Hi Chris, A few comments.
1. Not that I know of. I have seen the Targum referred to in some modern scholarly commentaries, but as far as I know, the Targum is no part of the usual Christian exegetical tradition - but someone more knowledgeable than I may correct me on this. 2. The Targum Onkelos is only of the Torah. The equivalent Targum for the Prphets is Targum Jonathan. 3. We don't really know a lot about the origins of either translations. They seem to have originated in the first or second centuries, probably in the Land of Israel. The Talmud attributes them to specific people, but we really don't know. In any case, the text that they were translating seems to be the same as that which became the MT. There are very few places in which the Targum actually preserves an original Hebrew that is different from the proto-MT. 4. Like the Septuagint, Targum Onkelos and Jonathan are more interpretive than literal. So they are useful for knowing how people understood the text, not for reconstruction the "original" text. Yigal Levin -----Original Message----- From: Christopher Kimball [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Saturday, November 27, 2010 8:21 PM To: Yigal Levin Cc: [email protected] Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] cognate alphabet We have two translations, the Septuagint and the Targum of Onkelos, one not in a cognate language and one in a cognate language. Is the Targum's translation ever taken as better than the MT text? It's older than the MT, too. Do Christians ever consult the Targum for "correct" reading? Chris Kimball West Redding, CT USA _______________________________________________ b-hebrew mailing list [email protected] http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
