RE'NDERING OF PARALLELISTIC STRUCTURES

IN THE TARGUM NEOFITI:

THE SONG OF MOSES (Deuteronomy 32:1-43) *

1. Purpose of this study.

2. Song of Mos·es.
2.1. · Poetic structures.
2.2. Textual variants.
3. Dt 32: 1-43 in the Hebrew original and in the Targum Neofiti.
4. Non-parallelistic structures.
4.1. Isolated colon (32: 14e).
4.2. Non-parallelistic bicola (32:3ab; 4ab and 4cd; 6ab; scd.. 14ab
and 14cd; 17ab and 17cd; 19ab; 24de; 27ab and 27cd; 31ab;
35ab; 39s; 43ab and 43cd).
5; · Parallelistic structures. ·
5.1. Straight transíatíons (32:lab; Uab; 16ab; 20cd; 22ab; 22cd;
42ab). · ·
5.2. Verses wíth slight changes that do not affect parallelistic
structures (3·2:6cd; 7ab; 9ab; lOab; llcd; 13ab; 15ab; 18ab;
2lab and 21cd; 24abc; 25ab; 25cd; 26cb; 28ab; 30.ab; 30cd;
37ab; 38cd; 39ab; 40ab; 43bc).
•. 5,3. Longer additions; basic parallelístíc structures preserved, but
rendered by extensions (32:2ab; 2cd; 7cd; 8ab; 12 ab; 13cd;
15cd; 20ab; 23ab; 27bs; 27cd; 29ab; 32.ab; 33ab; 36ab; 38ab;
41ab; 41cd; 42cd).
5.4. Additional cola based on elements of the original cola. (32: 5ab;
lOcd; 18b; 19b; 32cd; 34ab; 35cd; 36cd; 39cd).
5.5. Additional cola parallelistically keyed to the original cola
. (32: to 5b; to 15b; to 27a; to 43a; to 43d).
5.6. Parallelistic verses freely added, without support in the erigí-
nal (32: to 1; to 4; to 14e; to 30ac and 31b) .
6. Coneludíng remarks.

* Abbrevíatíons (see Bíbliography)

JPS Jewish Publication Bocíety, 1917 and 1967.
LXX Septuagint, see Wevers.
Sam Samaritan Pentateuch, see Pérez Castro.
TN Targum Neofiti, see Diez Macho 1978; Neofiti 1, 1979.
516 S. SEGERT

l. Purpose of this study

This contribution to the studies of the Targum Neofiti which

Alejandro Díez Macho discovered in 1956 and published in six
magnificent volumes focuses on only one of íts features: its rather
free way of rendering the parallelistic structures of Hebrew poetry
into Aramaic. While a previous stúdy dealíng with rendering of
poetic parallelistic structures in the Septuagint 1 encompassed ver-
ses selected from various poetic texts in order to show the different
ways of rendering parallelistic structures, the present article is
devoted to one poetic text only. Hebrew Pentateuch contains seve-
ral longer poetic sections but none of them exhibits poetic struc-
ture as regular as that of the Song of Moses (Deut 32: 1:43).

2. Song of Mases

2.1. Poetic structures,

The Song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32: 1-43 was always consi-
dered an outstanding poetic text. Its poetic oharacter is indicated
by cola written on sepárate lines in the Deuteronomy fragments
from Qumran Caves 2• Josephus Flavius characterized the poetic
regularity of the Song of Moses in Greek terrns: it was written in
hexameters 3•
In later scribal tradition, the verses of the Song of Moses were
written on separate lines. The Aleppo Codex presents the Song of
Moses in ·67 lines 4; this arrangement was supported by the autho-
rity of Moses ben Maimón 5• Another tradition attested in the post-
6
talmudic treatise Soferim preferred the arrangement in 70 lines •
This number coincides with the number of lines containing
individual verses in the modern scholarly editions 7• However, the
traditional delimitation of lines does not: always agree with the
modern delimitation based on the analysís of poetic, mostly paral-
lelistic structures. This delimitation is used in this article: the cola,
as indicated by lines and spaces within the lines, are marked by
lower-case letters.

1 Segert 1985.
2 1Q5 and 4QDt(q), see notes 11 and 13.
3 Antiquitates IV: 8,44, § 303.
4 oosnen-oottsteín: z-i:
s Loewinger; VIII-IX.
6 Bardtke: 26.
1 Hempel: 137-140 (345-348).
 RENDERIN G OF PARALLELISTiC STRU CTU RES IN TH E TN 517

Within the Pentateuch the Song of Moses in Deuteronomy

32: 1-43 can be considered the most regular example of strictly
parallelistic poetry.
.Among its 70 verses only one (14e) can be considered an incom-
plete, isolated monocolon s. There are only two verses consístíng of
three cola: 24abc and 39cde. All the other 67 verses consist of two cola.
Among these only 8 do not show a parallelistic relationship between the
first and second colon. The number of parallelistíc bicola is 59; together
with 2 parallelístíc tricola the proportion of parallelistic verses is 61: 70.
Parallelistic contributions to coherence can also be observed in the
relationshíp between two cola belonging to different verses: 39b and
39e, 43b and 43c.
The parallelístíc character is enhanced by parallelity of two verses:
forming a higher group. Even non-parallelistic verses, such as 4ab + 4cd
and 14ab + 14cd, are combined in higher parallelistic units, as is the
non-parallelistic verse 6ab with the parallelistic 6cd.
Parallelistic verses combined in groups of two exhibit coherence
on two Ieveís: lOab and lOcd, 11:ab and i icd, 131ab ,and 13cd, 22>ab
and 22cd.

All seven parallelistic structures mentioned above can be cha-

racterized as thetic 9 - mostly synonymous. Only the relationship
between 2ab and 2cd can be characterized as contrastíve.

2.2. Textual variants.

It can be expected that a tight poetic structure will help to
preserve the text rather intact through various stages of its tran-
smission. This assumption does not apply to the Song of Mases;
probably its archaic character motivated relatively many uninten-
tional and intentional changes. In this articles only those textual
varíants which affect the parallelistic structure will be taken into
consideration.
Even in the Hebrew Iemmata that introduce the verses by the initial
word(s) in TN 10, no less than 12 varíants appear, as compared to the
Leningrad Codex B19a and the modern edítíons based on it. Among
the variants in the Hebrew Iemmata those which are similar to the
Samaritan readings deserve attention: yqn'hw (32: 16a) and snwty
(32:41a) agree with Sam against MT, while zkwr (32:7a) differs both
from MT zkr and Sam zkrw.

s For attempts to repair this irregularity see Sam and TN, cf.
4.1; 5.6.
9 The instances of parallelismus membrorum can be categorized
as thetic (wíth subtypes: synonymous, complementary, contrastive) and
antithetic, cf. Segert 1983: 296-297.
10 Díez Macho 1979: 48.
518 S. SEGERT

Among Qumran manuscripts accesible now in complete or partíal

edítíons, 1Q5 presents in fragments 16-19 parts of Dt 32:17-25 with no
significant variants 11. Two variants in Dt 32:8 from 4QDt{n) are listed
by P. W Skehan 12. Much more important are the relatively numerous
varíants in the stichometrically written manuscript of the Song of
Moses 4QDt(q) from which the verses 38-43 were published by P. W.
,Skehan B.
The Samaritan variants are taken rrom the relatívely ancient ma-
nuscrípt Séfer Abisa' in the edition by F. Pérez Castro .

In severa! instances a variant appears in more than one of

these texts. Only those variants which affect parallelistic structure
are taken into consideration. The variants in the other Targurns
.and in the Septuagint are quoted occasionally.
None of the three variants in 1Q5 directly affect the paralle!J.istic
.structure: those in 32: 19b and 32: 26b are' of orthographical character,
in 32: 27d a Qeré type of divine name is used instead of the tetragram.
The varíant in 4QDt(n) 32:8d bny 'l[ against bny ysr'l of MT is
:supported by the LXX, but it is not concerned with parallelístíc
:structure.
The stichometric arrangement of 4DQt(q) makes it possible to
determine which cola of MT were not attest in this manuscrrpt:
32:38d, 39b, 40b, 41b. The colon 32:41b is represented by only one
word, }J,rby. However, in verse 43 there are two addítional cola after
43a and 43c.
The variants of Sam against MT are relatively numerous: Sam
exhíbíts 49 letters and 4 groups of 2 cons·equent• letters in íts favor
when comparad to MT; vice versa, Sam lacks 37 individual letters and
orie group of 2 letters which are contaíned in MT. Sam has in its
favor 4 words with 19 letters against MT, whíle MT has one word of
two letters in its favor against Sam. Between MT and Sam 14 substí-
tutíons of indívídual letters and one substítutíon of a group of two
letters can be observe d. There are also differences in word divisions:
two words separated in MT are combined into one in Sam, while Sam
1
shows two word divisions not represented in MT.
A number of readings in which Sam differs from MT seems to be
reflected in TN. Only a tew among these agreements are signíñcant
from the v'iewpoint of parallelism.
There are several variants in which TN seems cíoser to sam than
to MT; they may affect the semantíc relationships between the words
of the cola, but not the parallelistic structures: 32: 20d: MT 'mn, Sam
h/mn, TN hyymnw; 24c: MT qtb, Sam qtp (cf. Vulgata morsii?), TN
mrwwhy "puffed up" (?).
Sorne. variants relevant to syntax affect paralleüstíc structures
.slíghtly: 32:3a. MT sm, Sam Wm, TN biímh; 5a: MT s}J,t (síng.), Sam

11 Barthélemy: 1Q5: Ff. 16-19.

12 Skehan: 12.
13 Skehan: 13-15.
 RENDERING OF PARALLELISTIC STRUCTURES IN THE TN 519

slJ,tw., (plur.), TN l:t,blw (plur.) , Sorne variants ínñuence the syntactic

structure and thus the parallelistic structure: 32: 27a: MT zkr, lemma
of .TN zkuir, Sam zkrw, TN 'dkrw - plurals in Sam and TN correspond
closer to plurals in parallel colon 5b, bynw, tbwnnw; 13b: MT way-yó'kal,
Sam y'kylhw, TN w'yykl - causatives in Sam and MT are parallel to
MT'yrkbhw, lemma in TN yrkybhw (!), TN 'rkb; 24c: MT mryry, Sam
mryrym, TN runohri bysn - singular in MT is in eloser parallelism to
síngulars in 24a and 24b. ·
Especially signíñcant are such variants in which more than one
ancíent textual witness agrees with TN against MT: 3,2: 2b: MT tzl,
sam wtzl, LXX kai katabet», TN wytqbl; 5a: MT and TN lemma (!)
s1J,t, Sam slJ,tw, LXX hémartosan, TN hblu»; 7a: MT zkr, TN ~emma
zkior, · Sam zkrw, LXX mnésthéte, TN 'dkrw; 16a: MT yqn'hw, Sam
and TN lemma yqny'hw; 30c: MT ky, no equívalent in Sam, LXX, TN;
38b: MT ystw, Sam wystw, LXX kai epineie, TN uihrnr ...

These observatíons point to a Hebrew original, on which TN

was based, different from MT. The relatívely significant agreements
with Sam may be interpreted as indication of the Palestinian cha-
racter of the original text. The Palestinian type of the Hebrew orí-
gínal would be in accord with the toremost representative of the
Palestinian targumic tradition. Perhaps the agreement with older
forros of Hebrew text may be found useful for determining· the
date' of the original form of the Palestinian targum preserved in a
very late manuscript of the Neofiti collectíon. ·

3. Dt 3.2:1-43 in the Hebrew original.

and in the Targum Neofiti

'' · The following comparison of parallelístíc structures of the

Hebrew Song of Moses with their renderings in TN is preceded by
a .shdrt section on non-parallelistic verses. They are of minor ím-
portance if translated closely, but in sorne instances a tendency to
Iormulate the Aramaic version in more parallelistic style than the
Hebrew original may be observed.
.• : ,Tl;lere are a few verses in which TN presents a strict transla-
tion of the Hebrew original, thus preserving faithfully its paral-
Ielistíe. structure. In many verses short additíons of one word chan-
ged .slíghtly but basically did not affect their parallelistic structure.
In a great number of verses longer additions can be observed. While
the basíc parallelístíc structures were not affected, the poetic cha-
racter of such structures was considerably weakened by long ex-
tensions. In sorne verses the additions followed basic parallelistic

14 ·Pérez Castro: XXXIII-XXXIV, XXXVI.

520 S. SEGERT

patterns: one elernent of a colon was developed into a full colon

and another elernent of the sarne colon was developed in another
longer structure, with both structures parallelístícally connected.
Even if the preservation of the poetic character of the Hebrew
original was not first priority of the targurnic versíon, sorne longer
additions, corresponding in their length to cola or verses, were
structured according to parallelistic patterns. If an additional colon
had to be added, it was connected by parallelistic devices to a co-
lon translated frorn Hebrew. Even sorne free additions are presen-
ted in parallelistic bicola or tricola.
The verses in various categoríes will be presented in sequence
far better orientation.

4. Non-parallelistic structures

4.1. Isolated colon.

The only isolated colon in the Hebrew original of the Song of
Moses 15 is 32: 14e:
wdm 'nb tsth ñmr "and of the blood of the grape you drink wíne".
TN follows in principle the Hebrew original with slight additions:
mn ... ]J,dh "from one"; kr d- "kor (a measure) of".

4.2. Non-parallelistic bicola.

3ab: A tendency towards parallelistic contrast through the addition
of a personal pronoun may be observed in TN:
'nh m$ZY w'twn ... hbw "I shrall pray ... and you... give".
4ab and 4cd: Both these non-parallelistíc verses are rendered as such
in TN, but the parallelism appears between the verses, 4a being parallel
to 4c, and 4b to 4d. The reading of other PaQestinian Targumim qsyt
"and upright" is preferable as corresponding to the preceding adjective
zkyy "[ust", against TN wqswt "and truth" - this error is easííy
explained by repeating the preceding correct wqswt "and truth".
6ab: Question and the following vocative are faithfully rendered in TN.
8cd: This verse forms a sentence together with preceding adverbial
modifiers in 8ab and is rendered as such in TN.
14ab and 14cd: These verses are mutually parallel while their cola
a+ b and c + d are not; TN renders faithfully this parallelistic struc-
ture.
17ab and 17cd: These two verses 'are not parallel; a rather semantic
relationship may be seen between the cola b and d, which is preser-
ved in TN.
15 The translatíons from TN are those by McNamara and Maher.
 RENDERING OF PARALLELISTIC STRUCTURES IN THE TN 5·21

19ab: The second colon of this verse containing the adverbial modi-
ñer is in TN considerably extended into three clauses with parallelistic
structures; see below 5.4.
24de: This non-parallelistic verse, consístíng of a verbal clause con-
nected to the preceding tricolon is extended in TN by additions not
affecting the syntactíc structure.
27ab and 27cd: The parallelism between 27b and 27c, the inner two
members of this group of four cola, is preserved in TN, even if it is
extended by several words. A new parallelistic colon is added to the
ñrst colon 27a, see below 5.5.
3lab: The first colon contaíns dírect speech, the second introduces
the speakers. The addition before 31b is a clause depending on that
corresponding to 31b.
35ab: The first colon in TN is extended into a semantically parallelistic
bicolon, · see below 5.4.
39e: The last colon in this tricolon is not parallel to the preceding
mutually parallel cola 39c and 39d, but it is parallel to the second
colon of the preceding verse 39b. This arrangement is preserved in TN.
43ab and 43cd: The colon 43b - and apparenbly also the cola 43c and
43d - contain subordinated clauses depending on the clause in 43a.
There is parallelism between 43b and 43c. The additional cola in NT
-similar to those in 4QDt(q) and LXX - are also discussed in 5.5.

5. Parallelistic structures

5.1. Straight translations.

There are only 7 parallelistic bicola in TN's rendering of Dt
32: 1-43 in which every element of the Hebrew parallelistic structu-
re is rendered by a corresponding word: lab; llab; 16ab; 20cd;
22ab; 22cd; 42ab.
Changes in verbal forms (llab) or in number (16ab) do not sub-
stantially affect parallelism; neither does the addition of suffixed
pronouns (cf. 42ab). With exceptíon of rather sequen tia([ cola in 22ab,
these strictly translated bicola exhibit synonymus parallelism.

5.2. Verses with slight changes

that do not affect parallelístic structures.
In most verses of this kind there is one additional word which
can slightly outbalance the quantitative relatíonshíp between the cola
but whích does not affect the substantial elements of the parallelistic
structure. The additíonal word or combination of two closely related
words can be an adverb, an attribute, an apposítíon, a governing noun,
or even a short relatíve construction.
522 S. SEGERT

sed: The addítíon of relatíve pronouns dy in both cola before perfects

perhaps stresses the distance between God as a suoject and his actí-
vity.
7ab: The addition of mn ywmt after ywmyn "(the days) from the
days ... " is of rather grammatical character. The Aramaic pluralic
form with feminine marker for days is written exactly as the Hebrew
word ywmt Sam against ymwt in MT. Another agreement with Sam
zkrw appears in the plural imperative 'dkrw "remember"; it provided
in TN better parallelism with the plural imperati ve in 7b: MT bynw
and TN 'tbumtiui "consider ! "
9ab: In 9b TN adds to 'mw "his people" the appositíon bny ysr'l "the
children or Israel". Sam contaíns ysr'l at the end of 9b parallel to y'qb,
which is marked as last word of 9a by the dividing sign.
lOab: TN adds in 10a sryn "dwelling" after the object; the variant
in other Palestinian Targums 16 is t'yyn "straying".
llcd: TN adds in lld tqwp "the strength (of his wings)".
13ab: TN adds at the end of 13b the attribute mlkyn "of kings". The
TN rendering of 13b is based on the causative verbal predicate in 13b
w'yykl "and (he) fed", et. sam y'kylhw, agaínst MT wy'kl!wayyo'kal
"and (he) -did eat" 11.
15ab: The .name 'if srn is rendered in TN by the construction dbyt ysr'l
"those of the house of Israel". All four verbs in TN are in the third
person masculíne plural, providing a better parallelism than MT with
one verb in third person singular masculíne in 15a and three verbs
in second person singular masculíne in 15b. One parallel colon is added
in 15b, see 5.5.
18ab: In 18a the pronoun dy "who" is added before the verbal predi-
cate, while in 18b there are two additions, first extending the equí-
valent for 'l "God": mmr 'lh: "the Word of the God". For the second
addition see 5.4.
21ab and 21cd: The additions in 21a and 21c are rather grammatical:
(b)'lh d(l' 'lh) ",a god who is not a god" (b)'mh d(l' 'mh) "people
who is no people".
24abc: This tricolon contains three mutually parallel cola. The addí-
tion of the attribute bysn "evíl" to 24c does not affect theír paral-
lelism; cf; a:lso below to 28a.
25ab: In 25b TN is more specific by addlng mdmkyhwn "their sleeping
(quarters)".
25cd: In 25d another coordinated element is inserted in TN before
the word for "sucklings" ynqyn: wmtrkyn. This word is translated as
"children" by McNamara and Maher, and "niños" by Díez Macho;
these ttanslations comply with the parallelistic structure. Otherwise,

16 · Interlinear and marginal variants at TN are mentioned only

if they concern the parallelistic structure.
17 The translations of MT are taken from JPS 1917, which as a
very close rendering reflects the parallelistic structures.
 RENDERING OF PARALLELISTIC STRUCTURES IN TH E TN 523

mtrk' means "divorced woman" 18; thus a medial element would be

inserted between "sucklings" and "old men".
26ab: Short, rather stereotypical additions appear in each of the cola:
bmmry "in my Word"; bny "sons of (man)" for Hebrew 'nw§.
28ab: TN adds by§n "evñ (counsels); cf. above to 24c.
30ab: Besides a longer addition at the begínníng (cf. below 5.6), the
adverbial mnhwn "of them" is added to each of the cola.
30cd: Besides the long addition before 30c (cf', below 5.6) contrasting
to the one before 30a, the construction mmrh dyyy "the word of the
Lord" is used for the divine name expressed by the tetragramm
yhwh in MT.
37ab: The non-parallelistic introductory formula is an extensión of
Hebrew w'mr "he said". In the parallelistlc section of 37a the suffixed
pronoun is replaced by the referent MT 'lhymw "their gods", TN: 'lh'
dysr'l "the God (singular) of Israel".
38cd: In 38c TN adds k'n. "now" after the first verb "let him arise".
39ab: TN adds to 39a 'nh bmmry "I in my Word", to 39b 'hrn. "(no)
other (god) ".
40&b: In TN there are addítíons to 40a, bsbw'h "in an oath" and to
40b wqyym bmmry "and (I) existing in my Word".
43bc: This inner parallelism between cola belonging to different ver-
ses (cf. above 4.4.2) is not affected by the addition of 'wlbn w- "the
humiliation and (the blood) ".

5.3. Longer additíons:

basic parallelistic structures preservad,
but weakened by extensions.
In this group several longer additions are listed; they depend
on the basic elements of the parallelistic structures and do not
form new structures of their own.
2ab: The addition 'l bny ysr'l "upon the children of Israel" is conse-
quently parallelized in 2b by 'lyhwn "upon them"; another, shorter ad-
dition appears in 2b: yt mymr pwmy "word of my mouth".
2cd: The first colon is considerably extended by explícatíve details:
dmnsbyn "which blow" and dty 'sbyh "sproutings of grass" (McNama-
mara and Maher: "sprouting grass") in place of simple 'sb "(tender)
grass". The colon 2d is even more extended by mlqws dslqym wmrwyn
U;mJ:¡,h) ii'r" byrJ:¡, dnysn "of late rain, whích come down and refresh
(the plants) of the earth in the month of Nisan".
7cd: Longer addition after "your fathers": drbrbyn mnkum b!wryt(h)
"who are greater than you in the law".

18 Jastrow: 865a; cf. tsrak, 1699a.

524 S. SEGERT

8ab: The addition in 8b is short but semantically significant as it con-

siderably weakens the parallelísm: lysny before bny ns gives "the lan-
guages of the sons of men" which does not correspond to the word
'wmyh "nations" in 8a; cf. Hebrew synonymous word pair gwym -
bny 'dm.
12ab: In TN 12a is extended by introductory formula (yyy) bmmrh
'rnr "he said in his Word". Consequently instead of "the Lord" the
addition 'm' bny ysr'l "the people, the chHdren of Israel" becomes
a subject. The corresponding change of subject in 12b is effected by
adding pllJ,y plhm. "those who serve (foreign) worship". Parallelism is
preserved, sínce the change of subj ets was performed in both cola.
13cd: While in TN 13c closely follows the Hebrew original, in 13d after
urmsh. "and with oil" another mslJ, is added, as verbal predicate, "he
anointed". The end of 13d is slightly extended by tnurh. "(of) flint".
15cd: The addition of mymr ('lhh) "the Word (of God)". (McNamara
and Maher: "the Lord") in 15c follows the pattern of rendering divine
names. The parallelism is weakened in 15d by the addition of bdlJ,lt(y)h
"the fear (of)" and by the extension of the noun y.s'tw "his salvation
into a relative clause: dhwh prq ythwn "who had redeemed them",
followed by an additional índícatíon of time, bs0t sqttiurn. "in the hour
of their affliction".
20ab: Thre addítíon in 20a is an attríbute to "the face": r"wty "(of)
my good pleasure". In 20b a verb is added which changes the charac-
ter of the relative clause from nominal to verbal: yhwwy "what shall
come to pass". The parallelistic cohesíon which is relatively weak
already in the Hebrew original is further weakened both by this change
in the subordinate clause and by the addition of bswp "at the end
(of theír future)".
23ab: The additions in both 23a, bmymry lmyytyyh "in my word to
bring", and 23b, mhwwt pwr'nwty "of the plagues of my revenge" do
not basícally affect the parallelistic structure.
27bc: By repeating the words b'ly dbbyhwn "their enemíes" from 27b
in 27c, the parallelistic structure is enhanced.
27cd: The addition to 27c is mentioned in the preceding paragraph.
This addition also is preceded by the synonymous sn'yhw "those who
hate them". Another addition to 27c, 'tpr'n ln mn b'ly dbbynn "nave
avenged us of our enemíes", helps to express more clearly the con-
trastive parallelism. Since 27c contains two clauses, its basic structure
is not changed by this explicative addition of pertinent ídentícal
subject. The addition in 27d, mn qdm "from before (the Lord)" and
replacement do not affect the basíc parallelistic structure either.
29ab: Additions in 9a ysr'l "Israel" and replacement of the demon-
strative pronoun by the noun 'wryt(') "the Law" do not affect the
structure while the second colon, 29b, is changed more radically by
inserting mh hwwy "what is to happen". However, the relative clause
does not affect the baste parallelism between the verbal predicates of
the main clauses.
 RENDERING OF PARALLELISTIC STRUCTURES IN TH E TN 525

32ab: Relatively longer additions in 32a 'm' h'ylyyn "this people" and
mdmyyn comparable with correspondíng ,additions in 32b mdmyyn "are
comparable" and d'm' "people of", do not alter the parallelistic
structure.
33ab: The additions are relatively Iong but synta:ctically not as síg-
nificant. In 33a. 'rurni 'm' h'ylyyn "for as concerns this people" and
mdmyy lhrnihnoti "is comparable to the venom" and at the end bzmnh
d'nwn styyn "at the time that they drink". The second colon, 33b,
contains besides the corresponding addition, wrwgzyhwn mdmy l- "and
their wrath is comparable to", a shorter one, }J,wwyyh "serpents", pre-
ceding "adders".
36ab: In spite of severa! additions the basic structure is preserved;
in 36a br}J,myw (-wy) tbyyh yt dynhwn d- "in his good mercies the
judgments of" and bny ysr'l "the chíldren of Israel", in 36b 'lbwn
(IV: 'wlbn) "the humiliation of" and d$dyqyh "who are just".
38ab: Chiasmus is not respected as the verbal predicate of 38a is put
in front. It is followed by the additional adverbial qdwmy "before hím";
the characteristic of offerings contains instead of two nouns three,
the additional one being n.ksy "the sacrifices of"; the plural trby "the
fats of" in TN corresponds better to the plural }J,lby in Sam than to
the síngular }J,lb of MT. At the end or 38b, the addition qdmwy "bef.ore
him" contributes to the symmetry of cola.
4lab: The short preposítíon .k- added befare brqh changes consíder-
ably the syntactic structure: kbrqh }J,rby "my sword like lightning"
instead of MT brq }J,rby "the lightning of my sword"; the not too strong
parallelism is even more weakened. The addition in 41b appears in
the manuscript of TN as bqioéth. "in truth", but the emendation of the
first letter into d- "of" as proposed by A. Díez Macho is appropriate.
The additional word ymyny "(my) right (hand)" at the end does not
affect this structure.
41cd: The additions in 41d, d'my "of my people" and lhwn gmlyn bysyn
"them ( ! ) with evi\l recompenses" affect the balance of cola but not
theír basic parallelístíc structure.
42cd: The addition of d'my "of my people" in 42c and the apparent
double rendering of pr'wt "long-hair(ed)", understood rather as "Iead-
ers" - by gybryhwn pwlymrkyhwn "their warriors, the(ir) ( ! ) gene-
ra:ls" do not affect the basic parallelístíc structure. Neither do the
explícatíve additions of d'my "of my people" in both cola.

5.4. Aditional cola based on

elements of the original cola.
Among those cola of TN which have no exact counterpart in
the Hebrew original sorne were developed around words which func-
tion in Hebrew original as elements within the parallelístíc cola. In
most instances the sequence of these newly developed bicola cor-
responds to that of their basic elements in the original,
526 S. SEGERT

5ab: The beginning of the first colon '5a slJ,t lw l' bnyw is reflected in
the first colon of TN rendering with a verb · in plural, correspondíng
to Samaritan s'/:1,tw, and with an a:dded adjective at the end: '/:1,blw
qwdmwy b(y)nyh '/:1,bybyh "the beloved sons acted corruptly before
him". The verb is repeated in the following colon in which the nega-
tion is aíso expressed; contrastívely parallelistic colon is developed
from the last word of 5a, mwmm "theír blesmísh".
l' qwdmwy '/:1,blw "not before him did they act corruptly.
'lh lhwn mwmh d'stkh bhwn but for them is the blemish which
· is found in them".
lOcd: Both the verbal predícates in the colon 10c, ysbbnhw "he
compassed him about" and ybwnnhw "he cared for him" are deve-
loped into cola, but before that corresponding to the second word a
free addition consisting of three mutually parallel cola was inserted,
see below 5.6. The ñrst of the developed cola expresses the notion of
moving around :
dbr ythwn 'rb'yn snyn bmdbrh... "he led them forty years in the
wilderness ... ".
The other colon is a very free rendering of the concept of care
in the original Hebrew verb:
'sry ythwn heu»: ñzu»: l'yqr skyntyh " ... he made them dwell round
about the glory of his Shekinah".
Perhaps the immediately following colon
'lp ythwn 'srty(!) 19 (in TN edition: 'mrty) dbyryh "he taught them
· the ten Words (commandments)"
is developed also from ybwnnhw interpreted as related to the root
b-y-n "to (make) understand".
The colon 10d is similarly developed: its verbal predicate Y$rnhw
("he kept hím" JPS 1917) "guarded him" JPS 1967 is rendered by
two verbs and its adverbial modifier is extended into another colon
wíth a verbal predicate:
'yyny ythwn urnir ythwn "he watched them and guarded them"
hyk mh dntr syknh bbh d'yynh "as the eyelid guards the pupil of
the eye".
18b: The verbal element mhllk "that bore thee" is rendered first by
dy skll ytkwn "who perrected you" - interlinear variant in TN dbr'
"who had created" -, then by words sounding closer to the Hebrew
model: urbd. ytkwn m'/:1,ylyn m'/:1,ylyn "and who has made you (with)
so many cavities". The last words are understood as plural forms of
m•'/:1,illti "cavity" 20.
19b: The second part of this non-parallelistic bicolon is extended into
two clauses: the first based on the concept of anger, the second on
"sons and daughters":
mn k'sh. dy 'k'su: ytyh 'mh bny ysr'l "from the provocation with
which his people, the children of Israel have provoked him,
dhwwn '/:1,bybyn 'lwy hyk b.n yn wh'!J,k bnn who were dear to him
like sons and daughters".

19 Cf. the photograph in Neofiti 1 (Makor 1970).

20 Jastrow: 761b.
 RENDERING OF PARALLELISTIC STRUCTURES IN THE TN 5·27

szcd: Both parallel cola in the Hebrew original consíst ol nominal

c1auses. The second colon is developed in TN by adding the participle
mtpr' "(retribution) (shall be) exacted" which governs the following
adverbial modifier mynhwn "of them", reflection of lmw "to them" of
the Hebrew orígínaí. The parallelism is destroyed by thís addrtíon.
A parallelistic tendency may be observed in replacing of the meta-
phors 'nbmw "their grapes" and 'sklt "clusters" by the Aramaíc word
for "(their) works" 'bdy(hw)n, and of two different attributes by
forms of the adjective bys- "evil".
34ab: .In the ñrst colon the Hebrew word kms is vocalized in MT as a
passive participle, kiimüs "deposited", corresponding to parallel hirn,
hiitüm "sealed": also Sam knws is apparently a passíve partícíple.
in thís place TN has ks' "the cup". In TN three passive participles
then follow, probably induced by the passíve character of the original
Hebrew. word, in· a kind of triple translatíon: mmzg wmtqn wm'td
with further addition lrsy'yh "mixed, set in order and prepared for
the wicked". The other additions dpwr'nwth "of retribution" in 34a
and lywm dynh rbh "for the great day of judgernent" in 34b do not
change basic syntactícaí parallelism of the origina'! cola.
35ab: Both the coordinated baste elements in 35a, nqm "verigeance"
and slm "recompense" are developed in NT into cola which are parallel
semantically but not syntactically:
dydy hy' nqmth "vengeance is mine"
urnh. hw' dm,§lm "and I am who will repay".
,35cd: To the slight addition to the first of these cola, drsy'yh "of
the wicked" corresponde contrastively the addition d$dyqyh "the just"
in. 36c. The colon 35d is developed into two cola. The Iater part serves
as base for the first colon, the initial verb hs "and he hurríes" for the
second one. · · ·
36cd: The second colon 36d is extended into two cola, the first based
on the two passive partícíples, the second on the preceding · notion of
"nothingness", 'ps in Hebrew:
urnurn sbyqyn wrtysyn "and (that) they (are) abandoned and híd-
den away"
wlyt lhwn ds'd wsmk "and that they have none to help and sup-
port them".
The beginning of the colon 36c with the active verb yr'h, the
suíect of which is yhwh "the Lord" in 36a, is transformed into a
passive construction: gly qdmwy "it is manifest before him". At the
end of 36c d$dyqyh "of the just'"' is added, cf. to 36c.
w'st(') dghynm m'tdh lhwn "and the fire of Gehenna is prepared
for them" ·
wmzrz wmyyty pwr'nwth 'lyhwn l'lm' d'ty "and retribution hastens
and comes (McNamara and Maher: "to come") upon them in the
world to come".
39cd: Both cola are developed, each into a contrastive bicolon, while
the sequence of elements is kept:
'nh Iiur dmmyt l},yyn b'lm' hdyn " ... I am he who causes the living
to die in this world ·
528 S. SEGERT

wm!J,yy myty b'lm' and who bríngs the death to life in the
d'ty
world to come".
'nh. hw' dmlJ,y "I am one who smíles,
urnh. hu» dmsy and I am one who heals".

5.5. Additional cola parallelistically

keyed to the original cola.
While in the preceding section the cola which were developed
from one element wíthín a colon of the original were listed, this
section deals with additional cola which were formed as parallels
to the complete cola translated from the cola of the original.
To 5b: The first of the additiona'1 two cola with no base in the
Hebrew orígínal provídes a parallelístíc explanatíon to the adjectival
attributes in 5b:
drh dsny 'bdwy "a generation wliich has changed its works".
The second, additíonal contrastive colon resumes and varies the
verb "to change":
'top sdr dynwy ii'lrn' 'stny 'lwy "the arder of the world's judgments
likewise changed against ít".
To 15b: The new colom is synonymously parallel to the colon 15b
urtrui wplJ,zw ... "they grew rich and haughty ... ":
wh$ll:,,w wqnwn lhwn nksyn sgyn "they prospered and acquíred
many possessions for ,themselves".
To 27a: An additional complementary colon is extended by a reía-
tive clause:
w'ylwly d'dkr lhwn qyymh + dqyymt ... "and were it not that I
remember in their favor the convenant that I· established ... ".
To 43a: The additional colon is thetically parallel to 43a:
qlsw qdmwy 'wmyyh "acclaim befare hím, O you natíons"
sblJ,w ytyh 'myh byt ysr'l "praíse hím, O you his people, the house
or Israel".
Similar colon appears in this position in Hebrew 4QDt(g)
uinsttcunn lw kl 'lhym "and bow dow to hím, all gods".
In Greek LXX there are three cola between the equívaients of
MT 43a and MT 43b.
To 43d: The additional colon precedes the colon 43d and is anti-
thetic to it:
wblJ,wby 'm' 'r" lqyy' "and for the sins of his people the Iand
shall be smitten"
wbr!J,mwy tbyh hw' mkpr 'l 'r" w'l 'm' "but he in his good mercies
will make atonement ñor the land and ror the people".
Since in the original Hebrew poem no strictly antithetic bicola
appear, this additional bicolon shows its secondary origin both by
its character and its posítíon.
 RENDERING OF PARALLELISTIC STRUCTURES IN TH E TN 5'2•9

5.6. Parallelistic verses freely added,

without support in the original.

The verses without models in Hebrew original are found espe-

cially in the long targumic addítíons, of whích only several exhibit
parallelistic structures.
To 1: Before the straight translatíon of Hebrew lab TN presents
a long addition in which three cola are arranged according to the
admittedly rather loose parallelistic pattern A + A' - B, in accordance
with the preceding not paralleíístíc sen ten ce:
dl' myytyn l'wlm "who never die
wl' t'myn ks' dmwth and who do not taste the cup of the death
brm swpyhwn blyyn l'lm/ d'ty but whose end is that they were
out in the world to come".
First two cola are synonymous, the thírd one stands in contrast
to them.
To 4: In the additional portion there are four phrases describing
what God is doing in four portions of the day, each beginning with
(w)tlt s'yn "three hours" and containing a participle.
To 10c: After the equívalent of 10c there are three mutually pa-
rallel complementary cola:
'IJ,t lhwn mnh mn smy' "he made manna come down for them
from the heavens,
'sq (!) lhwn b"r(h) mn thwmh he rnade the well come up for them
from the abyss,
w'gyz lhwn slwy mn ymh and he brought quaíls for them from
the sea".
To 14e: The isolated colon 14e is taken out from its isolation by
the introduction "Moses the prophet said" and the parallelistic pro-
tasís to the maín cíause 14e:
'yn yhwwn ysr'l l'yyn b'wryth "If Israel studíes the law
umtrini pqwdyyh and keeps the commandments" ...
To 30ac and 31b: Before 30a there is a parallelistic bicolon con-
taining protasis identical to that before 14e. Before 30c there is a co-
Ion contrasting with that before 30c, and is· repeated with slight varíant
of the person before 31b:
'l d}J,twn/d}J,tynn w'rgyzwlw'rgzn qdmwy "because they/we have
sinned and provoked anger before him".
Even if these cola do not follow each other ímmedíately, their
parallelity enhances their coherence.

6. Concluding remarks

It can be concluded from the preceding detailed comparisons

between MT and TN that the Hebrew text on which the targumic
rendering was based was slightly different from MT.
34
530 S. SEGERT

The arrangement of parallelistic verses in TN corresponds

more to the original poetic structures than to the the later tradi-
tional divisions into 7-0 or 67 lines.
Sorne additions introduced into TN are of rather grammatical
character, in 7a, 21ab, 2lcd (5.3).
In severa! instances the tetragram or the words for God are
rendered by one word - yyy in 9a and 36a, cf. also 4b and 8a -
or eliminated by using different constructions, as in 12b, 17a, 17b.
In other instances the concept of "the Word" m(y)mr of God or
the Lord is introduced, cf. 15c (5.3), 18b (5.2), 30c; cf. also the
extended expression bd/:1,ltyh (dtqyph) "the fear (of the Strong
One)", 15d (5.3). This concept of "the Word" is also added else-
where in relation to God, cf. 26a and 40b {5.2), 2b, 12a, 23a {5_3).
The distance of God is stressed by using the passive construction,
in 36c (5.4), the prepositíon mn qdm, in 6a (cf. 4.2), or both: 19a
(cf. 4.3), 27d (5.3).
In the targumic rendering the relationship of the text to Israel
is expressed by adding its name, either alone - 37a (5.2), 29a {5.3) -
or as "the children of Israel" - 9b (5.2), 2a, 12a, 36a (6.3) - "the
house of Israel" 37a {5.2), 25a {5·.3); cf. also the additions of "(this)
people" 32ab, 33a, 41b, 42c (5.3). There are references to the his-
tory of Israel in the additional cola; cf. 27a (5.5), to lücd, 14e, 30a,
30c, 31 b (5.6).
These additions and many other deliberate changes show olear-
ly that the preservatíon of parallelistic structures was not among
the highest priorities of the targumic rendering. There are nume-
rous instances of destroyed or considerably weakened parallelistic
structures. However, sorne new ones were introduced by the tar-
gumists. Even in the nonparallelistic bicola sorne changes towards
parallelistic structures were made, through adjustments - cf. 3ab
(4.2) - and additions of new elements enhancing their parallelístic
character: 19b, 35ab (5.4), 27c, 43a, 43b (5.5).
Sorne additions to parallelistic bicola respect their symmetry;
cf. 3-0ab {5.2), 2ab, 32ab (5.3). The parallelistic tendency still was
pervasive enough, as can be seen in sorne additions, such as in
1'0c and 34a {5.4), and many new cola. Entire sections are devoted
to the new parallelistic verses developed from the elements of the
cola {cf. 5.4) or added to match the complete cola (5-.5). Newly
created parallelistic structures appear in the additions not bound
to the Hebrew original {cf. section 5.6).
The vitality of the parallelistic style can be perceived also in
the character of the altered and added structures: besides synony-
mous ones, corresponding to the mode of the original poem, also
contrastive and even antithetic ones are represented in the targumic.
rendering.
 BIBLIOGRAPH Y

Batdtke, Hans
i953/54 "Der Traktat der Schreiber (Sopherim)". Wissenscha.jtliche
Zeitschriti der Karl-Marx-Universitliit Leipzig. Gesellschafts-
sprachwissenchaftliche Reihe. 3/1 (Festschrift Albrecht Alt):
13-31.
Barthélemy, D., ed.
1955 "Textes bibliques". 49-76. Barthélemy D. - Milik J. T., eds.
Qumran Cave · I. (Discoveries in Judaean Desert, I) Oxford:
Clarendon.
Burchard, Christoph
1965 Bibliographie zu den Handschriften vom Toten Meer. (BZAW
89). Berlin: T'6pelmann.
Díez Macho, A'l.ejandro
1978 Neophyti 1: Targum Palestinense: Ms de la Biblioteca Va-
ticana. Tomo V: Deuteronomio. Madrid: Consejo Superior
de Investigaciones Científicas.
1979 N eophyti 1... Tomo VI: Apéndices.
Goshen-Gottstein, Moshe H., ed.
1976 ktr 'rm $Wb'. The Aleppo Codex. Jerusalem: The Hebrew
University Bíble Project.
Hempel, J.
1972 "Numeri et Deuteronomium". K. Elliger - W. Rudolph, eds.,
Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia. 3. Stuttgart: Württembergi-
sche Bíbelansbalt. (283-353, BHS, Deutsehe Bibelstiftung.
1976/77).
Jastrow, Marcus
1903 A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Ye-
rushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature. (New York/Berlin:
Choreb, 1926).
The Jewish Publication Society of Ameríca
1917 The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text: A New
Translation. Philadelphia (1945).
1967 The Torah: The Five Books of Moses: A new translation of
the Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic text. First
Section. Second Edition. Philadelphia.
Josephus, Flavius
1887 Niese, Benedictus, ed., Flavii Iosephi Opera. Vol. I. Berlín:
Weidmann. (2nd ed.yreprínt 1955).
Loewinger, Samuel
1970 "Prolegomenon". VII-XI.JV. V. Aptowitzer, Das Schriftwort in
tier rabbinischen Literatur. (Wien 1906). New York: Ktav.
McNamara, Martin - Maher, Míchael
1978 "Traducción inglesa". 443-573. Diez Macho 1978.
Pérez Castro, F., ed.
1959 Sé fer A bisa': Edición del fragmento antiguo del rollo sagra-
do del Pentateuco Hebreo Samaritano de Nablus. Madrid:
C.S.I.C.
532 S. SEGERT

segert, Stanislav
1983 "Parallelism in Ugaritic Poetry", JAOS 103: 295-306.
1985 "Hebrew Poetic Parallelism as Reflected in the Septuagint",
pp. 133-148. N. Fernández Marcos, ed., La Septuaginta en la
investigación contemporánea. Madrid: C.S.I.C.
Skehan, Patrick W.
1954 "A Fragment of the 'Song of Moses' (Deut. 32) from Qum-
ran", BASOR 136: 12-15.
-wevers, John William, ed.
1977 Deuteronomium (Septuaginta, III, 2). Gottingen: Vanden-
hoeck & Ruprecht.

.S TANISLAV 8EGERT