In the last few centuries B.C.E., the Jews who lived to the northand east of Judea found the Hebrew Bible difficult to understand, for their spokenlanguage had become largely Aramaic. Translations into Aramaic, first of theTorah and then the rest of the Bible (Nevi'im and K'tuvim), became known as the Targums. The Septuagintand the Targums are not only the oldest translations of the Bible but also themost influential. Christian translators were influenced by the interpretationof the Hebrew text set forth in the Targums (much of it in oral form at thetime).¹

The earliest Targum, which is on the Pentateuch, began to becommitted to writing about the second century C.E. It did not supersede the oralTargum at once as it was strictly forbidden to read it in public. Its languageis Chaldee.²

1. New JPS Version, 1988. Preface, xv and xvi.
2. Smith's Bible Dictionary. Zondervan, 1948. Page 727.