indeed be something interesting to investigate.
> >
> > If there is something you know that I'm missing here please help me
> > out. I would be interested in finding:
> >
> > a) the oldest Targum MSS
> >
> > b) any ancient references to their usage
> >
> > in order to get an approximate date and period of usage for these
> > translations.
> >
> > James Christian
> >
> > Quoting "Joel C. Salomon" <joelcsalomon AT gmail.com>:
> >
> > > James Read wrote:
> > >> I'm following what you are saying here Randall with one
> > exception. You
> > >> have assumed that the Hebrews spoke and used Greek and Aramaic
> > during
> > >> the second temple period up until the revolt of Bar Kochba.
> > > <snip>
> > >> So, just what are you basing this assumption on? (I am
> > genuinely
> > >> interested as I have heard this stated many times but have yet to
> > see
> > >> any form of evidence)
> > >
> > > How early is the use of a Targum recorded?  Onkelus´s seems to
> > date to
> > > soon after the temple era; is that helpful?
> > >
> > > -Joel Salomon
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> >
> >
> >
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>
> Dave Washburn
>
> http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur
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