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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.
Jerome. Painted by Caravaggio. The file is marked public domain. This site's record does not give the artist's death year, which is what settles the painting's own rights. The file record

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.

Hebrew Questions on Genesis, 420

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.

Homily 12, on Psalm 78, 420

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.

Homily 28, on Psalm 101, 420

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.

Homily 34, on Psalm 107, 420

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…

Homily 57, on Psalm 147, 420

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

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

Ezekiel 16:54Commentary on Ezekiel (420)

So you will bear your disgrace and be ashamed of all you did to comfort them.

For of whom is it doubted that among three sinners, rather sinners, a gentile, a heretic, and a churchman, he is more deserving of greater punishments, who is deserving of greater dignity? For the powerful, as we have said, endure torments powerfully (Wisdom 6:7).

Ezekiel 16:59–63Commentary on Ezekiel (420)

For this is what the Lord GOD says: I will deal with you according to your deeds, since you have despised the oath by breaking the covenant.

(Verse 59 and following) Thus says the Lord God: I will deal with you as you have done, you who have despised the oath and broken the covenant.

Ezekiel 17:1Commentary on Ezekiel (420)

Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

When it is said of the prophets: Present an enigma, tell a parable, or as the Septuagint translated: tell a narration, it is shown that what is said is obscure.

Ezekiel 17:23Commentary on Ezekiel (420)

I will plant it on the mountain heights of Israel so that it will bear branches; it will yield fruit and become a majestic cedar.

Some interpret it differently, as the exalted humbled and the humble exalted, referring to the passion of the Lord Savior.

Ezekiel 18:1–2Commentary on Ezekiel (420)

Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes…

Heretics, who do not accept the Old Testament, often say in this place against the Creator: How good and just is the God of the Law and the Prophets, who, by remaining quiet and silent about the sins of the fathers, renders punishment to those…

Ezekiel 18:3–4Commentary on Ezekiel (420)

As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel. Behold, every soul belongs to Me; both father and son are Mine.

(Verse 3-4) As I live, says the Lord, there will not be for you any longer this parable as a proverb in Israel. Behold, all souls are mine: the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine.

Ezekiel 18:7Commentary on Ezekiel (420)

He does not oppress another, but restores the pledge to the debtor. He does not commit robbery, but gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with clothing.

The tenth is: He gives his bread to the hungry. From this we are taught that alms should not be given to the satiated, but to the hungry; and not to those who belch from fullness, but to those who suffer from emptiness.

Ezekiel 18:10–13Commentary on Ezekiel (420)

Now suppose that man has a violent son, who sheds blood or does any of these things, though the father has done none of them: Indeed, the son eats at…

(Ver. 10 and following) But if he has fathered a son who is a robber, shedding blood, and he has committed one of these (or, as the Septuagint has translated, if he has committed sins: if he has not walked in the way of his…

Ezekiel 18:21Commentary on Ezekiel (420)

But if the wicked man turns from all the sins he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is just and right, he will surely live; he will…

In a way only, saith he, the sins of the fathers are not transmitted to the children, neither doth the wicked son any longer burden the righteous father; nor are others punished for the sins of others, so that he, who before was wicked and…

Ezekiel 18:23Commentary on Ezekiel (420)

Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Lord GOD. Wouldn’t I prefer that he turn from his ways and live?

(Verse 23) In his righteousness, which he has worked, he will live. My righteousness will live not so much as mine, but as his. It is allowed for my righteousness to give good things to the good and bad things to the bad.

Ezekiel 18:25Commentary on Ezekiel (420)

Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear now, O house of Israel: Is it My way that is unjust?

(Verse 25.) And you said: The way of the Lord is not fair. Hear, O house of Israel: Is not my way fair? Are not your ways unfair? Give reasons why the judgment of the Lord is just.

Ezekiel 18:27–28Commentary on Ezekiel (420)

But if a wicked man turns from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he will save his life.

(Verse 27, 28.) And when the wicked turns away from his wickedness that he has done and does judgment and righteousness, he shall keep himself alive.

Ezekiel 18:30Commentary on Ezekiel (420)

Therefore, O house of Israel, I will judge you, each according to his ways, declares the Lord GOD.

This message is specifically directed towards the Israelites, urging them to repent and abandon their iniquities or transgressions against God.

Ezekiel 18:32Commentary on Ezekiel (420)

For I take no pleasure in anyone’s death, declares the Lord GOD. So repent and live!

(Verse 32) Because I do not want the death of the one dying (or, the sinner), says the Lord God: return and live. I do not want, he says, for you to die, whom I have begotten for salvation.

Ezekiel 20:1Commentary on Ezekiel (420)

In the seventh year, on the tenth day of the fifth month, some of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the LORD, and they sat down before me.

(Chapter 20, Verse 1) And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth, in the tenth month, men came from the elders of Israel to inquire of the Lord, and they sat before me.

Ezekiel 20:4Commentary on Ezekiel (420)

Will you judge them, will you judge them, son of man? Confront them with the abominations of their fathers

(Verse 4) If you judge them: if you judge, O son of man. LXX: if I avenge them with vengeance, O son of man: They have indeed come to interrogate me, desiring to know about those things about which they are in doubt, and the…

Ezekiel 20:7Commentary on Ezekiel (420)

And I said to them: ‘Each of you must throw away the abominations before his eyes, and you must not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt.

(Version 7) And I said to them: Let each one cast away the offenses of their eyes, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

Ezekiel 20:8Commentary on Ezekiel (420)

But they rebelled against Me and refused to listen. None of them cast away the abominations before their eyes, and they did not forsake the idols of Egypt.

(Verse 8) And they have provoked me. LXX: And they have departed from me. Or as Symmachus interpreted: They have not found rest with me. And immediately when called, they depart from God, so that there is no space between the calling and the departure.

Ezekiel 20:39Commentary on Ezekiel (420)

And as for you, O house of Israel, this is what the Lord GOD says: Go and serve your idols, every one of you.

(Verse 39.) And you, house of Israel, thus says the Lord God: each one of you after your idols walk, and serve them.

Ezekiel 20:42Commentary on Ezekiel (420)

Then you will know that I am the LORD, when I bring you into the land of Israel, the land that I swore to give your fathers.

(Verse 42) When I bring you into the land of Israel, the land that I raised my hand to give to your ancestors, then you will know that I am the Lord.

Ezekiel 21:6–7Commentary on Ezekiel (420)

But you, son of man, groan! Groan before their eyes with a broken heart and bitter grief. And when they ask, ‘Why are you groaning?’

(Vers. 6, 7.) And you, son of man, groan in the breaking of your loins, and groan bitterly before them. And when they say to you, 'Why do you groan?'

Ezekiel 21:25–27Commentary on Ezekiel (420)

And you, O profane and wicked prince of Israel, the day has come for your final punishment.’

(Verse 25 onwards) But you, profane and wicked ruler of Israel, whose day has come at the appointed time of iniquity. Thus says the Lord God: Remove the turban and take off the crown.

Ezekiel 23:1–10Commentary on Ezekiel (420)

Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Son of man, there were two women, daughters of the same mother, and they played in Egypt, prostituting themselves from…

(Chapter 23, verses 1 onwards) And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother. And they played the harlot in Egypt, in their youth they played the harlot.

Ezekiel 25:8–11Commentary on Ezekiel (420)

This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because Moab and Seir said, “Look, the house of Judah is like all the other nations,” therefore I will indeed expose the flank…

(Verse 8 onwards) This is what the Lord God says: Because Moab and Seir have said, 'Look, just like all the other nations, the house of Judah is also ours,' therefore I will expose Moab's shoulder, including its cities, with the renowned land of Beth…

Ezekiel 25:12–14Commentary on Ezekiel (420)

This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because Edom acted vengefully against the house of Judah, and in so doing incurred grievous guilt, therefore this is what the Lord GOD…

(Vers. 12, 13, et seqq.) Thus says the Lord God: Because Edom has acted vengefully against the children of Judah and has incurred guilt by taking vengeance upon them, therefore thus says the Lord God: I will stretch out my hand against Edom and cut…