Table Of ContentVolume 1B
The Aramaic Bible
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan
Genesis
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan:
Genesis
T A B
he ramaic ible
• THE TARGUMS •
PROJECT DIRECTOR
Martin McNamara, M.S.C.
EDITORS
Kevin Cathcart • Michael Maher, M.S.C.
Martin McNamara, M.S.C.
EDITORIAL CONSULTANTS
Daniel J. Harrington, S.J. • Bernard Grossfeld
The Aramaic Bible
Volume IB
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan
Genesis
Translated, with Introduction and Notes
BY
Michael Maher, M.S.C.
A Michael GJazien Book
I£B The L iturgical Press
H CollegeviUe, Minnesota
About the Translator:
Michael J. Maher, M.S.C., is Lecturer in Scripture at the Mater Dei Institute of
Religious Education, Dublin. He studied at Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati, and
earned his Ph.D. in Semitic Languages at University College Dublin. His publications
include Genesis (Old Testament Message, 2).
First published in 1992 by The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota 56321.
Copyright © 1992 by The Order of St. Benedict, Inc., Collegeville, Minnesota. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bible. O.T. Genesis. English. Maher. 1992.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, Genesis / translated, with introduction
and notes by Michael Maher.
p. cm. — (The Aramaic Bible ; v. IB)
“A Michael Glazier book.”
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN 0-8146-5492-4
1. Bible. O.T. Genesis. Aramaic. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan-
-Translations into English. 2. Bible. O.T. Genesis. Aramaic.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan—Criticism, interpretation, etc. I. Maher,
Michael, 1933- . II. Title. III. Series: Bible. O.T. English.
Aramaic Bible. 1987 ; v. IB.
BS709.2.B5 1987 vol. IB
[BS1233]
221.4'2 s—dc20
[222'11042] 92-6452
CIP
Logo design by Florence Bern.
Typography by Graphic Sciences Corporation, Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Printed in the United States of America.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Editors’ Foreword.................................................................................................................. vii
Preface...................................................................................................................................... ix
Abbreviations ......................................................................................................................... xi
Introduction..................................................................................................................................... 1
The Halakah in Ps.-J.......................................................................................... 2
The Haggadah in Ps.-J........................................................................................ 5
The Language of Ps.-J........................................................................................ 8
The Date of Ps.-J................................................................................................. 11
Translation and Notes ......................................................................................................... 15
Select Bibliography...............................................................................................................167
Indexes.....................................................................................................................................187
v
Dedicated to the memory of
PROFESSOR ALEJANDRO DIEZ MACHO, M.S.C.
EDITORS’ FOREWORD
While any translation of the Scriptures may in Hebrew be called a Targum, the word is
used especially for a translation of a book of the Hebrew Bible into Aramaic. Before the
Christian era Aramaic had in good part replaced Hebrew in Palestine as the vernacular
of the Jews. It continued as their vernacular for centuries later and remained in part as
the language of the schools after Aramaic itself had been replaced as the vernacular.
Rabbinic Judaism has transmitted Targums of all books of the Hebrew Canon, with
the exception of Daniel and Ezra-Nehemiah, which are themselves partly in Aramaic.
We also have a translation of the Samaritan Pentateuch into the dialect of Samaritan
Aramaic. From the Qumran Library we hâve sections of a Targum of Job and
fragments of a Targum of Leviticus, chapter 16, facts which indicate that the Bible was
being translated in Aramaic in pre-Christian times.
Translations of books of the Hebrew Bible into Aramaic for liturgical purposes must
have begun before the Christian era, even though none of the Targums transmitted to
us by Rabbinic Judaism can be shown to be that old and though some of them are
demonstrably compositions from later centuries.
In recent decades there has been increasing interest among scholars and a larger
public in these Targums. A noticeable lacuna, however, has been the absence of a
modern English translation of this body of writing. It is in marked contrast with most
other bodies of Jewish literature for which there are good modern English translations,
for instance the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, Josephus, Philo,
the Mishnah, the Babylonian Talmud and Midrashic literature, and more recently the
Tosefta and Palestinian Talmud.
It is hoped that this present series will provide some remedy for this state of affairs.
The aim of the series is to translate all the traditionally-known Targums, that is those
transmitted by Rabbinic Judaism, into modern English idiom, while at the same time
respecting the particular and peculiar nature of what these Aramaic translations were
originally intended to be. A translator’s task is never an easy one. It is rendered doubly
difficult when the text to be rendered is itself a translation which is at times governed
by an entire set of principles.
All the translations in this series have been specially commissioned. The translators
have made use of what they reckon as the best printed editions of the Aramaic Targum
in question or have themselves directly consulted the manuscripts.
The translation aims at giving a faithful rendering of the Aramaic. The introduction
to each Targum contains the necessary background information on the particular work.
vii
viii Editors' Foreword
In general, each Targum translation is accompanied by an apparatus and notes. The
former is concerned mainly with such items as the variant readings in the Aramaic
texts, the relation of the English translation to the original, etc. The notes give what
explanations the translator thinks necessary or useful for this series.
Not all the Targums here translated are of the same kind. Targums were translated at
different times, and most probably for varying purposes, and have more than one
interpretative approach to the Hebrew Bible. This diversity between the Targums
themselves is reflected in the translation and in the manner in which the accompanying
explanatory material is presented. However, a basic unity of presentation has been
maintained. Targumic deviations from the Hebrew text, whether by interpretation or
paraphrase, are indicated by italics.
A point that needs to be stressed with regard to this translation of the Targums is that
by reason of the state of current targumic research, to a certain extent it must be
regarded as a provisional one. Despite the progress made, especially in recent decades,
much work still remains to be done in the field of targumic study. Not all the Targums
are as yet available in critical editions. And with regard to those that have been
critically edited from known manuscripts, in the case of the Targums of some books the
variants between the manuscripts themselves are such as to give rise to the question
whether they have all descended from a single common original.
Details regarding these points will be found in the various introductions and critical
notes.
It is recognized that a series such as this will have a broad readership. The Targums
constitute a valuable source of information for students of Jewish literature,
particularly those concerned with the history of interpretation, and also for students of
the New Testament, especially for those interested in its relationship to its Jewish
origins. The Targums also concern members of the general public who have an interest
in the Jewish interpretation of the Scriptures or in the Jewish background to the New
Testament. For them the Targums should be both interesting and enlightening.
By their translations, introductions and critical notes the contributors to this series
have rendered an immense service to the progress of targumic studies. It is hoped that
the series, provisional though it may be, will bring significantly nearer the day when the
definitive translation of the Targums can be made.
Kevin Cathcart Martin McNamara, M.S.C. Michael Maher, M.S.C.
PREFACE
Since Targum Pseudo-Jonathan of the Pentateuch was first printed in the second Rab
binic Bible (Venice, 1591), it has held its place in the body of traditional literature that
attracted attention in Jewish learned circles. Although it never achieved the quasi-
canonical status enjoyed by Onqelos, it has continually exercised the minds of scholars
and commentators who have tried to clarify its meaning and to resolve the difficulties it
raises. In our time several writers have dedicated important works to the study of this
intriguing document, and this volume owes much to their discoveries and to their
clarifications.
We are now in the fortunate position of possessing excellent texts of Pseudo-Jonathan
in the editions of Rieder, Diez Macho, and Clarke listed in the Bibliography. The sec
ond edition of Rieder’s work adds a Hebrew translation of the Aramaic text, and the
Diez Macho edition contains a Spanish translation. R. Le Déaut and J. Robert have
produced a French translation of Pseudo-Jonathan with an introduction and notes (see
Bibliography). An English translation of this Targum, that of Etheridge, also mentioned
in the Bibliography, appeared almost one hundred and thirty years ago.
The present translation, in line with the directions of the editors, “aims at giving a
faithful rendering of the Aramaic” (see above, p. vii). It remains as close to the original
as correct English will allow. In these days when we have become accustomed to transla
tions of the Bible into current idiomatic English, one might question the wisdom of of
fering a rather old-fashioned translation of a Targum. But the justification for such a
translation is that it helps to give the reader who does not know Aramaic the flavor of
the Targumic idiom, and it brings him or her as close as possible to the original.
Due to the limitations of space, the notes are rather telegrammatic. But it is hoped
that the many references they give to the sources from which Pseudo-Jonathan has
drawn, the many indications to his method of interpretation and translation, and to the
secondary literature on that Targum, will be of help to those who want to delve deeper
into the secrets of Pseudo-Jonathan. In the notes we frequently mention themes which
were of special interest to Pseudo-Jonathan and which occur at different places in his
text.
I would like to round off this Preface with a little anecdote. Mrs. Chrissie Moore,
who typed the manuscript of my translation of Pseudo-Jonathan as well as the manu-
