A Targum is an Aramaic translation of an Old Testament book. The earliest Targums (or Targumim) grew out of the oral teaching in the synagogues where Aramaic had become the common language, and thus many Targums often paraphrase and expand on the text.

Some contain additional explanatory or even legendary material. This material in the Targums is generally older than the time period it was first written down, having been passed down in an oral form first. While the majority of Targums come from the Rabbinic Jewish tradition, there are also Samaritan Targums. A few Targum fragments were even found among the Dead Sea Scrolls.