By David M. Stec
Translated, with a Critical Introduction, Apparatus, and Notes
Michael Glazier, 2004, 254 pages
ISBN 0-8146-5491-6
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The Targum of Psalms By David M. Stec Translated, with a Critical Introduction, Apparatus, and Notes Michael Glazier, 2004, 254 pages ISBN 0-8146-5491-6 |
Reviewed by Israel Drazin - July 28, 2010
There is no historical proof that the biblical book Psalms was ever used in the ancient Temple as part of a prayer service, but it is an integral part of Jewish and Christian services today. Since the Psalms so are important today, it would be interesting to see how the ancient translator who rendered the Bible's Hebrew into Aramaic, the language that Jews spoke when they made the translation, treated or mistreated the holy book.
My reviews of the other books in the nineteen volume Michael Glazier English rendering of the Aramaic translations of the Hebrew Bible, explain the origin of the Targums (Aramaic translations of Hebrew Scripture) and give examples how the Aramaic translators changed the text of Scripture to insert their own views. See, for example, Targum Jonathan of the Former Prophets.
The following is the English translation of the Aramaic translation of the Hebrew original of the famous Psalm 23. The changes and additions inserted by the Aramaic translator to offer what he felt his readers should know are underlined. Readers will see how often he changed the biblical text, made additions to enhance the "spirituality" of the psalm by interpreting it to refer to the forty year desert wandering by the Israelites in the days of Moses and the Israelite exile in 586 BCE and how God helped the people, adds words to enhance clarity, and speaks of the anointing of priests. Additionally, he has the people not dwell in a house but in the holy tabernacle.
A psalm or David. It is the Lord who fed his people in the desert; they lacked nothing. In a place of thirst, he makes me rest among the beauty of grass, beside gentle waters he leads me. He restores my soul with manna; he leads me in ways of righteousness, for the sake of his name. Even when I go into exile in the valley of the shadow of death, I will not fear evil, because your wisdom is my support, your straight staff and your law – they comfort me. You spread a table before me, manna is raised up in front of my oppressors; you made my body fat with stout birds, and the head of my priests with the oil of anointing; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, when I shall dwell in the house of the sanctuary of the Lord for the length of days.
