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Targums, Aramaic Bible Paraphrases in Yeshua's Time

November 2nd, 2010 | 2 Comments

The gospel writers occasionally use Aramaic, such as the famous talitha cumi of Mark 5:41 or Eli, Eli, lama sabach-thani? of Matthew 27:46 and the corresponding Eloi of Mark 15:34. In spite of some evidence of popular use of Hebrew in certain circles, it is nearly unanimous amongst scholars that Aramaic was the common language of Israelites in Yeshua's time (and Hebrew a religious language). The Targums are paraphrases of the Bible (loose translations with comments inserted, rather like study Bibles). Our manuscripts of the Targums are mostly from the Middle Ages. But were there Targums in use in Yeshua's time? ... Read entire article >>

Filed under: Aramaic , Background to Gospels , Hebrew Bible as Testimony , Language and Literacy