The Aramaic Bible: Targums in their Historical Context

80 The Aramaic Bible: Targums in their Historical Context
3. In the Middle There Were Polyglot and Rabbinic Bibles
We started the first point of this study with the Aramaic Bible in its
first stage, in the MSS. The second stage is the moment when the
Aramaic Bible was printed. Two simultaneous movements occurred.
The Jews prepared a synoptic publication of the Bible: the results can
be seen in the First and Second Biblia Rabbinica, and the Textus
Receptus (Hebrew text, Aramaic text and commentaries, with Masora
parva and magna), which is the Jewish Bible, with the Jewish Canon
of the 24 books. The Christians also worked in a synoptic edition of
the Bible, but with other prevailing concerns; they added the main
translations to the Hebrew original. In both cases the groups looked
for a more complete understanding of the original text: the Jews
through the commentaries, the Christians through the ancient versions;
both were looking for a clarification of the biblical message.
The Rabbinic Bibles (Mikra 'ot Gedolot)
Daniel Bomberg (died between 1549 and 1553) was one of the first,
and the most prominent, Christian printers of Hebrew books. He left
his native Antwerp when he was still a young man, and settled in
Venice. Well educated, with a good knowledge of Hebrew, he spent
his fortune on printing Hebrew books. About 200 Hebrew books,
were published, most of them for the first time, at Bomberg's printing
Academic Press, 1975, 117 pp.). Hagiographa: E. Levine, The Aramaic Version of
Ruth (Analecta Biblica 58; Rome: Biblical Institute Press, 1973); idem, The Aramaic
Version of Lamentations (New York: Hermon Press, 203 pp.); idem, The Aramaic
Version of Qohelet (New York: Hermon Press, 1978: Ginsburg's translation,
commentary, and a photocopy of the Aramaic text, not a transcription); L. Diez
Merino, Targum al Cantar de los Cantares (Texto arameo del ctfdice Urbinati 1 y su
traduccion)', Anuario de Filologia, 7 (Barcelona, 1981), pp. 237-84; idem, 'Fuente
historica desconcida para el periodo macabaico: Megillat Antiochus', in Servidor de
la Palabra (Miscelanea Biblica en honor del P. Alberto Colunga O.P.; Salamanca:
Editorial San Esteban, 1979), pp. 127-65; idem, 'El Targum de Rut. Estado de la
cuestion y traduccion castellana', in El Misterio de la Palabra (Homenaje de sus
alumnos al Professor D. Luis Alonso Schokel al cumplir veinticinco anos de
magisterio en el Instituto Bfblico Pontificio; ed. V. Collado and E. Zurro, Madrid;
Ediciones Cristiandad, 1983), pp. 245-65 (Spanish translation, without the Aramaic
text); R. Le Deaut, and J. Robert, Targum des Chroniques. I. Introduction et
Traduction. II. Texte et Glossaire (Rome: Biblical Institute Press, 1971).