What is the revelation of the Targum of Job found in cave 11 Qumran?

“The fragments of the Targum of Job does not explain the mystery of suffering, but reveal how a community tried to make it understandable.”

1. What exactly is 11Q10 (11QtgJob)

• Acronym: 11Q10, also designated 11QtgJob (“Targum of Job from the Cave 11”).
• Place: Cave 11 at Qumran, to the north of Khirbet Qumran, on the shore north-west of the Dead Sea.
• Language: aramaic, in writing square (type herodian).
• Gender“translation of Scripture” (targum in a broad sense), not to commentary or pesher.
• Contents retained: fundamentally Job 17-42, that is to say, the final part of the book (forthcoming dialogue, speeches of YHWH, and epilogue).
• State: parchment fragmented, with multiple columns damaged.
• Chronology: period herodian (approx. s. I a. e. c. – s. I. e. c.).

In addition to 11Q10, in Qumran there is another witness aramaic Job:

• 4QtgJob (4Q157): fragments of Job 3-5 in aramaic.

This shows that in the environment of Qumran were, at least, two versions aramaic Jobwhat is a “revelation” important: Job is considered relevant enough to be translated and re-used in that context.

2. Context: what is a targum and why it matters here

A targum it is, in origin, a oral translation into aramaic of the Hebrew scriptures, which was in the synagogue for a population whose everyday language since it was not the Hebrew. With the time, some of these translations are fixed by writing.

11QtgJob is:

• The most ancient testimony and extensive one-targum bible full that we keepprior to the Targumim “rabbinical” classic (Onquelos, Targum Job post, etc).
• A text that does not present the type of expansions midrashic as of the features of the targumim later. That is why some authors prefer to speak of “version aramaic old” more than a targum in the sense rabbinical strict.

In summary: 11Q10 is a privileged window to an early phase of the targum as a phenomenonwhen the priority was to make the text comprehensible to add interpretations long.

3. What part of Job we have, and what enigma poses

What is retained 11Q10 covers, roughly:

• Portions of Job 17-42, that is to say:
  • part of the discussion with friends in the second half of the book,
  • the speeches of God from the whirlwind,
  • a portion of the epilogue.

Enigma 1: why have all the prologue (chs. 1-2) and the first part of the dialogue?

The principal assumptions:

1. Physical loss: the roll was full but they have lost the first columns.
2. Edition partial: would have been deliberately a roll “shortcut” that only included the most philosophical/theological Job (discourses and divine response).
3. Liturgical use or catechetical: maybe it copied only the sections that were read in some kind of liturgical cycle or statement.

We do not have conclusive evidence for any, but the fact that 4QtgJob cover precisely Job 3-5 suggests that there were at least two projects of partial translation of Job in aramaic, each with their own selection of material.

“An old translation does not repeat in a text: the plays to his own time.”

4. Features language: what it reveals about the aramaic of the time

11Q10 is written in:

• Aramaic “official late herodian”, close to that which we see in other aramaic texts from Qumran (e.g. Genesis Apocryphon).

In linguistic terms, the roll:

• Offers lexicon, morphology and syntax we serve as a bridge between the biblical aramaic late and dialects later (targúmicos, syriac, etc).
• Shows that there was already a koine aramaic cultured used to translate Writing, parallel to what was later to be the aramaic of the targumim rabbinical and of the Peshitta.

“Revelation” language: 11QtgJob is a key piece to reconstruct the development of the aramaic literary jewish the time of the Second Temple.

5. How to translate: techniques of the targum of Job 11Q10

Comparative studies (11Q10 vs. Hebrew masoretic, Peshitta, SEPTUAGINT, Targum rabbinical Job) highlight several features:

1. Selective skipping
   • It is the most striking feature: 11QtgJob omitted lines or parts of verses difficult, redundant or problematic.
   • These omissions simplify the text and reduce tensions theological or regions are very dark.
2. Translation relatively free, but not midrásica
   • It allows you to paraphrase and changes semantic to clarify the meaning, but:
   • Do not enter long additional stories, or expansions of doctrine as the targumim classic.
3. Simplification of Hebrew poetic
   • The Hebrew of Job is one of the most difficult and poetry of the Bible.
   • 11QtgJob tends to spend structures poetic dense formulations more prosaic and clearfacilitating hearing/reading for a public speaking aramaic.
4. Changes semantic moderate
   • Sometimes rephrased images or metaphors to make them more accessible or less ambiguous.
   • These changes are theologically relevant because they can tilt the sense the text to a performance concrete.

“Revelation” methodological: the translator works at the level of meaning, not word-by-word; your priority is for the hearer to understand, even at the cost of losing part of the density of the poetry of the original.

“The Targum of Job softens the scream, but does not eliminate the trouble.”

6. Compared with the Peshitta and Targum rabbinical: a version of “intermediate”

Studies of Shepherd and others show that:

• 11Q10 is more like, in certain traits, the Peshitta of Job that the Targum later rabbinical:
  • Matches in elections lexical.
  • Common trend in the harmonization and clarification of the text.
• In contrast, the Targum rabbinical Job (rear) features:
  • More paraphrase doctrinal.
  • More interpretations explicit and developments homiléticos.

This has led some to suggest that both 11QtgJob as the Peshitta could depend on a tradition aramaic ancient common or a “state consent” of the targum of Job, which is now lost.

“Revelation” historical: 11Q10 seems to represent a early stage of the family of translations aramaic Jobbefore the crystallization of the classic versions (Targum rabbinical Peshitta as we know it).

7. How to presents to Job: a Job “more favourable”

Both the list of manuscripts as recent studies agree that 11QtgJob gets a Job in a more favourable that the Hebrew masoretic.

This is seen in:

1. Attenuation of the tone of protest
   • Where the Hebrew sounds very aggressive or almost blasphemous, the aramaic tends to:
     • soften the design,
     • or enter nuances that make a Job less challenging and more pious.
2. Strengthening of the piety of Job
   • Some passages seem to reinforce the righteous character and exemplary of Job, in line with the prologue bible (“a man perfect and upright”), although the prologue is not kept in this roll.
3. Internal consistency of the character
   • The translation seeks that Job appears consistently faithfuleven when expressed suffering, avoiding to look like a rebel against God.

“Revelation” theological: in the judaism of the period of herodian, there is a tendency to “tame” the scandal of Job. Acknowledge their suffering and their protest, but they protect their own statute of fair copy.

8. Riddles theological: suffering, divine justice, and the role of the evil

Although 11Q10 is patchy and does not retain the prologue (where the “satan”), must be interpreted in the broader context of the reception Job in the judaism of the Second Temple:

• In the literature intertestamentaria (e.g. Jubilees, other texts studied in The Many Faces of Job), the suffering of the righteous is reinterpreted often by moving the direct responsibility of God to such figures as Satan or Mastemá, or highlighting the pedagogical test.

In that context:

1. To soften the accusations of Job against God, 11Q10 fit with a theology that:
   • says the goodness of God,
   • you try to preserve your justice in the face of the scandal of the suffering innocent.
2. The omission of difficult passages can be read as a strategy for:
   • avoid formulations that direct you to put in check the theology remuneration classic,
   • or at least to not expose them in a liturgical context or catechetical.
3. The outcome (Job 42) in aramaic
   • Studies on Job 42:6 show the enormous diversity of interpretations (what Job repents?, what console?, do you retract?).
   • 11QtgJob tends to have an ending where reconciliation and rehabilitation of Job are clear, reducing the ambiguity of whether Job “undergoes” or “maintains its cause.”

“Revelation” theological: the translator moves toward a reading that is more conciliatory and orthodox Job, less dangerous doctrinally for a community that continues to believe in a just God who rewards and punishes.

“Each fragment of Qumran is an act of resistance against oblivion.”

9. Riddles philological and textual

In addition to theological issues, 11Q10 poses several puzzles technicians:

1. What Hebrew text had before the translator?
   • When comparing 11QtgJob with the Masoretic Text, the SEPTUAGINT, the Peshitta, and the Targum rabbinical, are detected:
     • readings that appear to be derived from a Vorlage Hebrew slightly different,
     • others which are clearly decisions of the translator (omissions, simplifications).
   • This makes 11Q10 an important source for the textual criticism of Job, although his character-free requires extreme caution.
2. Exact classification of the text
   • Is it really a targum, or a “version aramaic old” independent?
   • Shepherd concludes that, in its way of representing the Hebrew, 11Q10 shares fundamental features with the Peshitta more than with the Targum rabbinical Job, which complicates the label of “targum” as is, used for rabbinical texts later.
3. Fragments of new or little-studied
   • We have identified additional fragments in photographic negatives that belong to 11QtgJob, which keeps adjusting the reconstruction of the roll.

“Revelation” philological: 11Q10 agree to review the history of the old versions of Job and to acknowledge that the transmission of this book was more complex and multifaceted than suggested by the simple contrast MT–LXX–Peshitta.

10. Global importance of the Targum of Job from Qumran

In short, the essential thing you need to know about the “riddles and revelations” of 11Q10 is:

1. It is the most ancient testimony and extensive translation aramaic Jobfrom the environment of Qumran.
2. Shows an early stage of the phenomenon targúmicowith translation relatively free but little midrásica.
3. His technique of translation is characterized by omissions and simplificationswith a focus on clarity about the literalness of poetry.
4. Presents Job in a more favorable and theologically “safe”, softening some of the aspects most outrageous of the book Hebrew.
5. Has a key place in the history text of the Job, showing a special relationship with the Peshitta and traditions aramaic prior to the targum rabbinic.
6. Reflects the struggle of the judaism of the Second Temple by integrating the problem of the suffering innocent in a theological framework that continues to affirm the divine justice and mercy for the righteous.

“The broken fragments of Job in Qumran reveal a faith that seeks meaning even in the loss.”