The Aramaic Bible: Targums in their Historical Context

RibERA The Targum: From Translation to Interpretation 223
'appoint' ('appoint war-makers against her', Jer. 6.4; 22.7); 'lady'
becomes 'queen' (Targ., LXX and P Jer. 29.2) 'eunuchs' are modified
by 'princes' (LXX and Targ. Jer. 34.19; 38.7) 19 , 'the potter's stones'
are detailed in the 'potter's wheel' (P, V and Targ. 18.3); 'outstretched
arm' becomes 'uplifted arm' (LXX, P and Targ. Jer. 27.5; 32.17);
'enquire' is understood as 'pray' (P, and Targ. Jer. 21.2). Targum and
P identify 'the man of God' with 'the prophet of the Lord' (Jer. 35.4).
The meaning of natan, 'to give', is often emphasized, changing this
verb to mesar, 'to hand over' (Targ., P, LXX and sometimes V;
Jer. 22.25; 32.3, 4, 24, 25, 28, 43). 20 Targum and P stress the
juridical value of the phrase 'they proclaimed a fast' (Jer. 36.9) by
reading 'they decreed a fast'. The verb nts, 'pluck up', twice in the
same verse (Jer. 12.14), is rendered by Targum and LXX in a realistic
way 'carry away'. Likewise the phrase 'with the dance of those who
laugh', 31.4 (in V we find in choro ludentium), receives a liturgical
feature in other versions: 'with the company or assembly of those who
praise'. 21 By inserting a messianic meaning P and Targum translate
'addir, 'the mighty one' of Jer. 30.21 as 'king'. We may also mention
passages in which the translators give a moral meaning to the text; in
this fashion the phrase 'remove the foreskin of your heart' (Jer. 4.4)
is understood by LXX 'remove the hardness of your heart' and by
Targum 'remove the wickedness of your heart'; and 'sheep' is
rendered by Targum and LXX as 'people' (Jer. 23.3).
There is also found the change of Gentilic names ('Ethiopian' in Jer.
13.23 is read by P and Targum as 'Indian'); or topographical ones
('Caftor' of Jer. 47.4 becomes in P, V and Targum 'Cappadocia';
Targum and P render the proper name of Necao by 'the Lame one',
Jer. 46.2).
To the same end, the translators occasionally add a certain noun,
verb or particle to the Hebrew text. So LXX, P and Targum speak not
only of Jerusalem but of 'inhabitants of Jerusalem' (Jer. 4.3);
'thousands' becomes 'thousands of generations' in P and Targum;
LXX, P and Targum add the verb 'take' in the phrase 'take with you
19. See R. Hayward, The Targum of Jeremiah (Edinburgh, 1987), p. 153, n. 5.
P translates srys of Jer. 34.19 as 'faithful'.
20. H.B. Swete, An Introduction to the Old Testament Greek (New York, 1968,
repr. from 1902), p. 328, notes that LXX has at least 30 ways of translating the verb
ntn.
11. The Targum and P read bsyPt/bknwst' msbhyn.