Targum (Assyr. ragmnu, 'to speak,' whence targumānu, 'speaker'), the general term for the Aramaic versions—often paraphrases—of the Old Testament, which became necessary when, after and perhaps during the Babylonian Exile, Hebrew began to die out as the popular language, and was supplanted by Aramaic (see ARAMEA).
The origin of the Targum itself is shrouded in mystery. The first signs of it—as an already fixed institution—have been found by some in Nehemiah, viii. 8, and according to tradition Ezra and his coadjutors were its original founders. However this be, there can be no doubt that its beginnings belong to a comparatively early period. The Mishna (q.v.) contains a number of strict injunctions respecting it, and also respecting a certain guild of Meturgemans (whence 'dragoman') or interpreters, who had sprung up as professional followers of those learned men who, at a previous period, had volunteered their services in the translation and paraphrastic interpretation, both activities being implied by the term. At first, and indeed for many centuries, the Targum was not committed to writing, for the same reason that the 'Oral Law' or Halakhah (see EXEGESIS) itself was not at first intended ever to become fixed as a code for all times. In the course of time, however, both had to yield to circumstances, and their being written down was considered preferable to their being utterly forgotten, of which there was no small danger. Yet a small portion only of the immense mass of oral Targums that must have been produced has survived. All that is now extant are three distinct Targums on the Pentateuch, a Targum on the Prophets, Targums on the Hagiographa—viz. on Psalms, Job, Proverbs, the five 'Megilloth' (Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Esther, Ecclesiastes), another Targum on Esther, one on Chronicles, one on Daniel, and one on the apocryphal pieces of Esther. The most important of the three Pentateuch Targums is the one named after Onkelos, probably a corruption of Akylas (Aquila, a proselyte, one of Gamaliel's pupils), whose Greek version had become so popular that this Aramaic version was honoured with being called after it. This Targum seems to have been originally produced among the scholars of R. Akiba between 150 and 200 A.D. in Palestine, and sent to Babylonia, where it was more needed; wherefore it is called Babil. Here it was probably edited about 300, and afterwards vowelled in the Babylonian method. Subsequently vowelled in the Palestinian method, it spread from Palestine over the world. It is an excellent translation for the people, and adheres more closely to the Massoretic text than any other ancient translation. It is useful for the exegete, the linguist, and the antiquary.
Two other Targums on the Pentateuch have hitherto been known as Targum Jonathan ben Uzziel and Targum Jerushalmi. They are of Palestinian or Syrian growth. Jerushalmi is fragmentary, and appears to be a Haggadic supplement to Onkelos. The Pseudo-Jonathan, by its maturer angelology, its abbreviations, and other signs, appears to be a later recension of the Jerushalmi. It cannot well have been composed before 750. As a version this Targum is of small importance; but it is valuable as a storehouse of allegories, parables, sagas, and the like popular poetry of its time. Its language and grammar are exceedingly corrupt; it abounds, moreover, with foreign—Greek, Latin, Persian, and Arabic—terms. It mentions Constantinople (Numbers, xxiv. 19, 24); and names Khadija and Fatima (Genesis, xxi. 2). Its general use lies more in the direction of Jewish literature itself, as well as of archaeology and antiquities of the early Christian centuries, than in that of a mere direct interpretation of the Bible text. The Targum on the Prophets is generally and erroneously ascribed to Jonathan ben Uzziel, an eminent scholar of Hillel the Elder; the fact being that, except one spurious Talmudical passage, in which mention is made of his having translated the Prophets, this Targum is everywhere else, from the Talmud down to the authorities of the 10th century, ascribed to one R. Joseph, president of the Babylonian academy of Sora about 322. This Targum, while tolerably literal in the first—the historical—books, gradually becomes a frame for Haggada, which it introduces at every turn and at great lengths. It is considerably interpolated, containing historical bits disguised, or rather typified, lyrical pieces of some poetic value, and much Messianic lore. In language and general manner it resembles Onkelos, which evidently lay before the author.
Joseph the Blind, to whom the foregoing Targum is ascribed, is the reputed author of Targums on the Hagiographa. Several centuries lie between him and them, their date being approximately between 800 and 1000. Certain distinctions between the different books must further be made. The Targums on Psalms, Job, and Proverbs were probably contemporaneous compositions due to private enterprise in Syria. The two former are made more paraphrastic than the last, which resembles closely the Syriac version. The paraphrase on the five 'Megilloth' mentions the Mohammedans, and is of later date; probably one man's work. It is principally a collection of more or less poetical fancies, traditions, and legends, to which the single verse in hand merely seems to furnish the keynote. Its dialect lies somewhat between the East and West Aramaic. The Targum on the Book of Chronicles—almost unknown until it was printed in the 17th century—also belongs to a late period, and was probably composed in Palestine. There are some useful philological, historical, and chiefly geographical hints to be gleaned from it, but nothing more; least of all can it be used exegetically. A Persian version of a Targum on Daniel (unedited) is all that has been discovered on that book as yet. It was probably composed in the 12th century, the influence of the early Crusades being plainly visible in it. On the paraphrase of the apocryphal pieces of Esther we shall not dwell here, any more than on the scanty fragments of a 'Palestinian Targum' that are found either interspersed in the general (Babylonian) Targum, or as independent pieces. It seems probable that more of this Palestinian version will come to light some day, as authorities of a few centuries back still quote from it rather largely. At present, however, their quotations are nearly all that is known. By 900 in Africa and Spain the Targum had begun to be disused in public, Arabic or the national language being substituted. In Yemen the Aramaic Targum is still used in the ancient manner, the meturgeman standing beside the reader and rendering verse by verse.
The Targum of Onkelos unwowelled was first printed in Bologna, 1482; vowelled, Lisbon, 1491; more or less incorrect in the Bomberg Rabbinical Bible of Venice (1518) and in subsequent editions; the Complutensian Polyglot (1517); the Biblia Regia of Antwerp (1569); and Walton's Polyglot (Lond. 1657). Buxtorf's edition (1618-19) is vitiated by attempts to conform it to biblical Aramaic. Sabionetta's edition (1557) is the best till Abr. Berliner's reproduction of this (Berlin, 1884), with an exhaustive essay. The Targum on the prophets appears in the Bomberg, Complutensian, Antwerp, Buxtorf, and Walton Bibles. It is edited by Paul de Lagarde (Leip. 1872). See Frankel, Zu d. Targum der Propheten (Breslau, 1872); Pauli, Chaldee Paraphrase on Isaiah (Lond. 1872); the Targum of Onkelos and Jonathan on the Pentateuch (1862 and 1865), by Etheridge.