The Rabbis on the Origins of the Targumim

R. Jeremiah said, and some say [that it was] R. Ḥiyya bar Abba [who said]: The [Aramaic] translation of the Torah [used in the synagogues] was composed by Onkelos the convert based on [the teachings of] R. Eliezer and R. Joshua. The [Aramaic] translation of the Prophets was composed by Jonathan ben Uzziel based on [a tradition going back to the last prophets], Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. [The Gemara relates that when Jonathan ben Uzziel wrote his translation,] Erets Yisrael quaked [over an area of] four hundred parasangs by four hundred parasangs, [and] a Divine Voice emerged and said: Who is this who has revealed My secrets to mankind?

Jonathan ben Uzziel stood up on his feet and said: I am the one who has revealed Your secrets to mankind [through my translation. However,] it is revealed and known to You that I did this not for my [own] honor, and not for the honor of the house of [my] father, but rather [it was] for Your honor [that] I did this, so that discord not increase among the Jewish people. [In the absence of an accepted translation, people will disagree about the meaning of obscure verses, but with a translation, the meaning will be clear.]

And [Jonathan ben Uzziel] also sought to reveal a translation of the Writings, [but] a Divine Voice emerged and said to him: It is enough for you [that you translated the Prophets]. What is the reason [that he was denied permission to translate the Writings]? Because it has in it [a revelation of] the end, [when the] Messiah [will arrive. The end is foretold in a cryptic manner in the book of Daniel, and were the book of Daniel translated, the end would become manifestly revealed to all].

Was the translation of the Torah [really] composed by Onkelos the convert? Didn’t R. Ika bar Avin say [that] R. Ḥananel said [that] Rav said: What is [the meaning of that] which is written [with respect to the days of Ezra]: And they read in the book, the Torah of God, distinctly [meforash]; and they gave the sense, and they caused them to understand the reading (Nehemiah 8:8)? [The verse should be understood as follows:] And they read in the book, the Torah of God, this is the [scriptural] text; distinctly, this is the translation, [indicating that they immediately translated the text into Aramaic, as was customary during public Torah readings].

And they gave the sense, these are [the divisions of the text into separate] verses. And they caused them to understand the reading, these are the cantillation notes, [through which the meaning of the text is further clarified]. And some say [that] these are the [Masoretic] traditions [with regard to the manner in which each word is to be written. This indicates that the Aramaic translation already existed at the beginning of the Second Temple period, well before the time of Onkelos. The Gemara answers:] The [ancient Aramaic translation] was forgotten and then [Onkelos came and] reestablished it.