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
He will not cry out or raise His voice, nor make His voice heard in the streets.
“(Verse 2) He will not cry out or raise his voice: his voice will not be heard in the streets. LXX: he will not cry out, nor raise his voice, nor will his voice be heard in the streets.”
He will not grow weak or discouraged before He has established justice on the earth. In His law the islands will put their hope.”
“(Verse 4) He will not be sad or discouraged, until he establishes justice on earth: and the coastlands will wait for his law.”
The LORD goes forth like a mighty one; He stirs up His zeal like a warrior. He shouts; yes, He roars in triumph over His enemies:
“(Verse 13) The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man, as a warrior he shall stir up zeal: he shall shout and cry out: he shall strengthen himself against his enemies.”
The LORD was pleased, for the sake of His righteousness, to magnify His law and make it glorious.
“(Verse 21) And the Lord desired to sanctify him, and to magnify the law, and to exalt it. LXX: The Lord God was pleased for the sake of his justice, that he might magnify his law.”
But this is a people plundered and looted, all trapped in caves or imprisoned in dungeons.
“(Verse 22) But the people are plundered and devastated: all the youth are trapped in snares, and hidden in prison houses. They have become a prey, and there is no one to deliver them; a spoil, and no one says, 'Restore them.'”
Now this is what the LORD says— He who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have…
“(Verse 1) And now, thus says the Lord, the one who created you, Jacob, and the one who formed you, Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.”
For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place.
“(Verse 3) For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I have given Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you. LXX: for I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”
Because you are precious and honored in My sight, and because I love you, I will give men in exchange for you and nations in place of your life.
“(Verse 4) From the moment you became honorable and glorious in my eyes: I loved you, and I will give men for you, and peoples for your soul.”
Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east and gather you from the west.
“(Verses 5-7) Do not fear, for I am with you: I will bring your descendants from the East, and gather you from the West.”
I alone decreed and saved and proclaimed—I, and not some foreign god among you. So you are My witnesses,” declares the LORD, “that I am God.
“(Verses 12-13) I have declared and saved; I have made known, and there was no strange one among you.”
Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the sea and a path through the surging waters,
“(Verse 16) Thus says the Lord, who made a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters. LXX: For thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters.”
who brings out the chariots and horses, the armies and warriors together, to lie down, never to rise again; to be extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:
“(Verse 17) Who brought out the chariot and horse, the army and the strong: they lay down to sleep together, they will not rise again; they are broken like flax, they are extinguished. LXX: Who brings out chariots and horses, and a multitude of warriors.”
The beasts of the field will honor Me, the jackals and the ostriches, because I provide water in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My…
“(Verses 20-21) The animals of the field will glorify me, the dragons and ostriches; for I have given waters in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people. I have formed this people for myself; they will proclaim my praise.”
But you have not called on Me, O Jacob, because you have grown weary of Me, O Israel.
“(Verse 22) You did not call upon me, Jacob: you did not labor for me, Israel. LXX: You have not now called, Jacob, nor have I made you labor, Israel.”
You have not brought Me sheep for burnt offerings, nor honored Me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with offerings, nor wearied you with frankincense.
“(Verses 23-24) You did not offer me the ram of your burnt offering, and you did not glorify me with your sacrifices. I did not make you serve in the offering, nor did I require labor from you in the burning of incense.”
Remind Me, let us argue the matter together. State your case, so that you may be vindicated.
“We are just when we acknowledge that we are sinners, and our justice depends not on our personal merit but rather on the mercy of God, as holy Scripture says: "The just is an accuser of himself in the beginning of his plea."”
But now listen, O Jacob My servant, Israel, whom I have chosen.
“(Chapter 44, verse 1 and 2) Now listen, my servant Jacob, and Israel, whom I have chosen. Thus says the Lord, your maker and shaper from the womb, your helper. Do not fear, my servant Jacob, and you, whom I have chosen.”
This is the word of the LORD, your Maker, who formed you from the womb and who will help you: “Do not be afraid, O Jacob My servant, Jeshurun, whom…
“Do not fear their cruelty, my servant Jacob, whom I have chosen. He is also called Israel; Isurun in Hebrew, and the others, the most upright or the straightest. Only the LXX called him the most beloved, combining it with their own, Israel.”
For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and currents on the dry ground. I will pour out My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring.
“(Chapter 44, verse 3 and following) For I will pour water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.”
Who then is like Me? Let him say so! Let him declare his case before Me, since I established an ancient people.
“Who, he says, is like me? Let him call those things which are not as though they were, and explain the order of my creation, which I have balanced with reason, since I made man upon the earth.”
They do not comprehend or discern, for He has shut their eyes so they cannot see and closed their minds so they cannot understand.
“Whatever is said about idols can also be applied to the leaders of heresies, who create images of their doctrines and lies with cunning hearts and worship things that they know are made by themselves.”
Remember these things, O Jacob, for you are My servant, O Israel. I have made you, and you are My servant; O Israel, I will never forget you.
“(Vers. 21) Remember these things, Jacob, and Israel, for you are my servant: I have formed you, you are my servant, O Israel, do not forget me.”
I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like a mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.
“(Vers. 22) I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like a mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you. LXX: Behold, I have blotted out your iniquities as a cloud, and your sins as a mist.”
who foils the signs of false prophets and makes fools of diviners, who confounds the wise and turns their knowledge into nonsense,
“(Verse 25) Making the signs of the diviners void, and driving the soothsayers mad; turning the wise men backward, and making their knowledge foolish. LXX: Who else has dispersed the signs of the pythons, and the divinations from the heart?”
who confirms the message of His servant and fulfills the counsel of His messengers, who says of Jerusalem, ‘She will be inhabited,’ and of the cities of Judah, ‘They will…
“(Verse 26) Fulfilling the word of my servant, and performing the counsel of my messengers. I say to Jerusalem: you shall be inhabited, and to the cities of Judah: you shall be rebuilt, and its desolate places I will restore.”
