Path: shell.portal.com!shell.portal.com!not-for-mail From: nagasiva Newsgroups: alt.religion.christian,talk.religion.misc,alt.magick.tyagi,alt.atheism,alt.bible Subject: JSmith: Bible History Date: 11 Apr 1996 01:24:54 -0700 Organization: Portal Communications (shell) Lines: 55 Sender: tyagi@shell.portal.com Message-ID: <4kifkm$gk@jobe.shell.portal.com> Reply-To: Jeffrey Smith NNTP-Posting-Host: jobe.shell.portal.com Xref: shell.portal.com alt.religion.christian:110025 talk.religion.misc:213518 alt.magick.tyagi:7583 alt.atheism:285907 alt.bible:1528 [Reposted with standing permission] ~From: Jeffrey Smith To: fiatlvx elist ~Date: Sun, 31 Mar 1996 20:39:50 -0500 (EST) To briefly recapitulate the history of the Bible: The Scriptures were written by God and the Prophets, or else various other people [if your theology is sufficiently liberal], in Hebrew. Hebrew was the main spoken language of the Jewish people until some time in the Second Temple period, and remained a living language, albeit no one's native language (that we know of), with continued development as a vernacular, throughout the centuries thereafter (unlike, say, Sanskrit or Latin, but much like Greek, though with lesser changes over time). Aramaic became the daily language for the Jews of Southwest Asia, just as it was the daily language of most of their neighbors--barring the Greeks and those indiginous (Sp?) communities that used Greek. Therefore, the Rabbis developed Targumim--official translations into Aramaic to be delivered with the Hebrew text on public occasions. [If you were able to study it, you could study it in Hebrew anyway]. The best known of these is that of Onkelos, attributed to a convert [supposedly a relative of Hadrian]. The targum Onkelos has often been used to decide how the rabbis felt a particular passage should be interpreted. The LXX was in origin a Greek targum, although eventually disavowed when it was adopted by the Christian community, and when Greek speaking Jews became a less important segment of the Jewish people. There are several versions of the Hebrew text. The rabbis developed one recension, known as the Masoretic text. But we know of others, most notably the Samaritan and the version on which, apparently, the LXX is based. Judaism today recognizes the Masoretic text only as the authentic text of Scripture, although reference to the others is not unknown among even the most Orthodox inclined academics. The King James was translated from the Masoretic text *I believe*, with reference to the LXX and others. The same is also true [again, *I believe*] of St. Jerome's version of the Vulgate. The Peshitta is [I am very unfamiliar with it] apparently an targum made independent of the Rabbinic tradition, and I am not sure if it was derived from the Masoretic text or another version of the Hebrew. But if you are interested in the Aramaic text, consult Onkelos as well. Also remember that Aramaic is not far removed from Hebrew itself. It sounds like a polysyllabic dialectal form, although I don't want to assert that it is mutually understandable with Hebrew. The major portion of the Talmud, the Gemara, is in Aramaic, as is the Zohar (in a medieval pastiche heavily laced with Hebrew, it seems). The well known prayers called the Kaddish and Kol Nidre are also in Aramaic, if you have a Hebrew prayerbook available. May the Divine Compassion be upon you and upon us all. Jeffrey Smith f901030k@bcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us They sought it with thimbles, they sought it with care; They pursued it with forks and with hope; They threatened its life with a railway share; They charmed it with smiles and soap.