Early Medieval Bible Translations and Commentaries

Early Judeo-Arabic Translations of the Bible

The first medieval biblical translations were composed in Judeo-Arabic in the ninth century. These are comparable to the Aramaic biblical translations (Targums) of the late antique period. Unlike some of the medieval Targums, which interspersed their translations with interpretations and exegesis, the Arabic translations generally rendered the Bible literally, replacing each Hebrew word with an Arabic equivalent. Although not the first attempt to render the biblical text into Judeo-Arabic, Se‘adya’s translation was very popular and exerted widespread influence. He, too, tended toward a literal translation of the Bible and, in general, offered paraphrases only when a literal translation would render the passage meaningless or irrational, or contradict what he regarded to be the authoritative rabbinic interpretation. Through his translation, Se‘adya also prompted the standardization of the writing of Arabic words in Hebrew characters, which was a crucial milestone in the development of Judeo-Arabic as a major idiom for Jewish religious and cultural expression down to modern times.

Karaite Bible Commentaries

Non-midrashic biblical commentary first arose among Karaites in ninth-century Iraq, was embraced thereafter by Rabbanites, and gradually moved westward. Karaites, including the well-known exegete Yefet ben Eli al-Baṣrī, wrote voluminous Judeo-Arabic biblical commentaries, spurred by their desire to read the Bible apart from rabbinic tradition—in other words, in opposition to Rabbanite methodology. Many of these texts have been published in recent years. The works of Se‘adya and other Judeo-Arabic authors feature an interweaving of philosophy, grammar, theology, and other disciplines, offering substantially new perspectives on the biblical text.

Why Translate the Bible into Judeo-Arabic?

The decision to write in Judeo-Arabic reflected the cultural milieu in which these authors lived. Arabic, for nearly everyone living under Islam, was the language of writing—although for Jews, Hebrew remained the language of poetry, liturgy, and (usually but not always) Jewish law. Jews in Christian Europe usually did not know Arabic, and they read Judeo-Arabic texts only in Hebrew translation. Later biblical commentators, even those from Arabic-speaking lands, wrote in Hebrew to ensure that their works would be read across the Jewish world.

Different Approaches to Interpretation

Medieval Jewish biblical commentary also reflects diverse methods of interpretation. Philological commentaries composed in Spain and the Muslim East focus on lexical, grammatical, and syntactic questions. Ashkenazic peshat (plain meaning) exegesis, which begins with Solomon ben Isaac (Rashi) in the eleventh century, addresses a wider range of issues but operates within tighter methodological constraints than those reflected in traditional midrashic interpretation. In the Islamic world, creative Jewish philosophical interpretations were inspired by the Greco-Arabic traditions. Finally, many commentaries across the Jewish world featured a polemical component, directed at Christian, Muslim, Rabbanite, or Karaite ideas and interpretations.