In the last few centuries B.C.E., the Jews who lived to the north and east of Judea found the Hebrew Bible difficult to understand, for their spoken language had become largely Aramaic. Translations into Aramaic, first of the Torah and then the rest of the Bible (Nevi'im and K'tuvim), became known as the Targums. The Septuagint and the Targums are not only the oldest translations of the Bible but also the most influential. Christian translators were influenced by the interpretation of the Hebrew text set forth in the Targums (much of it in oral form at the time).¹

The earliest Targum, which is on the Pentateuch, began to be committed to writing about the second century C.E. It did not supersede the oral Targum at once as it was strictly forbidden to read it in public. Its language is Chaldee.²

1. New JPS Version, 1988. Preface, xv and xvi.
2. Smith's Bible Dictionary. Zondervan, 1948. Page 727.