Voices and influences
Jerome
The scholar who went to the Hebrew itself and gave the West a Bible it read for a thousand years.
Summary
This site quotes Jerome 2,794 times across 57 books, and lists 0 works.
- Lived died 420.
- Quoted here most in Matthew: 558 of 2,794.
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Jerome
- Lived
- died 420
- Tradition
- Patristic
5 of 2,794 quotations
Own words
Quoted in full, because Jerome died in 420 and these works are out of copyright. Each citation below names its edition and its year. A citation naming a modernised text means that edition makes its own editorial changes, and that edition's terms are not in this site's record.
(Chapter 49, verse 3) Reuben, my firstborn, you are my strength and the first of my sons, tough in bearing and tough in insolence and injury, like water that does not boil.
The rest of the quotation
You went up on your father's bed, then you defiled it when you went up. In Hebrew it is written: Reuben, my firstborn, you are my strength, and the first in power among my sons. Greater in carrying, and greater in strength. You are poured out like water, do not exceed. For you have ascended the bed of your father and defiled the couch in his ascent.
Genesis 49:3 Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power. BSB
But we your people and the sheep of your pasture. When he says "sheep," he signifies innocence. Sheep have nothing but a shepherd. We will give you thanks forever. We will confess: either we do penance, or, what is better, we glorify.
The rest of the quotation
From generation to generation; among the first people, and among the second people. Although according to the historical sense it is said otherwise in Ezekiel, nevertheless according to the spiritual understanding we say this, since these two peoples — that is, the two rods — are joined together in Ezekiel, and become one kingdom.
Psalms 79:13 Then we Your people, the sheep of Your pasture, will thank You forever; from generation to generation we will declare Your praise. BSB
I have become like the pelican of the wilderness. There are said to be two kinds of these birds.
The rest of the quotation
One lives in the waters, and its food is fish; and one lives in the wilderness, and its food is venomous creatures, that is, serpents and crocodiles and lizards. Now these birds are called in Latin 'onocrotali.' To that one therefore have I become like, which lives in the wilderness, which eats venomous creatures: that is, my food was to me as it were poison. I have become like the night-raven in its dwelling-place.
Psalms 102:6 I am like a desert owl, like an owl among the ruins. BSB
"Be exalted above the heavens, O God." God is not exalted except above the heavens, he is not exalted above the earth. When we are earthly, we do not exalt God; but if from earthly we have been made heavenly, then we exalt God.
The rest of the quotation
And our Lord, when he was on earth, did not exalt us. Someone may say: You speak rashly, since he himself says in the Gospel: "When I have been lifted up, I will draw all things to myself."
Psalms 108:5–6 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; may Your glory cover all the earth. Respond and save us with Your right hand, that Your beloved may be delivered. BSB
Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion. Just now we heard the holy presbyter preaching that, because of its transgression of the law, the Jewish people has been forsaken; and how is it that now it is said, Praise the Lord, O…
The rest of the quotation
Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion? Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem, "vision of peace." Praise your God, O Zion. Zion is interpreted "watchtower." You see, then, what he says: Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem. Wherever there is a vision of peace, wherever there is contemplation of God, there let there be praise of God.
Psalms 147:12 Exalt the LORD, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion! BSB
Influence, on the record
This site quotes Jerome 2,794 times across 57 books.
This site’s own count of what it does with the voice
The life, in order
The life told as one accountfrom this site's record
Eusebius Hieronymus was born about 347 at Stridon, a town on the border of Dalmatia and Pannonia that no longer exists. His parents were Christians with money. They sent him to Rome, where he studied grammar and rhetoric under the great teacher Donatus, collected pagan authors, and was baptized in his late teens. He traveled east, and about 375 went into the desert of Chalcis, southeast of Antioch, to live as a hermit. He lasted a few years. He hated the heat, quarreled with the monks over the Trinity, and — by his own account — hired a converted Jew to teach him Hebrew, largely to keep his mind off Rome. That decision changed the history of the Bible in the West. Ordained at Antioch, he went on to Constantinople, where he heard Gregory of Nazianzus, and then in 382 to Rome, where Pope Damasus made him a secretary and set him to revising the Latin Gospels against the Greek. In Rome he also became teacher to a circle of wealthy Christian women — Marcella, Paula, and Paula's daughter Eustochium — who studied Scripture and Hebrew with him. His scorn for the worldly Roman clergy was returned with interest, and after Damasus died in 384 he left the city for good. In 386 he settled at Bethlehem, where Paula founded monasteries for men and women and paid for his books. He stayed thirty-four years, working in a cave beside the traditional site of the Nativity. There he did the thing he is known for. Instead of correcting the old Latin against the Greek Septuagint, he translated the Old Testament out of the Hebrew — going to Jewish teachers for help, arguing that the Hebraica veritas, the Hebrew truth, was the standard. Augustine wrote to warn him that congregations would riot over changed familiar words, and in North Africa one did. Jerome kept going. He also wrote commentaries on most of the prophets, on Matthew and several letters of Paul, a catalogue of Christian writers, letters that were copied and read as literature, and translations of Origen and Eusebius. He was a savage controversialist. He broke publicly with his oldest friend Rufinus over Origen, attacked Jovinian, Vigilantius, and Pelagius in print, and lost few opportunities to wound. In 410 refugees from the sack of Rome arrived at his door and he wrote that the light of the world had gone out. Paula died in 404, Eustochium in 419. Jerome died at Bethlehem in 420. His translation, gathered later with other Latin books into what came to be called the Vulgate, was the Bible of Western Europe until the Reformation and remained the Roman Catholic standard far beyond it. Sources: Jerome, Letters and De viris illustribus; Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church; the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers series, second series volume 6; the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia.
2,794 quotations across 57 books
Where this voice is quoted
These are the words of the Teacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem:
“Solomon is here given the Greek name Ecclesiastes [Heb Qōhelet], for he gathers the assembly [qāhāl], that is, the church.”
What does a man gain from all his labor, at which he toils under the sun?
“"What profit is there for a man in exchange for all his toil, which he toils under the sun?" After the general opinion that all things are vain Solomon begins to explain with regard to mankind: because men exert themselves in vain in the toil…”
Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.
“"A generation goes, a generation comes, but the earth remains forever." While some men die, others are born, and those you had seen, are not seen anymore, and you then see those who have not been before.”
Is there a case where one can say, “Look, this is new”? It has already existed in the ages before us.
“"Is there anything whereof it may be said, see this is new? It has already been for ages, which were before us.”
I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.
“"I, Ecclesiastes, was King over Israel in Jerusalem. "Until now the preface has spoken only generally about all arguments; but here he returns to the subject of himself, and reveals who he was, and how he knew and experienced all things.”
And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven.
“"I applied my mind to seek and probe by wisdom all that happens beneath the sky - it is a sorry task that God has given to the sons of man with which to be concerned."”
I have seen all the things that are done under the sun, and have found them all to be futile, a pursuit of the wind.
“"I have seen all the deeds done underneath the sun, and behold all is futile and a vexation of the spirit." We are compelled here by necessity to examine the Hebrew words more closely than we wish.”
I said to myself, “Behold, I have grown and increased in wisdom beyond all those before me who were over Jerusalem, and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom…
“"I said to myself: here I have acquired great wisdom, more than any of my predecessors over Jerusalem, and my mind has had much experience with wisdom and knowledge."”
So I set my mind to know wisdom and madness and folly; I learned that this, too, is a pursuit of the wind.
“"I applied my mind to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this, too, is a vexation of the spirit."”
For with much wisdom comes much sorrow, and as knowledge grows, grief increases.
“"For with much wisdom comes much grief, and he who increases knowledge increases pain." The more a man seeks wisdom, the more he finds himself in vice and far from those virtues, which he is seeking.”
I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy what is good!” But it proved to be futile.
“"I said to myself: Come, I will experiment with joy and enjoy pleasure. That, too, turned out to be futile."”
I said of laughter, “It is folly,” and of pleasure, “What does it accomplish?”
“"I said of laughter, It is madness! And of joy, What does it accomplish?" Wherever we read "madness" the Hebrew text has "molal", which Aquila took to be "planesin", that is 'delusion' [Hier.. "error"], Symmachus has "thorubon", 'commotions' [Hier.. "tumultus".].”
So I became great and surpassed all in Jerusalem who had preceded me; and my wisdom remained with me.
“"Thus I grew and surpassed any of my predecessors in Jerusalem; still, my wisdom stayed with me." It seems to me that Ecclesiastes, acting grandly, agrees less with the Lord, unless by chance we adapt this to him: "He [Jesus] increased in wisdom and age…”
Anything my eyes desired, I did not deny myself. I refused my heart no pleasure.
“"Whatever my eyes desired I did not deny them; I did not deprive myself of any joy. Indeed my heart drew joy from all my activities, and this was my reward for all my endeavours.”
Yet when I considered all the works that my hands had accomplished and what I had toiled to achieve, I found everything to be futile, a pursuit of the wind…
“"Then I looked at all things that I had done and the energy I had expended in doing them. "He who does all things with diligence and wariness is able to say this.”
And I saw that wisdom exceeds folly, just as light exceeds darkness:
“"And I perceived that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness. "I am allowed, he says, to see through that very wisdom of mankind, which is mixed with uncertainty.”
Nothing is better for a man than to eat and drink and enjoy his work. I have also seen that this is from the hand of God.
“"Is it not good for man that he eats and drinks and shows his soul satisfaction in his labour? And even that, I perceived, is from the hand of God. For who should eat and who should make haste except me?”
a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to break down and a time to build,
“"A time for killing and a time for healing." It is both the time for killing and the time for healing, he says: "I will kill, and I will revive" [Deut. 32, 39.]. He cures, provoking one to repentance.”
a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
“"A time for weeping and a time for laughter." Now is the time for weeping and in the future it will be the time for laughter: for "the blessed weep, since they themselves will laugh." [Luc. 6, 21.]”
a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
“"A time for dispersing stones and a time for collecting stones." I marvel how an learned man could have said this ridiculous note about this passage: "this passage speaks about the destruction and killing of Solomon's houses, because men first destroy, then build".”
a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
“"A time for silence and a time for speaking." I think that the Pythagoreans, whose discipline is to remain silent for five years and afterwards to speak to learned men, took the origin of their decree from this.”
a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.
“"A time for loving and a time for hating." The time for loving God, children, wife, and relatives is afterwards, and the time for hating those in martyrdom since hostile piety attacks those steadfast men for the sake of the confession of Christ.”
Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and the spirit of the animal descends into the earth?
“"Who perceives that the spirit of man is the one that ascends on high while the spirit of the beast is the one that descends down into the earth?"”
I have seen that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot.
“"I therefore observed that there is nothing better for man than to be happy in what he is doing, for that is his lot. For who can enable him to see what will be after him?”
Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and pursuit of the wind.
“"Better is one handful of pleasantness than two fistfuls of labour and vexation of the spirit." It is better to have modest power, than great riches of sins.”