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.
.jpg?width=640)
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
Alas, O sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children of depravity!
“(Verse 4) Woe to the sinful nation, a people burdened with iniquity, a wicked offspring, wicked children: they have forsaken the Lord, they have blasphemed the Holy One of Israel, they have turned away backwards.”
Why do you want more beatings? Why do you keep rebelling? Your head has a massive wound, and your whole heart is afflicted.
“(Verse 5). In which way shall I strike you any longer, adding transgression? By this testimony we learn that the Lord strikes sinners in order to correct them, and that the punishment is not so much for retribution as for correction.”
Your land is desolate; your cities are burned with fire. Foreigners devour your fields before you—a desolation demolished by strangers.
“(Verse 7) Your land is deserted; your cities are burned with fire. Foreigners devour your land before your eyes, and it is desolate like a hostile wasteland.”
And the Daughter of Zion is abandoned like a shelter in a vineyard, like a shack in a cucumber field, like a city besieged.
“(Verse 8) The daughter of Zion will be abandoned like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a cucumber field.”
When you come to appear before Me, who has required this of you—this trampling of My courts?
“(Verse 12.) For who indeed sought these things from your hands? Let the Ebionites hear, who after the passion of Christ think that the Law has been abolished and should be observed.”
Wash and cleanse yourselves. Remove your evil deeds from My sight. Stop doing evil!
“(Verse 16.) Wash yourselves, be clean. For the previous sacrifices, and burnt offerings, and the fat of the rich, and the blood of bulls and goats: and for the incense and new moons, sabbaths, feast days and fasts, calends and other solemnities, the religion of…”
If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best of the land. But if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.”
“(Verse 19, 26.) If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
See how the faithful city has become a harlot! She once was full of justice; righteousness resided within her, but now only murderers!
“(Verse 21) How has the faithful city become a harlot, full of judgment: justice dwelled in it but now murderers.”
Therefore the Lord GOD of Hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, declares: “Ah, I will be relieved of My foes and avenge Myself on My enemies.
“(Verse 24) For this reason, says the Lord of hosts, the strong one of Israel: For the strong one of Israel, because they all similarly changed, only the seventy, desiring something unknown, set down: Woe to the strong ones of Israel; which we can explain…”
I will turn My hand against you; I will thoroughly purge your dross; I will remove all your impurities.
“(Verse 25) And I will turn my hand against you; and I will thoroughly purge away your dross and take away all your alloy.”
But rebels and sinners will together be shattered, and those who forsake the LORD will perish.
“Moreover, who can agree with the thesis that you [the Pelagians] set down as your next heading: "In the day of judgment, no leniency shall be shown to the ungodly and to sinners, but they shall be consumed in eternal fires," for you prevent God…”
The strong man will become tinder and his work will be a spark; both will burn together, with no one to quench the flames.
“(Verse 31.) And your strength will be like the ash of the broom. For ash, ἀποτίναγμα is interpreted by Symmachus: when the broom is beaten, and whatever dirt it has is thrown away.”
Their land is full of idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their fingers have made.
“(Verse 8) And the land was filled with silver and gold, and there was no end to its treasure. Among the other vices of the earth, the house of Jacob is also counted for its abundance of gold and silver.”
So mankind is brought low, and man is humbled—do not forgive them!
“(Verse 9) And his land was filled with idols: they worshipped the work of their own hands, what their fingers have made. And man bowed down, and the man was humbled.”
The proud look of man will be humbled, and the loftiness of men brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.
“(Verse 11) The lofty eyes of man will be humbled, and the pride of men will be brought low; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.”
For the Day of the LORD of Hosts will come against all the proud and lofty, against all that is exalted—it will be humbled—
“(Verse 12) For the day of the Lord of hosts shall come upon all that is proud and lofty, and upon all that is arrogant; and they shall be brought low. These things are connected to the preceding ones.”
against all the cedars of Lebanon, lofty and lifted up, against all the oaks of Bashan,
“(Verse 13) And above all the tall and erect cedars of Lebanon, and above all the oaks of Bashan.”
against all the tall mountains, against all the high hills,
“(Verse 14.) And above all high mountains, and above all elevated hills. Just as for the variety of virtues, mountains and hills are called good things: so among the impious for the diversity of vices, and especially pride, some are mountains, some are hills, over…”
against every ship of Tarshish, and against every stately vessel.
“(Verse 16.) And over all the ships of Tarshish, and over everything that is beautiful to see. Regarding Tarshish, which all similarly transferred, only seventy interpreted the sea.”
and the idols will vanish completely.
“(Verse 18) And the pride of men shall be humbled, and the lofty heights of men shall be brought low, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day, and all idols shall be utterly crushed.”
Put no more trust in man, who has only the breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?
“(Verse 20.) Therefore cease from man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for he is considered high. This was omitted by the LXX, and in the Greek copies it was added under asterisks by Origen from the edition of Aquila, which reads in Hebrew: Hedalu…”
the mighty man and the warrior, the judge and the prophet, the soothsayer and the elder,
“(Verse 2.) A strong and warrior man, judge and Prophet, and sorcerer, and elder. For the strong, which is only in Hebrew, both the Seventy translated as giant and strong, wanting the same person to be both giant and strong.”
the commander of fifty and the dignitary, the counselor, the cunning magician, and the clever enchanter.
“(Verse 3.) The leader is in charge of fifty. Συνεκδοχικῶς means 'comparatively-speaking' or 'in relation to the whole'.”
The people will oppress one another, man against man, neighbor against neighbor; the young will rise up against the old, and the base against the honorable.
“(Verse 5.) And the people will fall, man against man, each one against his neighbor: the young will rise up against the old, and the lowly against the noble.”
A man will seize his brother within his father’s house: “You have a cloak—you be our leader! Take charge of this heap of rubble.”
“(Verse 6) For a man shall seize his brother, the kinsman of his father. The garment is yours, be our prince; but this ruin is under your control. Regarding ruin, Symmachus and Theodotio transferred infirmity, 70 food items.”