The Aramaic Bible

Volume 1A

Targum Neofiti 1: Genesis

Translated, with Apparatus and Notes

by

Martin McNamara, M.S.C.

The Aramaic Bible

• THE TARGUMS •

PROJECT DIRECTOR

Martin McNamara, M.S.C.

editors

Kevin Cathcart • Michael Maher, M.S.C.

Martin McNamara, M.S.C.

editorial consultants

Daniel J. Harrington, S.J. • Bernard Grossfeld

First published in 1992 by The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota 56321.

Copyright © 1992 by The Order of St. Benedict, Inc., Collegeville, Minnesota. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bible. O.T. Genesis. English. McNamara. 1992.

Targum Neofiti 1: Genesis / translated, with apparatus and notes by Martin McNamara.

p. cm.—(The Aramaic Bible: the Targums; v. 1A)

“A Michael Glazier book.”

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-8146-5476-2:

1. Bible. O.T. Genesis. Aramaic.—Targum Yerushalmi—Translations into English. 2. Bible. O.T. Genesis. Aramaic.—Targum Yerushalmi—Criticism, Textual. I. McNamara, Martin. II. Title. III. Series: Bible. O.T. English. Aramaic Bible.

1987; v. 1A.

BS709.2.B5 1987 vol. 1A

[BS1233]

221.4ʹ2 s—dc20

[222ʹ.11042]

91-43157

CIP

Logo design by Florence Bern.

Typography by Graphic Sciences Corporation, Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Dedicated to

michael glazier,

the resource behind the Aramaic Bible Series.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Editors’ Foreword

Preface

Abbreviations

Introduction

I. Title and Concept: “Palestinian Targums,” “Targum Yerushalmi”

II. History of the Term and of Research in the Field

III. Manuscripts of the Palestinian Targums

IV. Indirect Transmission: Palestinian Targum Citations

V. Language of the Palestinian Targums

VI. Uniformity and Diversity in the Palestinian Targums

VII. Translation and Paraphrase Techniques of the Palestinian Pentateuch Targums

VIII. Divine Names in the Palestinian Targums

IX. Messiah, the Torah, Prayer, and Good Deeds in Neofiti

X. Relation of the Palestinian Targums to Rabbinic Judaism

XI. Age and Origin of the Palestinian Pentateuch Targums

XII. Palestinian Targums of the Pentateuch: Conclusion

Brief Introduction to the Palestinian Targums of Genesis

Index of Verses Preserved in the Fragment-Targums of Genesis

Catalogue of Cairo Genizah Fragments of Palestinian Targums of Genesis

Translation

Select Bibliography

Indexes

EDITORS’ FOREWORD

While any translation of the Scriptures may in Hebrew be called a Targum, the word is used especially for a translation of a book of the Hebrew Bible into Aramaic. Before the Christian era Aramaic had in good part replaced Hebrew in Palestine as the vernacular of the Jews. It continued as their vernacular for centuries later and remained in part as the language of the schools after Aramaic itself had been replaced as the vernacular....