Targum Jonathan of the Former Prophets By Daniel J. Harrington and Anthony J. Saldarini Introduction, Translation and Notes Michael Glazier, 1999, 320 pages ISBN-10: 0814654797 ISBN-13: 978-0814654798

Reviewed by Israel Drazin - July 28, 2010

After being in exile in Babylonia for close to two generations, many of the Judeans who returned to Judea around 536 BCE could no longer understand the language of their ancestors and the Torah, Hebrew. Thus, scholars understand the biblical book Nehemiah 8:8 to be a mandate to translate the Torah for this group in a language that they could understand, Aramaic.

All of Hebrew scripture was translated into Aramaic by different people. Scholars recognize that the individuals involved in working on the first five books of the Bible, did not translate the others. They also generally accept that a single person or group of persons translated what is called the "former prophets": the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. These translator(s) did not render the book literally, but added many imaginative elaborations to educate their readers to their concept of Judaism.

The Michael Glazier series of nineteen volumes renders these Aramaic works in English so that people can see what the first millennium translators thought of the Bible. The following are some of the more than thousand changes that the Targums (translations) introduced.

• All of the Aramaic translators wanted to present a concept of God to their readers that is devoid of corporality. The Bible, as the rabbis explained, "speaks in human language," and since humans think of God in human terms, the Bible used these figures of speech. However the Aramaic translators changed many of these depictions. Thus, for example, in Joshua 1: 5, instead of "as I was with Moses, I will be with you," which suggests a physical presence, the translator has, "As my word aided Moses, so my word will aid you."
• Similarly, in 2:11, rather than leaving a statement that God is in heaven, which suggests that the divinity is restricted, like a human body, to a single area, the translator recasts the verse to say that the Shekhinah is in heaven. The noun Shekhinah denotes the "feeling" about God; thus the people "felt" as if God was not present, it was "as if" he was in heaven.
• Also, in 4:24, it is not the "hand" of God that is powerful, for God has no physical hand, but "the might."

• The Targum of Ezekiel, by Samson H. Levey.
  The Aramaic Bible, Volume 13 - Translated, with a Critical Introduction, Apparatus, and Notes.
  
  
• The Targum of Jeremiah, by Robert Hayward.
  The Aramaic Bible, Volume 12 - Translated, with a Critical Introduction, Apparatus, and Notes.