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
then you will delight yourself in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the land and feed you with the heritage of your father Jacob.”
“(Verse 14.) Then you will delight in the Lord [Vulg. the Lord); and I will lift you up above the heights of the earth, and I will feed you with the inheritance of Jacob your father. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
For your hands are stained with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue mutters injustice.
“(V. 3, 4.) For your hands are polluted with blood, and your fingers with iniquity: your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue mutters wickedness.”
They hatch the eggs of vipers and weave a spider’s web. Whoever eats their eggs will die; crack one open, and a viper is hatched.
“(Verse 5, 6.) They conceived labor and gave birth to iniquity: they broke the eggs of vipers and wove spider webs. Whoever eats their eggs will die, and what is hatched will break out into a viper.”
Their feet run to evil; they are swift to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are sinful thoughts; ruin and destruction lie in their wake.
“(V. 7, 8.) Their deeds are useless deeds: and the work of iniquity is in their hands. Their feet run towards evil: and they hasten to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are worthless thoughts: destruction and ruin are in their ways.”
Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We hope for light, but there is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in gloom.
“Because of this, judgment has been far from us: and justice does not overtake us. We waited for light, and behold darkness: for brightness, and we have walked in gloom. LXX: Therefore judgment has withdrawn from them, and justice does not apprehend them.”
Like the blind, we feel our way along the wall, groping like those without eyes.
“We have groped like the blind against a wall: and we have touched as if without eyes: we have stumbled at noonday, as if in darkness: we are in dusky places as dead.”
We all growl like bears and moan like doves. We hope for justice, but find none, for salvation, but it is far from us.
“And, like doves, we groan, without sense and understanding of the Scriptures, only meditating on words that we recite from memory.”
For our transgressions are multiplied before You, and our sins testify against us. Our transgressions are indeed with us, and we know our iniquities:
“Our iniquities have multiplied before you, and our sins have answered us: for our crimes are with us, and we know our iniquities. LXX: For our iniquity is great in your sight, and our sins have held us back.”
rebelling and denying the LORD, turning away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering lies from the heart.
“To sin and lie against the Lord: and we turned away, so as not to go after the back of our Lord, to speak calumny, and we conceived transgression, and we spoke deceitful words from the heart.”
So justice is turned away, and righteousness stands at a distance. For truth has stumbled in the public square, and honesty cannot enter.
“And judgment has been turned away backwards, and justice has stood far off, for truth has fallen down in the street, and equity could not enter.”
Truth is missing, and whoever turns from evil becomes prey. The LORD looked and was displeased that there was no justice.
“And truth has been turned into forgetfulness, and those who have turned away from evil have become a prey. LXX: And truth has been taken away, and they have turned their mind so that they do not understand.”
He saw that there was no man; He was amazed that there was no one to intercede. So His own arm brought salvation, and His own righteousness sustained Him.
“(Verse 16, 17.) And the Lord saw, and evil appeared in his eyes: because there is no justice, and he saw that there is no man, and he was astonished, because there is no one to oppose.”
So shall they fear the name of the LORD where the sun sets, and His glory where it rises.
“(Verse 19, 20) And those from the West shall fear the name of the Lord, and those from the East, His glory, when He comes like a rushing river, driven by the breath of the Lord.”
“The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the LORD.
“It follows: "A Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from wickedness in Jacob," says the Lord. For this reason, the Seventy translated it: "A Deliverer will come from Zion, and will turn away wickedness from Jacob."”
“As for Me, this is My covenant with them,” says the LORD. “My Spirit will not depart from you, and My words that I have put in your mouth will…
“And he promises to them, saying: This is my covenant with them, whether the agreement, as all others transferred, or the testament, as the Seventy have set forth.”
Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.
“(Chapter 60—Verse 1 and following) Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.”
Lift up your eyes and look around: They all gather and come to you; your sons will come from afar, and your daughters will be carried on the arm.
“(Verse 4.) Lift up your eyes all around and see: all these gathered together have come to you. Your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be carried at your side.”
Then you will look and be radiant, and your heart will tremble and swell with joy, because the riches of the sea will be brought to you, and the wealth…
“(Verse 5) Then you will see, and you will be wealthy, and your heart will be amazed and expanded: when the multitude of the sea turns to you, the strength of the nations will come to you.”
Caravans of camels will cover your land, young camels of Midian and Ephah, and all from Sheba will come, bearing gold and frankincense and proclaiming the praises of the LORD.
“(Verse 6, 7) The flood of camels shall cover you, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah. All those from Sheba shall come, bringing gold and frankincense, and proclaiming the praise of the Lord.”
Foreigners will rebuild your walls, and their kings will serve you. Although I struck you in anger, yet in favor I will show you mercy.
“(Verse 10 and following) And the sons of strangers will build your walls, and their kings will serve you.”
The glory of Lebanon will come to you—its cypress, elm, and boxwood together—to adorn the place of My sanctuary, and I will glorify the place of My feet.
“(Verses 13, 14.) The glory of Lebanon will come to you, the cypress, the fir tree, and the pine tree together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will glorify the place of my feet.”
Whereas you have been forsaken and despised, with no one passing through, I will make you an everlasting pride, a joy from age to age.
“(Verse 15, 16.) Because you were abandoned and hated, with no one to pass by, I will make you a pride for all generations, a joy from generation to generation. You will suck the milk of the nations and nurse at the breast of kings.”
Instead of bronze I will bring you gold; I will bring silver in place of iron, bronze instead of wood, and iron instead of stones.
“(Vers. 17 seqq.) I will bring gold instead of bronze, and silver instead of iron, and bronze instead of wood, and iron instead of stones; and I will appoint peace as your overseer, and justice as your ruler.”
No longer will the sun be your light by day, nor the brightness of the moon shine on your night; for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your…
“(Verse 19, 20.) The sun will no longer be your light by day, nor will the splendor of the moon shine on you; for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.”
Then all your people will be righteous; they will possess the land forever; they are the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, so that I may be…
“(Vers. 21, 22.) But your people, all the righteous, will inherit the land forever, the offspring of my planting: the work of my hands for glorification. The least will become a thousand, and the smallest will become a mighty nation.”