Targum

At a Glance

A Targum is an Aramaic translation and paraphrase of Scripture used in Jewish tradition and public reading contexts.

Key Points

• Targum should be read as later rabbinic evidence, not as a controlling guide to the meaning of Moses, the Prophets, or the New Testament. A Targum is an Aramaic translation and paraphrase of Scripture used in Jewish tradition. Use it to observe how legal argument, remembered tradition, and communal practice developed in post-biblical Judaism.

Description

A Targum is an Aramaic translation and paraphrase of Scripture used in Jewish tradition and public reading contexts. More fully, this entry belongs to the historical and contextual layer that can make biblical settings, customs, textual transmission, or interpretive habits more intelligible. It is most useful when it clarifies the world around Scripture without displacing the meaning carried by the biblical text itself.

Biblical Context

Biblically, Targum does not arise from the scriptural period itself, but it helps readers see how later Jewish teachers handled Torah, purity, worship, ethics, and communal obedience after the close of the biblical era. That makes it useful for reception history and for identifying continuities and discontinuities with the canonical text.

Historical Context

Historically, Targum belongs to the transmission history of the Bible, where scribes, translators, and editors preserved Scripture for new languages, communities, and publishing settings. It helps explain why textual traditions can be stable overall while still showing meaningful variation in form and wording.

Jewish and Ancient Context

In Jewish and ancient-background study, Targum opens a window into the rabbinic ecosystem of memorized tradition, halakhic debate, commentary, and communal authority. It is especially valuable for showing how later Judaism preserved and extended patterns of interpretation in synagogue and school contexts.

Primary Key Texts

• Neh. 8:8
• Ezra 4:7
• Matt. 27:46
• Mark 5:41
• John 1:38

Secondary Key Texts

• Acts 21:40-22:2
• Rom. 3:1-2
• 2 Tim. 3:15
• 1 Cor. 14:11

Theological Significance

Theologically, Targum is significant mainly as evidence for how later Judaism received, argued, and applied Scripture, not as an inspired interpretive norm for the church.

Interpretive Cautions

Do not read Targum back into the biblical period as if later rabbinic discussion simply reproduced the original meaning of Scripture. Use Targum to study later Jewish interpretation and practice, while keeping the authority and historical location of the canonical text distinct.

Doctrinal Boundaries

A faithful use of Targum should strengthen careful confidence in God’s providential preservation of Scripture without confusing any one manuscript, version, or textual stage with inspiration itself. The canon remains normative even as textual witnesses help readers understand its transmission.

Practical Significance

Practically, Targum helps readers distinguish biblical revelation from later layers of Jewish interpretation, which is essential for avoiding anachronism and for handling background material with historical discipline.

Related Entries

• Second Temple Judaism
• Textual Criticism
• Septuagint