Targum Onkelos

Targum Onkelos (or Onqelos; Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: תַּרְגּוּם אֻנְקְלוֹס‎, Targūm ’Unqəlōs) is the primary Jewish Aramaic targum ("translation") of the Torah, accepted as an authoritative translated text of the Five Books of Moses and thought to have been written in the early second century CE.

[1][2] According to the Talmud, the essential content of Targum Onkelos was already known in the time of Ezra (immediately after the Babylonian captivity).

[10] The earliest text samples (Exodus 15:9–12 in Hebrew-Aramaic) appear on two incantation bowls (5th–7th centuries CE) discovered at Nippur, Babylonia.

[18][19][17] The reading of the Targum, verse by verse, in conjunction with the Torah that is read aloud on the Sabbath day is not to be confused with a different practice, namely, that of reviewing the entire Parashah before the commencement of the Sabbath, and which practice has its source in the Talmud, and which the codifiers of Jewish law have ruled as Halacha:[20] "A person should complete his portions of scripture along with the community, reading the scripture twice and the targum once (Shnayim mikra ve-echad targum).

[23][dubious – discuss] However, where there are found difficult biblical passages, Onkelos seeks to minimize ambiguities and obscurities.

This view was strongly rebutted by Nathan Marcus Adler in his introduction to his commentary to Targum Onkelos Netinah La-Ger.

Some authors suggest that Akiva provided for a revised text of the essential base of Targum Onkelos.

[26] Some of the more notable changes made by Onkelos, in which he attempts to convey the underlying meaning of a verse, rather than its literal translation, are as follows: