The phrase "kingdom of the " occurs in the Greek
Septuagint where the Hebrew Bible has Solomon reigning over the "kingdom of YHWH."
Hellenistic Judaism and Alexandria The phrase "kingdom of God" occurs once in the
deuterocanonical books of the
biblical apocrypha, in
Wisdom of Solomon 10:10, where
Wisdom shows a straying man "the kingdom of God." This is similar to
Philo who refers to "kingdom of God" in a sapiential, wisdom-sense "formed in the image of its archetype the kingdom of God" (On The Special Laws 4:164)
Palestinian Judaism and Dead Sea scrolls The
pseudepigraphical Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs refer to the "kingdom of the Lord" (Testament of Benjamin 9.1) The "kingdom" in the
War Scroll of the Dead Sea scrolls, and other mentions of "kingdom" and "rule" are linked with Messianic expectations, and the establishment of a military-political kingdom on earth.
Aramaic Targums The Aramaic
Targums, paraphrase-translations of the Hebrew Bible for use in Palestinian synagogues, contain several expansions and additional references to "the kingdom of God" not emphasized in the Hebrew
Masoretic Text. An example is
Targum Neofiti's paraphrase of Exodus 15:18. Where the Hebrew has only "The shall reign for ever and ever", the Aramaic paraphrase has "How the crown of the kingdom (Aramaic "kingdom"
malku מַלְכּוּ, corresponds to Hebrew
malkut מַלְכוּת) becomes you, O Lord! ... Of the Lord is the kingdom before the world and forever and ever." The turning of Hebrew Bible references to God "reigning" into concrete references to a "kingdom" of God occurs in many Targum passages. ==Rabbinic Judaism==