The English Targum

"Targum" simply means "translation." In the early centuries following the Apostolic Age, the Jews needed a translation of the Ancient Aramaic Scriptures into the vernacular of the day, so they could better understand them. This was the beginning of the Targum. It was made in the Aramaic language of the day, whereas the Ancient Aramaic was the language of Ancient Nineveh or, in other words, the Ancient Hebrew spoken by Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

The relationship of the language of the Targum to the language of the Ancient Aramaic Scriptures is like Middle English to Old English. The evolution of the language of the Scriptures from the Ancient Aramaic of the Old Testament to the Ancient Aramaic of the New Testament follows a similar pattern as the development of the English language. There's about five centuries in-between, so the language is a little different in vocabulary.

In the Greek and Latin versions, these distinctions are lost. The Greek and Latin translations have no linguistic evolution over the thousands of years that it took for the Books of the Bible to be recorded and compiled in their present form. Therefore, it's difficult for modern translators to understand what my translation is all about. It's easier to just ignore it.

However, what I'm doing is essentially making the English Targum directly from the original Texts of the Scriptures.

This process of translating from the evolving language of the Scriptures has become apparent as I'm translating the Book of Isaiah. It's interesting that this Scripture was left un-codified for the most part because it was in verse and not easily distortable.

With the advent of Islam in the 6th Century AD, there was the need to create another scripture, namely the Qur'an. After the turmoil that followed the conquest of the Fertile Crescent and the Middle East by the Arabs, the Jews and the Christians came under persecution in their own lands. For the most part, the Jews fled to Europe and the Christians remained in the Middle East. The prophet Mohammed was familiar with the Scriptures. He retained certain personalities of the Christian Bible in the Qur'an. He made Jesus into a prophet like Moses. He even wrote of Mary the mother of Jesus.

The Jews in Europe translated most of the Old Testament into the Hebrew of their day. They abandoned the Ashurit script or the Ktav Ashurit and used the Classical Hebrew script. Today modern scholars and seminarians study this Hebrew language in their attempt to translate and interpret the Scriptures.

That is why Western Christianity, modern Judaism and Islam are using different religious texts and not the original Scriptures. Of course, they all think that they are closer to the truth, but sadly they are closer only to their own beliefs. With the political situation being what it is, we can only preach toleration toward all religions; but if you want to know the truth about the Scriptures, you have to go back to the original language, the Ancient Aramaic. What I'm providing you is a non-political Targum of the Bible in the English language.

My translations aren't as widely appreciated as they should be because I'm not an official translator for any denomination. However, I've made some significant discoveries and clarified thousands of passages in the Scriptures.

Sometimes I think that languages after the Ancient Aramaic were invented to distort the Scriptures, and thus paradoxically to preserve the truth, the truth that subsequently is communicated by the Holy Spirit through the gift of tongues and interpretation. Thus, I believe the Holy Spirit can interpret the Scriptures in any language.

Still, the Scriptures have their value in communicating the knowledge of God to the masses. Not everyone can speak in tongues or interpret them. The Scriptures are complicated; some confusion goes with the territory.

For example, the Koine Greek was closer to the Ancient Aramaic than modern Greek is, just as the Hebrew vernacular of the 1st Century AD was closer to the Ancient Aramaic of its day than today's Hebrew is. Yet, people keep e-mailing me, saying that the Old Testament was first recorded in Hebrew and the New Testament was first recorded in Greek. Well, they are neither in the sense of the modern Hebrew, nor the modern Greek. In the same way, modern Aramaic or modern Syriac isn't the same language as the Ancient Aramaic or Ashurit. It's like comparing modern English to Old English. There's very little in common. Simply put, someone who speaks modern English today can't understand Old English, unless he or she study it diligently.