The Aramaic Bible: Targums in their Historical Context

408 The Aramaic Bible: Targums in their Historical Context
Greek. Perhaps it is here too that the proper assessment of the
revision attributed to Theodotion belongs. Certainly we may revise
Thackeray's patronizing verdict:
The work of Theodotion of Ephesus was little more than a revision of the
LXX or of other lost versions. A successful plagiarist, he is best known
for his habit of transliteration, in other words the evasion of the translator's
function. 14
Thackeray has begged the question. Was it really the intention of
the Theodotionic reviser or revisers to produce a new original translation,
or did they wish to conserve the old translation which they
venerated? Max Margolis, a great Septuagint scholar, compared
Theodotion's work to that of the revisers of the English translation in
the nineteenth century. 'A certain sacredness imparts itself to the
translations, and a translation of Scriptures once established may be
recast and improved in accordance with progressive better knowledge,
but in a conservative spirit and leaving intact as much as possible.' 15
Possible Functions of the Greek Translation in the Liturgy
The translation of the Torah into Greek is the only translation of the
Torah approved by Rabbi Simeon ben Gamaliel II (m. Meg. 1.8).
That the same was true as late as the third century is suggested by at
least one rabbinic statement when the pronouncement 'The only language
into which the Torah can be adequately translated is Greek'
y. Meg. 1.9 16 is attributed to R. Abbahu. To what extent is this distinguishing
between 'translation' and any other activity? Perhaps the
clearest conclusion is that only Greek may replace Hebrew for the
reading of the Pentateuch (R. Judah, b. Meg. 1.8). This statement may
also be seen as a rejection of translations into languages other than
Greek, such as Aramaic. In the context of what seems to be a rejection
of the use of Aramaic altogether we note the remark of R. Jehudah
ha-Nasi' in b. B. Qam. 82b 'Why speak in Israel the language of the
14. H.StJ. Thackeray, The Septuagint and Jewish Worship: A Study in Origins
(London: The British Academy, 1920), p. 14.
15. M. Margolis, 'Presidential address, Delivered at the 21st meeting of the
Palestine Oriental Society, January 8th 1925', JPOS 5 (1925), pp. 62-63.
16. See N.R.M. de Lange, Orlgen and the Jews: Studies in Jewish-Christian
Relations in Third-Century Palestine (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1976), p. 56 and p. 178 n. 55.