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JEROME’S PREFACE.

...[they] come to the Holy Scriptures after having studied secular literature. If they happen to soothe the ears of the people with a polished speech, they think that whatever they say is the law of God. They do not deign to learn what the Prophets or the Apostles actually intended, but instead they twist mismatched testimonies to suit their own meaning. As if it were a great achievement—rather than the most faulty kind of teaching—to corrupt the meaning of sentences and drag a reluctant Scripture toward one's own personal will! It is as if we had not read the patchwork poems of Homer or Virgil original: Homerocentonas, & Virgiliocentonas. These "centos" were poems created by stitching together lines from famous authors like Homer or Virgil to tell entirely different stories, such as making Virgil appear to tell the story of Christ.. We might even call Virgil a "Christian without Christ" because he wrote: "Now the Virgin returns, the Saturnian kingdoms return; now a new offspring is sent down from high heaven." original: Jam redit & virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna: Jam nova progenies cœlo demittitur alto. Virgil, Eclogue 4. Medieval readers often saw this as a prophecy of the Virgin Mary and Jesus. Or where he has the Father speaking to the Son: "Son, my strength, you who alone are my great power." original: Nate, meæ vires, mea magna potentia solus. Virgil, Aeneid 1.664. Or after the words of the Savior on the cross: "Thus he continued speaking, and remained fixed." original: Talia perstabat memorans, fixusque manebat. Virgil, Aeneid 2.650. These things are childish; they are like the games of street-performers—to teach what you do not know. Indeed, to speak with some irritation, it is not even knowing that you do not know.

VII. Genesis.

Genesis is obviously most clear, for in it the creation of the world, the origin of the human race, the division of the earth, and the confusion of tongues and nations are written, all the way until the departure of the Hebrews [from Egypt].

Exodus.

Exodus is plain with its ten plagues, the Decalogue The Ten Commandments., and its mystical and divine precepts.

Leviticus.

The book of Leviticus is at hand, in which every single sacrifice—indeed, almost every single syllable—the garments of Aaron, and the entire Levitical order, breathe forth heavenly mysteries.

Numbers.

Does not the book of Numbers contain the mysteries of all arithmetic, the prophecy of Balaam, and the forty-two stages of the journey through the wilderness?

Deuteronomy.

Deuteronomy, too, the "second law" and a prefiguration of the Law of the Gospel, does it not contain the things that came before in such a way that everything is yet "new" from the "old"? Thus far Moses, thus far...

1 Cor. 14.

...the Pentateuch The first five books of the Bible.. The Apostle [Paul] glories that he wishes to speak in the Church with these "five words."

Job.

What mysteries does Job, that model of patience, not embrace in his speech? It begins in prose, glides into verse, and ends in everyday speech. He determines all the laws of logic through proposition, assumption, confirmation, and conclusion. Every single word in it is full of meaning. And—to be silent about the rest—he prophesies the resurrection of the body so clearly and carefully that no one has written of it better: "I know," he says, "that my Redeemer lives, and on the last day I shall rise from the earth: and again I shall be clothed with my skin, and in my flesh I shall see God, whom I myself shall see, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. This hope is laid up in my heart."

Joshua, or Jesus Nave

I come to Joshua, son of Nun original: Jesum Nave. In Latin, Joshua and Jesus are the same name; Jerome views him as a "type" or symbolic forerunner of Jesus Christ., who serves as a type of the Lord not only in his deeds but also in his name: he crosses the Jordan, subverts the kingdoms of the enemy, divides the land for the victorious people, and through individual cities, villages, mountains, rivers, streams, and borders, he describes the spiritual kingdoms of the Church and the heavenly Jerusalem.

Book of Judges.

In the book of Judges, as many as there are leaders of the people, so many are the figures [of Christ].

Ruth.

Ruth the Moabite fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah,

Isa. 16.

who said: "Send forth the lamb, O Lord, the ruler of the earth, from the rock of the desert to the mountain of the daughter of Zion."

1 & 2 Kings.

Samuel, in the death of Eli and the killing of Saul, shows the old law abolished. Furthermore, in Zadok and David, he bears witness to the mysteries of a new priesthood and a new empire.

3 & 4 Kings.

Melachim The Hebrew name for the Books of Kings., that is, the third and fourth books of Kings, describes the kingdom of Judah and the kingdom of Israel from Solomon to Jeconiah, and from Jeroboam son of Nebat to Hoshea, who was led away to the Assyrians. If you look at the history, the words are simple; but if you look at the sense hidden in the letters, the small numbers of the Church and the wars of heretics against the Church are narrated.
The Twelve Prophets, squeezed into the narrow space of a single volume, prefigure something much different than what the literal text sounds like.

Hosea.

Hosea frequently names Ephraim, Samaria, Joseph, Jezreel, a harlot wife, and children of harlotry; an adulteress shut in the husband's chamber, a widow for a long time according to the covenant, waiting under mourning clothes for her husband's return to her.

Joel.

Joel, son of Phatuel, describes the land of the twelve tribes consumed by the caterpillar, the cankerworm, the locust, and the blight. After the overturning of the former people, he describes how the Holy Spirit would be poured out upon the servants and handmaids of God, that is,

Acts 2.

upon the one hundred and twenty names of the believers, poured out in the upper room of Zion. These one hundred and twenty, rising little by little and through increments from one to fifteen, make up the number of the fifteen steps, which are contained mystically in the Psalter Refers to the "Songs of Ascents" (Psalms 120–134) sung on the fifteen steps of the Temple..

Amos.

Amos—a shepherd, a rustic, and a gatherer of sycamore fruit—cannot be explained in a few words. For who could worthily express the "three or four crimes" of Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, and the children of Ammon and Moab; and in the seventh and eighth degree, of Judah and Israel? He speaks to the "fat cows" on the mountain of Samaria, and testifies that the greater and lesser house will fall. He sees the maker of the locust, the Lord standing upon a plastered or diamond wall, a hook of fruit drawing punishments to sinners, and a famine upon the earth—not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the word of God.

Obadiah.

Obadiah, whose name means "servant of God," thunders against Edom, the man of blood and earth; he strikes with a spiritual spear the brother of Jacob, who was always a rival.

Jonah.

Jonah, the most beautiful dove, prefiguring the passion of the Lord by his own shipwreck, calls the world back to repentance; and under the name of Nineveh, he announces salvation to the Gentiles.

Micah.

Micah of Moresheth, a co-heir of Christ, announces the devastation of the "daughter of a robber" and places a siege against her, because she struck the cheek of the judge of Israel.

Nahum.

Nahum, the comforter of the world, rebukes the city of blood, and after its overturning, speaks: "Behold upon the mountains the feet of him who brings good tidings and announces peace."

Habakkuk.

Habakkuk, a strong and rigid wrestler, stands upon his watchtower and fixes his step upon the fortification, so that he may contemplate Christ on the cross and say: "His glory covered the heavens, and the earth is full of his praise. His brightness shall be as the light, horns are in his hands: there his strength was hidden."

Zephaniah.

Zephaniah, the watchman and knower of the secrets of God, hears a cry from the Fish Gate, a wailing from the Second Quarter, and a crashing from the hills. He also proclaims a howling to the inhabitants of the Mortar original: Pilae. A district in Jerusalem., because all the people of Canaan are silent, and all who were wrapped in silver have perished.