The Targums: A Critical Introduction

The value and significance of the targums--translations of the Hebrew Bible into Aramaic, the language of Palestinian Jews for centuries following the Babylonian Exile--lie in their approach to translation: within a typically literal rendering of a text, they incorporate extensive exegetical material, additions, and paraphrases. These alterations reveal important information about Second Temple Judaism, its interpretation of its bible, and its beliefs.This remarkable survey introduces critical knowledge and insights that have emerged over the past forty years, including targum manuscripts discovered this century and targums known in Aramaic but only recently translated into English. Prolific scholars Flesher and Chilton guide readers in understanding the development of the targums, their relationship to the Hebrew Bible, their dates, their language, their place in the history of Christianity and Judaism, and their theologies and methods of interpretation.

About the Author

Paul V. M. Flesher is Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Director of the Religious Studies Program at the University of Wyoming. Flesher helped establish the International Organization for Targumic Study and is the founding editor of Studies in the Aramaic Interpretation of Scripture . He lives in Laramie, Wyoming.

Bruce Chilton is Bernard Iddings Bell Professor of Religion at Bard College in Annandale, New York. His previous books include The Glory of Israel , Targumic Approaches to the Gospels , and A Galilean Rabbi and His Bible .