The Aramaic Bible: Targums in their Historical Context

220 The Aramaic Bible: Targwns in their Historical Context
the sentence 'They have not been crushed unto this day' (44.10)
became incomprehensible for translators; thus, Peshitta (P) and
Vulgate (V) interpret this verb following the Aramaic meaning of dk',
'to purify': 'They have not purified themselves unto this day'.
However, Septuagint (LXX) and Targum render it according to the
Hebrew verb kl', 'cease, desist': 'They have not desisted unto this day'.
Also the word 'lz, 'to rejoice' in the sentence: 'and I will make them
drunk so that they rejoice' (Jer. 51.39) does not seem suitable in the
context; therefore LXX and V translate 'to be stupefied', whereas
Targum and P adopt another interpretation: 'to be without strength, to
faint'. The word tannim of Jer. 49.33 is translated differently in all
versions; for the LXX it means 'ostriches', V understands it as
'dragons', but for Targum and P it has various meanings: 'jackals',
'onagers', etc. There are several possible explanations for the disagreement
between the MT and these translations. It is possible that
sometimes the Hebrew text of those translations would be different
from the one that we know, but also on other occasions the translators
must have found a text which was not easy to understand because it
was corrupt, and tried to change the text itself in order to give an
interpretation that would be fitting to the context.
'al tiqre
The use of the hermeneutic rule called 'al tiqre 10 is a very common
device in targumic interpretation which is also employed by the
ancient versions. Sometimes the translator has apparently read the
word with vowels which were different from those of the MT. For
example, in Jer. 2.36 the verb tezli, 'to be exhausted' (from 'zl) is
vocalized by V and P as tazelli, 'has degraded' (from z//); the Targum
uses a verb ('stkl) with double meaning: 'to be foolish', or 'to look
into', but LXX adopts the active form: 'to deal contemptuously'
(katafroneo). Also in Jer. 6.20 the verb 'to come' is used in qal form
according to MT (tabo', 'You will come'), when the other translations
10. This is one of the rabbinic rules or middot to interpret the Torah. According
to this rule a different reading of any word of the Bible is possible by changing some
of its consonants or vowels for another one of similar sound. See R. Le De"aut,
'Usage implicite de 1'al tiqre dans le Targum de Job de Qumran', in Salvation en la
Palabra. Homenaje al Prof. A. Diez Macho (Madrid, 1986), pp. 419-31; D. Munoz,
Deras. Los caminos y sentidos de la palabra divina en la Escritura (Madrid, 1987),
pp. 92-94.