Targum Onkelos

Targum Onqelos

Anonymous / tradition (attributed legendarily to a convert named Onkelos, sometimes confused in later tradition with the 2nd-century Bible translator Aquila of Sinope) · c. AD 100-400 · Babylonia (Iraq) · scripture

The authoritative Aramaic translation of the Pentateuch used in Babylonian rabbinic Judaism renders the Hebrew closely but systematically softens anthropomorphic language about God, the product of a centuries-long editorial process rather than a single translator's single-date work. Its Palestinian-Aramaic exegetical core reflects earlier Roman-era Judea, redacted into final form later in Babylonia.