in the Bomberg and other editions of that paraphrast. The lesser prophets have been often printed collectively or separately.* The whole twelvet at Paris, in 1557. Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, at Paris, in 1552. Hosea, without mention of place, in 1556. Hosea, with the commentaries of Aben Ezra, Solomon Jarchi, and Kimchi, at Helmstadt, in 1702.j

[a) GESENIUS, (agreeing with PRIDEAUX, P. II. B. viii. Anno 37. p. 531, 542-545.) maintains the correctness of the opinion that Jonathan Ben Uzziel lived a short time before the birth of Christ. Jesaia, Einleit. 11. Th. I. S. 65. ff. Tr.]

§ 48.

Targum of the Pseudo-Jonathan on the Pentateuch. There is a Targum on the Pentateuch which is ascribed to the same Jonathan that paraphrased the Prophets; but that it is not his is proved not only by the language, which contains a greater number of foreign terms, and by the inferiority of the style, but also by the number of tales and dialogues which are inserted in it, and by the frequent errors which betray a gross ignorance of the Hebrew language, or an extreme degree of negligence. The confounding of the Hebrew Gen. xxxv. 8, with the Greek aλλov, and translating it, is a remarkable instance. Besides, the mention of Constan tinople and of the Turks, Gen. x. 2, and Lombards, Num. xxiv. 24, are proofs that it was not written before the seventh or eighth century. It seems, however, to have been compiled from older interpretations.

§ 49. Jerusalem Targum of the Pentateuch.

The Jerusalem Targum contains interpretations of select passages only of the Pentateuch. These generally agree with those of the Pseudo-Jonathan; and when they differ, they are not better. The language is full of Greek, Latin, and Persian words. This work is more modern than that of the Pseudo-Jonathan, or certainly not more ancient. It seems to have been compiled, however, from more ancient works, and hence contains many sentences which are found

* [Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, and Jonah, by Robert. Stephens in 1546. Tr.] [Under the care of Mercer. Tr.] [By Herman Von der Hardt. Tr.]

§ [ And again, under the care of J. D. Michaelis, at Goettingen, 1775. Tr.]

in the New Testament, having probably been common among the Jews of that age; such as "the first and second death," Rev. xx. 6, 14; "our Father in heaven," Matt. vi. 9; "who is, and was, and is to come," Rev. i. 4; "with what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again," Luke vi. 38.

This Targum has always been printed with those of Onkelos and the Pseudo-Jonathan.

§ 50. The other Chaldee Paraphrases.

The other Chaldee paraphrases are neither older nor better than the preceding, but abound with digressions and fictions. There are paraphrases of Psalms, Job, and Proverbs, which are attributed by the Jews to Joseph the Blind, who is said to have taught in the third century at Sora in Babylonia: but they contain many things which are more recent than that age, and occasionally exhibit two different interpretations of a single passage, which proves that they are a collection of ancient interpretations. DATHE (Opusc. p. 106-129) has shown that the paraphrase of Proverbs has been made from the Peshito Syriac version. In addition to the preceding there are three paraphrases of the book of Esther, and a fourth of the additions to that book; a Targum on the Megilloth, viz. the books of Ruth, Esther, Canticles, Lamentations, and Ecclesiastes; and a Targum on the Chronicles. There is no paraphrase of Daniel. Ezra, or Nehemiah.

§ 51. Peshito Syriac Version.[a]

The Syriac version which is called

Peshito, (i. e. Sim

All

ple,) is carried back by the Syrians sometimes to the age of Solomon, sometimes to the time of the overthrow of the kingdom of Israel, and sometimes to the days of Thaddeus the Apostle.* that is certain respecting it is, that about the middle of the 4th century it was cited by Ephrem the Syrian (who died A. D. 379,) as widely circulated and well known to every body: it must, therefore, have been much older than his time, and perhaps belongs to the se

[* Abulfaragius in ЕICHн. § 259. Tr.]

cond century. This conjecture is the more probable, as that century may almost be called the age of versions, and as the Syrian church was then in a very flourishing state, had at Edessa a church built after the model of the temple of Jerusalem, and would hardly have been without a translation of the Old Testament, the reading of which in the churches had been introduced by the Apostles.That it is derived immediately from the Hebrew text, is proved by many readings which can only be explained from the Hebrew: yet it manifests some affinity with the Alexandrine version, partly because the translator or translators have occasionally consulted that version, and partly because the Syrians have subsequently corrected their version very greatly by the Alexandrine.The translation is exceedingly good, yet not equal in every book; the manner of translating is different in the Pentateuch from that in Chronicles: and in Ecclesiastes and Canticles, as well as in the first chapter of Genesis, some Chaldaisms occur: hence the version seems to have been the work of more than one author.

The Peshito was first printed in the Paris Polyglot, from an imperfect MS., the deficiencies of which were supplied, with great want of critical acumen, by translations from the Latin Vulgate by Gabriel Sionita, the editor. This text was copied in the London Polyglot, but with corrections, and additions of what was wanting in the MS., from four other MSS. [The Psalms have been printed separately; at Mount Libanus in 1585, folio, and again in 1610; at Paris, from three MSS. by Gabriel Sionita in 1626, in 4to.; and at Leyden from two MSS., by Erpenius, in 1625. The text of Erpenius was reprinted at Leipzig, in 1768, in 8vo., with various readings from the London Polyglot and with critical notes by Dathe. The Pentateuch was published after the text of the London Polyglot, with various readings by G. G. Kirsch, at Leipzig, 1787, in 4to.]

[a) On the subject of this and the next section, Comp. HORNE Vol. II. pp. 187–190. CARPZ. P. II. Cap. V. § 2. p. 622–640. EICHH. § 246— 274. BAUER, § 82-86. SIMON, L. II. c. xv. Tr.]

§ 52. Mediate Syriac Versions.

The other Syriac versions have been made from the Alexandrine version:* the following are the principal.

* [And therefore they are called mediate, as those made directly from the original are denominated immediate. Tr.]

A

I. The Syriac Hexaplar with all the marks used in the edition of Eusebius and Pamphilus, was translated (if we may believe the subscription to the Paris manuscript of the second book of Kings) by Paul of Tela in the year 617. Comp. EICHHORN and BRUNS in Repert. für bibl. und morgenl. Literat. VII. Th. S. 225-250. and BRUNS in VIII. Th. S. 85-112: also HASSE Specimen libri IV. Regum Syro-Hexapl. 1782. Jena. A manuscript copy of this version, of the 8th or 9th century, is preserved in the Milan library; it comprises only the second part of the bible (EICHн. Repert. III. Th. S. 166-213): the first part was contained in a manuscript formerly in the possession of Masius, which has not as yet been found. The 2d or 4th book of Kings and the book of Daniel are found in a MS. marked No. 5. in the Imperial library at Paris. Jeremiah and Ezekiel have been published from the Milan MS. by Norberg, in Sweden, in 1787; and Daniel, from the same MS. by Bugati at Milan, in 1788. ROSEN. Handbuch für die Lit. der. Bib. Krit. iii. Th. S. 30 --36.

II. The Philoxenian Version, derives its name from Philoxenus bishop of Hierapolis in the province of Aleppo between 488 and 518. He, however, is not the author, but through his influence his suffragan bishop Polycarp undertook and completed the task. This version is very literal.

III. An anonymous version used by the western Syrians, which from Pocock's reading and interpretation of a passage of Abulfaragius,

وصاحب صور السبعيني

og has been called The Figu

rative, (Figurata;) but the celebrated De Sacy, Professor of the Arabic and Persian languages at Paris, in a letter dated the 24th of January, 1803, informs me, that this passage is not so read in the manuscripts of Abulfaragius which are preserved at Paris, but in two runs thus,

and in three صاحب صور السبعيني

according to صاحب صور والسبعبني ,others thus

which Abulfaragius will say, that the western Syrians possessed two versions, the one called the Peshito, and made from the Hebrew text, according to some in the time of Thaddeus the Apostle,

according to others in the age of Solomon the son of David and of Hiram King of Tyre; and the other made from the Septuagint. De Sacy, by whom this version has been examined, thinks it originated in the 3d or 4th century; but according to the subscription, Jacob of Edessa, in the year 708 or 712, in the monastery of Teleda, altered it from the Hexaplar text, and frequently from the Peshito version.

The version made by Mar Abbas, who died A. D. 552, called the Karkuphensian or the Karkaphensian, and used by the Nestorians who live among the mountains; the version of Thomas of Heraclea, who died A. D. 533; and that of the Psalms by Simeon, abbot of the monastery of St. Licinius, are only known by name. Comp. Bar Hebraeus or Abulfaragius in Horreo mysteriorum, ASSEMANI Biblioth. Orient. T. II. p. 283, 411-413. T. III. P. I. p. 57. ss. T. I. p. 493, 612. and T. II. p. 83.

§ 53. Arabic Versions from the Hebrew text. [a]

The following Arabic versions have been made from the Hebrew text.

I. A Version or Paraphrase of the Pentateuch and Isaiah, by Saadias Gaon, a native of Phithom, a city of the province of Phijum* in Egypt, who taught in Babylonia, and died in 942. The Pentateuch has been published in Hebrew characters at Constantinople in 1546, and in Arabic characters in the London and Paris Polyglots : Isaiah was published at Jena, 1790-91, by E. G. Paulus. While delivering lectures on this version I have observed that its style is not pure, and have since found the same observation made by SIMON, Hist. Crit. L. II. c. xix. Saadias translated also Job and the Psalms, as Abulfaragius informs us: DE SACY, Chrestom. Arab. T. II. p. 495. s. The translation of Job has been found in the Bodleian library in England; Cod. Hunting. 511.

II. A version of the Pentateuch was published by Erpenius at Leyden, in 1662, which seems to have been made by an African Jew in the 13th century. It follows the Hebrew text very closely.

The other Arabic versions from the Hebrew are little known. A translation of the Pentateuch, the Psalms, and Daniel, made by Saadias

* [Now called Fayoum. Tr.]