Interesting. Targums asside, I've never really understood that passage. I agree that Qecep must be divine wrath, and that it's aimed at the Israelites. But why should God be angry at Israel because the king of Moab sacrificed his son? Conversely, could it be that the Moabite god (Chemosh) is angrey? That would be strange for the Bible as well.
Yigal Levin -----Original Message----- From: Dewayne Dulaney [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Saturday, December 04, 2010 10:40 PM To: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] Subject: Re: Christian Use of Targums (Was "cognate alphabet"); Targums Online שלום עלכלכם Hi Chris and Yigal, While the average Christian is unaware of the Targums, Bible translations made by Christians do take into account their readings for textual criticism, and for some exegetical decisions bearing on translation. This is stated in the preface to the New International Version, the most widely used Christian Bible in English (1984 edition; no doubt the later TNIV and the 2011 NIV do also), for example. No doubt other such Bibles consult the Targums also, as well as the Syriac Peshitta. Christians like myself who use Hebrew and Aramaic also sometimes consult Targums. I am teaching an adult Bible class about the non-writing prophets such as Elijah and Elisha in the books of Kings and Chronicles. Recently I was studying 2 Kgs. 3, concerning the revolt of Moab against Israel (referred to on the famed Mesha Stele) and trying to understand why most English versions had "wrath" or "fury" against/upon Israel (Hebrew: ויהי קצף־גדול על־ישראל Vayehi qetzef gadol al Yisrael) when King Mesha of Moab sacrificed his son as a burnt offering (3:27), as the reason why the Israelite forces withdrew from attacking Moab. After consulting Jastrow (Dictionary of Targumim, Talmud and Midrashic Literature, online at http://www.TyndaleArchive.com/TABS/Jastrow/index.htm) and the Targums at the Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon, or CAL (online at http://cal1.cn.huc.edu/searching/targumsearch.html), as well as several alternate renderings of the Hebrew phrase in other English versions, I concluded that, while the idea of divine anger (of Yahweh) fit the uses of "qetzef" in other contexts, probably the idea in 2 Kgs. 3:27 is that the Israelite forces were horrified, saddened/terrified and thus demoralized enough to break off the attack and go home. The Targum uses "regaz", which can mean "anger", but can also mean "quaking"—with fear or some other emotion, I gather. I wrote up my conclusions in a brief note for myself and used it when teaching the class; I have it as a Word document. If anyone would like a copy, email me off-list and I will gladly send it to you. Comments are welcome. Someone also asked if there were some online sites with the texts of Targums. The CAL site mentioned above is one; another good one is the Melchon Mamre site at http://www.mechon-mamre.org/. It has Targum Onqelos on the Torah (Pentateuch), including a parallel Hebrew-Aramaic Torah. (Note: there is an English introduction, and some of the Bible texts are in English; site navigation once you select a Hebrew or Aramaic text, however, is in Hebrew.) The site also has Rashi's commentary and the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds. Hope these help. ברכך יהוה וישמרך׃ (Num. 6:24) דוין דולני Dewayne Dulaney -- "From the world you will have trouble. But, be brave! I have defeated the world!"—John 16:33, DDV (Dewayne Dulaney Version) My Bible blogs: http://my.opera.com/Loquor/blog/ and http://hasopher.preachersfiles.com/ _______________________________________________ b-hebrew mailing list [email protected] http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
