Any of several translations of the Hebrew scriptures or its parts into Aramaic.
The earliest date from after the Babylonian Exile and were designed to meet the needs of uneducated Jews who did not know Hebrew. After the destruction of the Second Temple of Jerusalem (AD 70), Targums became established in synagogue s, where scripture was read aloud with a translation in Aramaic. These readings eventually incorporated paraphrase and commentary. Targums were regarded as authoritative throughout the Talmudic period (see Talmud ) and began to be committed to writing in the 5th century.