A letter from Jerome (390-404)

Translated letter:

The language shows that there are twenty-two letters [the alphabet] among Hebrews, Syrians, and Chaldaeans, which are for the most part close to Hebrew. For those twenty-two elements have the same sound but different characters/signs. The Samaritans also wrote down the Pentateuch of Moses with the same number of letters, differing only in figures and points. It is certain that the scribe Esdra, a doctor of the law, after the taking of Jerusalem and renewal of the temple under Zorobabel, found other letters which we now use, since up to that time the characters of the Samaritans and Hebrews were the same. Also in the book of Numbers [3:39] there is the same reckoning shown mystically under the census of Levites and priests. And we find the tetragrammaton name of the lord in certain Greek books expressed with ancient letters up to this day. But the 36th Psalm, the 110th, 111th, 118th, and 144th, though written in different metres, are woven together of the same number by the alphabet. And the Lamentations of Jeremiah, and his Prayer, and Solomon at the end of Proverbs, from that place in which he says "who can find a strong woman?" [Prov.31:10] are computed by the same alphabets or divisions. There are, moreover, five double letters, Caph, Mem, Nun, Phe, Sade, which are written one way for the beginnings and middles of words, another for the ends. And five double books out of the many: Samuel, Malachi [Kings], Chronicles, Ezra [and Nehemiah], and Jeremiah with Lamentations. Just as there are twenty-two elements by which we write everything we say in Hebrew and the human voice is comprised of those elements, so there are twenty-two books by which, as if they were letters and prefaces, the tender and nursing infancy of the just man is instructed in the doctrine of God. Their first book is called Bresith(1) which we call Genesis. The second Elle smoth, which is Exodus, the third Vaiecra, Leviticus, the fourth Vaiedabber, which we call Numbers, the fifth Elle addabarim, Deuteronomy. These are the five books of Moses, which are properly called Thorath, that is law. They make the second order of prophets, beginning with Jesus, son of Nave, whom they call Joshua ben Nun; after that Sophtim, Judges, and joined with it Ruth, since that history is told in the days of judges. Third comes Samuel, which we call the first and second Kings. Fourth Malachim, that is contained in the third and fourth books of Kings. It is much better to say Malachim, of kings, than Malachoth, of kingdoms. For it does not describe the kingdoms of many peoples but of one Israelite people which included twelve tribes. The fifth is Isaiah, sixth Jeremiah, seventh Ezekiel, eighth the book of the twelve prophets, which they call Thare asra. The third order is hagiography, first Job, second David (with five divisions in one volume of Psalms), third [to fifth] Solomon, with three books, Proverbs, that is Masaloth, Ecclesiastes, that is Coeleth, and the Song of Songs which is named Sir assidim; the sixth is Daniel, the seventh Dabre aiamin, that is words of days, which we might with greater meaning call the “Chronikon” [Grk] of all of divine history. That book is entitled first and second “Paralipomenon” [Grk] by us. The eighth is Ezra [and Nehemiah], which among Greeks and Latins is divided into two books; the ninth is Esther. And thus there are 22 books of the old law: that is, 5 of Moses, 8 of the prophets, 9 of hagiography. Though several people inscribe Ruth and Lamentations in the hagiography, and think these books should be computed in that number, making the number of the old law 24. The number of old men in the Apocalypse is 24, whom John brings in adoring the lamb and offering their crowns with lowered visage, and before them four animals with eyes in front and in back, that is looking to the past and the future, and calling ceaselessly, "holy, holy, holy, lord God almighty, who was and is and will be" [Rev.4:4-10]. This prologue to the scriptures can serve as a defensive [helmeted] beginning to all the books which we translate from Hebrew to Latin, so that we can know that whatever is outside them should be placed with the “apocrypha” [Grk]; Wisdom, which is commonly ascribed to Solomon, and Jesus son of Sirach, and Judith and Tobit, and the Shepherd [of Hermes?] are not in the canon. The first book of Maccabees is found in Hebrew, the second is Greek, and there is “phrasei” [Grk, counsel] to be got from it. And so, I beg you, reader, do not consider my work to be reproof of the ancients. In God's tabernacle each one offers what he can, some gold and silver and precious stones, some offer byssus [fine cloth] and purple and scarlet and blue; for us it is well if we offer hides and goatskins [Exod.25:3-5]. And yet the apostle judges our very contemptible gifts more necessary [1Cor.12:22]. Whence all that beauty of the tabernacle, through separate forms, the distinction of the present and future church, is covered with hides and goats' hair, the baser things keep off the heat of the sun and the harm of rain. Read first, therefore, Samuel and my Malachi — I say my — for whatever we have learned and hold, translating frequently and emending sollicitously, is ours. And when you understand something you did not know before, either consider me an interpreter if you like it, or a paraphraser [“paraphrasten,” Grk], if you do not. Though I am not conscious of having changed anything at all from the Hebraic truth, if you do not believe me, read the Greek and Latin manuscripts and compare them with these works. And wherever they seem to differ, ask one of the Hebrews to whom you can give more faith, and if he confirms ours I think you will not consider him a diviner who divined similarly to me in the same place. But I ask you servants of God, Paula and Eustochium, who anoint the head of the recumbent lord with the most precious myrrh of faith, who never seek the saviour in the tomb since Christ has already ascended to his father, oppose the barking dogs who rage against me with rabid mouths and go around the city and consider themselves learned because they disparage others, oppose them with the shields of your prayers. I knowing my humility, will always remember that sentence: "I said, `I will guard my ways that I may not sin with my tongue; I have put a watch over my house as long as the sinner stands against me. I was silent and I am humbled and I am muted by the good'" [Ps.38:2-3].

Original letter:

Viginti et duas litteras esse apud Hebraeos, Syrorum quoque et Chaldaeorum lingua testatur, quae Hebraeae magna ex parte confinis est: nam et ipsi viginti duo elementa habent eodem sono, sed diversis characteribus. Samaritani etiam Pentateuchum Mosi totidem litteris scriptitant, figuris tantum et apicibus discrepantes. Certumque est Esdram scribam, legisque doctorem, post captam Jerosolymam, et instaurationem templi sub Zorobabel, alias litteras reperisse, quibus nunc utimur: cum ad illud usque tempus iidem Samaritanorum et Hebraeorum caracteres fuerint. In libro quoque Numerorum (Cap. III, 39) haec eadem supputatio, sub Levitarum ac sacerdotum censu, mystice ostenditur. Et nomen Domini tetragrammaton in quibusdam Graecis voluminibus, usque hodie antiquis expressum litteris invenimus. Sed et psalmi tricesimus sextus, et centesimus decimus, et centesimus undecimus, et centesimus octavus decimus, et centesimus quadragesimus quartus, quamquam diverso scribantur metro, tamen ejusdem numeri texuntur alphabeto. Et Jeremiae Lamentationes, et Oratio ejus: Salomonis quoque in fine Proverbia, ab eo loco in quo ait, Mulierem fortem quis inveniet (Cap. ultimo, v. 10, ad finem usque) iisdem alphabetis vel incisionibus supputantur. Porro quinque litterae duplices apud Hebraeos sunt, CAPH, MEM, NUN, PHE, SADE: aliter enim per has scribunt principia medietatesque verborum, aliter fines. Unde et quinque a plerisque libri duplices aestimantur: Samuel, Malachim, Dabre-Jamim, Ezras, Jeremias cum Cinoth, id est Lamentationibus suis. Quomodo igitur viginti duo elementa sunt, per quae scribimus Hebraice omne quod loquimur, [Col. 0552A] et eorum initiis vox humana comprehenditur: ita viginti duo volumina supputantur, quibus quasi litteris et exordiis, in Dei doctrina, tenera adhuc et lactens viri justi eruditur infantia. Primus apud eos liber vocatur BRESITH quem nos Genesim dicimus. Secundus ELLE SMOTH, qui Exodus appellatur. Tertius VAJECRA, id est, Leviticus. Quartus VAJEDABBER, quem Numeros vocamus. Quintus, ELLEADDABARIM, qui Deuteronomium praenotatur. Hi sunt, quinque libri Mosi, quos proprie THORATH, id est, legem appellant. Secundum Prophetarum ordinem faciunt; et incipiunt ab Jesu filio Nave, qui apud eos JOSUE BEN NUN dicitur. Deinde subtexunt SOPHTIM, id est, Judicum librum; et in eumdem compingunt RUTH, quia in diebus judicum facta narratur historia. Tertius sequitur SAMUEL, quem nos Regnorum primum et secundum dicimus. Quartus MALACHIM, id est, Regum, qui tertio et quarto Regnorum volumine continetur. Meliusque multo est, MALACHIM, id est, Regum, quam MALACHOTH, id est, Regnorum dicere. Non enim multarum gentium regna describit; sed unius Israelitici populi, qui tribubus duodecim continetur. Quintus ISAIAS. Sextus JEREMIAS. Septimus JEZECIEL. Octavus liber duodecim Prophetarum, qui apud illos vocatur THARE ASRA. Tertius ordo possidet; et primus liber incipit ab JOB. Secundus a DAVID, quem quinque incisionibus, et uno Psalmorum volumine comprehendunt. Tertius est SALAMON tres libros habens: Proverbia, quae illi Parabolas, id est, MASALOTH appellant: Ecclesiasten, id est, COELETH: Canticum canticorum, quem titulo SIR ASSIRIM praenotant. Sextus est DANIEL. Septimus DABRE AJAMIM, id est, verba dierum, quod significantius totius divinae historiae possumus appellare. Qui liber apud nos, primus et secundus inscribitur. Octavus EZRAS [Al. Elesdras], qui et ipse similiter apud Graecos et Latinos in duos libros divisus est. Nonus ESTHER. Atque ita fiunt pariter veteris legis libri viginti duo; id est, Mosi quinque: Prophetarum octo: Hagiographorum novem. Quamquam nonnulli RUTH et CINOTH inter scriptitent, et libros hos in suo putent numero supputandos: ac per hoc esse priscae legis libros viginti quatuor: quos sub numero viginti quatuor seniorum Apocalypsis Joannis inducit adorantes Agnum, et coronas suas prostratis vultibus offerentes: stantibus coram quatuor animalibus oculatis et retro et ante, id est, et in praeteritum et in futurum respicientibus, et indefessa voce clamantibus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus Deus omnipotens, qui erat, et qui est, et qui venturus est (Apoc. IV, 8). Hic prologus Scripturarum, quasi galeatum principium omnibus libris, quos de Hebraeo vertimus in Latinum, convenire potest: ut scire valeamus quidquid extra hos est, inter esse ponendum. Igitur Sapientia, quae vulgo Salomonis inscribitur, et Jesu filii Syrach liber, et Judith, et Tobias, et Pastor, non sunt in Canone. Machabaeorum primum librum, Hebraicum reperi. Secundus, Graecus est: quod ex ipsa quoque probari potest. Quae cum ita se habeant, obsecro te, lector, ne laborem meum, reprehensionem aestimes antiquorum. In tabernaculum Dei offert unusquisque quod potest: alii aurum et argentum et lapides pretiosos: alii byssum et purpuram et coccum offerunt et hyacinthum (Exod. XXV): nobiscum bene agetur, si obtulerimus pelles et caprarum pilos. Et tamen Apostolus contemptibiliora nostra magis necessaria judicat (I Cor. XII, 21). Unde et tota illa tabernaculi pulchritudo, et per singulas species, Ecclesiae praesentis futuraeque distinctio, pellibus tegitur et ciliciis, ardoremque solis et injuriam imbrium ea quae viliora sunt prohibent. Lege ergo primum, Samuel, et Malachim meum: meum, inquam, meum. Quidquid enim crebrius vertendo, et emendando sollicitius et didicimus et tenemus, nostrum est. Et cum intellexeris quod antea nesciebas, vel interpretem me aestimato, si gratus es, vel , si ingratus. Quamquam [Ms. quod] mihi omnino conscius non sim [Ms. sum], mutasse me quidpiam de Hebraica veritate. Certe si incredulus es, lege Graecos codices et Latinos et confer cum bis opusculis: et ubicumque inter se videris discrepare, interroga quemlibet Hebraeorum, cum magis accommodare debeas fidem: et si nostra firmaverit, puto quod eum non aestimes conjectorem, ut in eodem loco mecum similiter divinarit. Sed et vos, famulas Christi (Paulam et Eustochium), rogo, quae Domini discumbentis pretiosissimo fidei myro ungitis caput, quae nequaquam Salvatorem quaeritis in sepulcro, quibus jam ad Patrem Christus ascendit, ut contra latrantes canes, qui adversus me rabido ore desaeviunt, et circumeunt civitatem, atque in eo se doctos arbitrantur, si aliis detrahant, orationum vestrarum clypeos, opponatis. Ego sciens humilitatem meam, illius semper sententiae recordabor: Dixi, custodiam vias meas; ut non delinquam in lingua mea. Posui ori meo custodiam, cum [Vulg. dum] consisteret peccator adversum me. Obmutui, et humiliatus sum, et silui a bonis (Ps. XXXVIII, 1 seq.).

Historical context:

This prologue is intended as an introduction not only to Samuel and Kings, but to the whole Old Testament which Jerome translated from Hebrew to Latin, dedicating most of it to Paula and Eustochium, whom he addresses directly in it, though he clearly intends it also for a larger audience. J.N.D. Kelly, notes that Jerome dedicated so much of his bible work to women that people made fun of him for it, Jerome, His Life, Writings, and Controversies, (New York: Harper and Row, 1975), 169.

Scholarly notes:

(1) Jerome's text gives the names in Hebrew characters.

Printed source:

Prefatio Hieronymi in Libros Samuel et Malachim, PL28, c.547-558.

Date:

390-404