Isaiah in Aramaic

This chapter begins with a description of the variety of ancient Aramaic translations of Isaiah: Targum Jonathan of the Prophets, the Targumic Toseftot to Isaiah, and Aramaic quotations of Isaiah in Rabbinic and Medieval Jewish literature. The sources, provenances, and purposes of each is reviewed. The main part of the chapter focuses on Targum Jonathan, which represents the greater part of the Aramaic material on Isaiah. Targum Jonathan encodes an understanding of Isaiah that is shared by many communities across many centuries, an understanding that is kept alive because it is rehearsed again and again even today. Bracketing questions of historical development, this chapter summarizes Targum Jonathan’s unique understanding of five of Isaiah’s major foci (God, Israel, Zion and Temple, Messiah, and the Afterlife), as they are reflected in the completed Targum.