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TARGUM*
An Aramaic translation of the OT. While technically this Hebrew word may be used to refer to any translation, targum commonly designates an Aramaic paraphrase or interpretive translation of a portion of the OT. Targums were of inestimable importance in the development of ancient Judaism. Jewish tradition holds that oral targums were extant in the time of Ezra; Nehemiah 8:8 is cited as supportive evidence.
At the time of the Babylonian exile (seven centuries before Christ), the language of the Jews was Hebrew. During the Captivity, Aramaic (the native tongue of the Babylonians) gradually replaced Hebrew as the language for the average Israelite. It thus became a practical necessity for Jewish scholars to translate the Scriptures into Aramaic. In the synagogue, a reading of an excerpt from the Law would be immediately followed by an oral translation of it. Eventually these translations or paraphrases were committed to writings, many of which still survive. The earliest known manuscript of a Targum is of the book of Job. Found in a cave of the Qumran community, it antedates the time of Christ by more than a century. The most important Targums are Targum Onkelos and Targum Jonathon, in circulation by the fifth century AD. The former is a literal rendering of the Pentateuch; the latter is a freer interpretive version of the Prophets.