In previous studies of the Targums, scholars focused on problems of a textual, linguistic, and historical-critical nature, whereas their literary forms, with some exceptions, remained largely uninvestigated. Alongside literary modifications of the biblical text, the Aramaic translations reflect a special tradition of synagogical rhetoric. This article explores one of the most expressive elements of a sermon which comments on a biblical text—the appeals to the audience. Were these appeals interpolated spontaneously by the meturgemanim, or were they used systematically in translating and expositing certain passages? What do such insertions tell us about the text and the art of the meturgemanim?

Targum Onqelos adopts a sequential approach to rendering of biblical poetry: even the passages that have been completely paraphrased imitate the parallelism membrorum structure, and supplementary words and clauses are well-fitted into the parallel verse scheme. Only a small number of passages may be defined as quasi-poetical forms which combine poetry with prosaic elements. On the other hand, the targumic parallel verse structure differs from its biblical counterpart in some syntactic details. This type of modified verse structure is inherent in the targums only, and may be considered as a specific kind of poetry in Aramaic.

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Rendering Hebrew archaic verbal forms was a challenging task for the targumists who translated biblical poetry into Aramaic. Their translational technique reveals at least three aspects of morphosyntax of the verbs in the poetical discourse in Middle and Late Aramaic: a) diachronic shifts in the use of suffix (qtl) and prefix (yqtl) conjugations; b) an influence of the interpretation and the practice of oral recitation of the targums on the choice of verbal forms; and c) correlation between semantic connotations of the verbal conjugations and their aesthetic functions. In some cases, the authors of the targums simplified the semantic spectrum of the archaic conjugations in the parallel verse structure, but in others they attempted to render these verbal forms correctly. Their choice was caused by both interpretative and aesthetic tasks.

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