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
Your testimonies are fully confirmed; holiness adorns Your house, O LORD, for all the days to come.
“Thy testimonies are made exceedingly credible. This is what is said in the seventeenth psalm: 'The testimony of the Lord is faithful, giving wisdom to little ones.' To what little ones?”
O LORD, God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, shine forth.
“We are always discussing the title, so that from the title the psalm too may be understood. "A psalm of David, on the fourth day of the week."”
Rise up, O Judge of the earth; render a reward to the proud.
“"Be exalted, you who judge the earth." You judge the earth, because heaven does not deserve to be judged. Listen, heretic, to how the Lord judges the earth. If there is a fall in heaven, why is there not also a judgment in heaven?”
They pour out arrogant words; all workers of iniquity boast.
“"They will utter and speak iniquity." He speaks of this properly concerning the heretics. "All who work iniquity shall speak." See the sign: he who speaks evil must necessarily do evil. "For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks."”
They crush Your people, O LORD; they oppress Your heritage.
“"They have humbled your people, O Lord." Always the people of God are humbled, the people of God are oppressed. "They have humbled your people, O Lord." The people of God are humbled, and imitate God who was humbled and meek of heart.”
Take notice, O senseless among the people! O fools, when will you be wise? He who affixed the ear, can He not hear?
“"Understand, you who are foolish among the people, and be wise at last, you fools. He who planted the ear, shall he not hear?" He who is a potter, is he ignorant of his own vessel?”
The LORD knows the thoughts of man, that they are futile.
“"The Lord knows the thoughts of men, that they are vain." We read in a secular poet: "O the cares of men, O how much emptiness there is in things!" Both the Gentiles and the philosophers lift this little verse to heaven.”
Blessed is the man You discipline, O LORD, and teach from Your law, to grant him relief from days of trouble, until a pit is dug for the wicked.
“"Blessed is the man whom you shall instruct, O Lord." Happy is he who has God as his teacher. "And whom you shall teach out of your law: that you may soften for him the evil days." See what he says.”
Who will rise up for me against the wicked? Who will stand for me against the workers of iniquity?
“"Who will rise up for me against the evildoers?" The psalms are obscure, and they are always changing the speakers; and for this reason they are obscure, and it is of exceeding difficulty to know in each verse who is speaking.”
Unless the LORD had been my helper, I would soon have dwelt in the abode of silence.
“"Unless the Lord had helped me, my soul had almost dwelt in hell." For this reason, O Lord, I rise again, because you were among the dead and rose again.”
If I say, “My foot is slipping,” Your loving devotion, O LORD, supports me.
“"If I said, My foot has slipped: your mercy, O Lord, was helping me." The confession of weakness quickly earns God's help, and by however much pride gives offense, by that much is he appeased by humility.”
When anxiety overwhelms me, Your consolation delights my soul.
“"According to the multitude of my sorrows in my heart, your consolations have gladdened my soul." This very thing the Apostle too speaks of, namely that according to the labors and miseries which we suffer in this world, we have a reward with God in…”
Can a corrupt throne be Your ally— one devising mischief by decree? They band together against the righteous and condemn the innocent to death.
“"Shall the seat of iniquity cling to you?" You who judge righteousness, can you have iniquity for a neighbor? "You who fashion sorrow in a commandment?"”
But the LORD has been my stronghold, and my God is my rock of refuge.
“"And the Lord has become a refuge for me." This passage tells against the Arians. For since they contradict the Lord the Savior, because he is said to be "made," behold, we say, "The Lord has become a refuge for me."”
In His hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to Him.
“For our salvation the Son of God is made the Son of man. Nine months he awaits his birth in the womb, undergoes the most revolting conditions and comes forth covered with blood, to be swathed in rags and covered with caresses.”
Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the nations, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
“Bring to the Lord, you families of the nations, bring to the Lord glory and honor. If it is said of the temple at Jerusalem, what does it now mean: Bring to the Lord, you families of the nations, bring to the Lord glory and…”
Ascribe to the LORD the glory due His name; bring an offering and enter His courts.
“Take up victims, and enter into his courts. 'A holy victim, living, pleasing to God.' Take up victims. Bring victims yourselves. What victims? Be yourselves the victims.”
Declare among the nations: “The LORD reigns!” The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved; He will judge the peoples with equity.
“For he has set right the round world, which shall not be moved. Nothing is ever set right except what was formerly straight and afterward became crooked. So therefore both we, and the whole human race, understand God by nature.”
Clouds and darkness surround Him; righteousness and justice are His throne’s foundation.
“"Cloud and darkness are round about him." No one doubts that this is of the Lord Savior, round about whom was cloud and darkness — the flesh which he deigned to assume; although he is said to have appeared, in the Gospel of John.”
The mountains melt like wax at the presence of the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth.
“The mountains flowed away like wax. To me these mountains seem to be the powers of the demons. Or certainly the mountains are proud men, whoever they be. This fire does not consume the humble, but whoever are mountainous.”
The heavens proclaim His righteousness; all the peoples see His glory.
“"The heavens announced his justice, and all peoples saw his glory." In these two little verses two things are signified: the heavens announce the justice of the Lord, and all peoples see his glory.”
All worshipers of images are put to shame— those who boast in idols. Worship Him, all you gods!
“"Let all be confounded who worship graven images." If the prophet is blessed, being blessed he never knew how to curse; and therefore in that which he says, "Let them be confounded," it is not against them, but for them: for he prays that they…”
Zion hears and rejoices, and the towns of Judah exult because of Your judgments, O LORD.
“"The daughters of Judea rejoiced because of your judgments, O Lord." What does this sense intend, "The daughters of Judea rejoiced," and not "the sons"?”
Hate evil, O you who love the LORD! He preserves the souls of His saints; He delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
“"The Lord guards the souls of his saints." A most beautiful order: he who loves good and hates evil, what does he deserve from the Lord, except that he be guarded by him? "He will free them from the hand of the sinner."”
Sing to the LORD a new song, for He has done wonders; His right hand and holy arm have gained Him the victory.
“His own right hand has saved for him. What he says is this: He saved men — not another's work, but his own; that is, what he had made for himself, he himself saved for himself.”