The Syriac text, made without doubt from the Hebrew, though often paraphrastic is often suggestive.
The best are in English; where we have the extremely paraphrastic, but for its time admirable translation of George Sale (repeatedly printed), that of Rodwell (1861), which seeks to give the pieces in chronological order, and that of Palmer (1880), who wisely follows the traditional arrangements.
There are, however, Targumim on the Psalms and Job, composed in the 5th century, on Proverbs, resembling the Peshitta version, on the five Meghilloth, paraphrastic and agadic (see below) in character, and on Chronicles - all Palestinian.
The translation, as a whole, is good, and adheres very closely to the Hebrew text, which has not been without its influence on the Aramaic idiom; at times, especially in the poetical passages, a freer and more paraphrastic method is employed, and the version shows evident traces of Halakhic and Haggadic expansion.
Apart from the popular paraphrastic translations of the Old Testament (see Targum), the great mass of orthodox Rabbinical literature consists of (1) the independent Midrashim, and (2) the Mishna which, with its supplement the Gemara, constitutes the Talmud.