...live, as having nothing, and yet possessing all things. Food and clothing are the riches of Christians. Matt. 5 If you have power over your property, sell it; if you do not have power, cast it away. To him who takes your tunic, the cloak must also be surrendered. Referencing Matthew 5:40; Jerome argues for total detachment from worldly goods. Unless you, forever procrastinating and dragging things out day after day, cautiously and step-by-step sell your small possessions, Christ will have no means Matt. 4 to feed his poor. He has given everything to God who Mark 12 has offered himself. The Apostles left behind only a boat and Luke 21 nets; the Widow put two small copper coins into the treasury, and she is preferred over the riches of Croesus. Croesus was a King of Lydia legendary for his immense wealth. He easily despises all things who always reminds himself that he is going to die.

THE PREFACE

OF ST. JEROME

THE PRIEST

I have received the longed-for letters of my Desiderius, who—by a certain omen of things to come—shares a name with Daniel, "the man of desires." Dan. 9 You implore me to hand over to the ears of our people the Pentateuch The first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. translated into the Latin tongue from the Hebrew speech. This is certainly a dangerous work, exposed to the barkings of detractors who assert that I am forging "new things for old" as an insult to the Seventy Interpreters The Septuagint, the traditional Greek translation of the Old Testament., testing my talent as if it were a weapon. Yet I have very often testified that I offer what I can for my small portion in the tabernacle of God, and that the riches of one Exod. 35 are not defiled by the poverty of others. Origen's zeal provoked me to dare this; he mixed the translation of Theodotion into the ancient edition, distinguishing the whole work with asterisks and obelisks Origen used these symbols to mark where the Greek text had more or less content than the Hebrew original.—either making clear what had previously been obscure, or "slaying and stabbing" every superfluity, especially those things which the authority of the Evangelists and Apostles has promulgated. In their writings, we read many things from the Old Testament which are not found in our Latin codices, such as: "Out of Egypt I called my son," and, "Because he shall be called a Nazarene," and, "Rivers of living water shall flow from his belly," and, "What eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, what God has prepared for those who love him," and many other things which require their own σύνταγμα original: syntagma; a systematic arrangement or treatise.. Let us ask them, therefore, where these things are written; and when they cannot say, let us produce them from the Hebrew books. The first Hos. 11 Isa. 11 Zech. 12 Prov. 18 Isa. 64 testimony is in Hosea, the second in Isaiah, the third in Zechariah, the fourth in Proverbs, and the fifth likewise in Isaiah. Many, being ignorant of this, follow the ravings of the apocrypha and prefer Spanish nonsense original: Iberas nænias; likely referring to popular heretical or legendary tales circulating in Spain at the time. to authentic books. It is not for me to explain the causes of the error. The Jews say it was done by a prudent plan, so that Ptolemy, a worshiper of one God, might not discover a double divinity among the Hebrews. They did this especially because it seemed to fall into the dogma of Plato. Finally, wherever the Scripture testifies to something sacred concerning the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, they either interpreted it differently or kept silent altogether, so that

they might both satisfy the king and not make public the secret of the faith. And I do not know who was the first lying author to construct the seventy cells at Alexandria A legend claimed the 70 translators were locked in separate cells and produced identical translations by miracle., in which they wrote the same things though divided; whereas Aristeas, a ὑπερασπιστής original: hyperaspistes; a defender or bodyguard. of the same Ptolemy, and much later Josephus, recorded no such thing. Instead, they write that they assembled in a single hall and conferred together, rather than prophesied. For it is one thing to be a seer (a prophet) and another to be a translator: in the former, the Spirit predicts things to come; in the latter, learning and abundance of words translate what one understands. Unless, perhaps, we must think that Cicero translated Xenophon's Oeconomicus, Plato's Protagoras, and Demosthenes' On the Crown while inspired by a rhetorical spirit. Otherwise, the Holy Spirit wove testimonies concerning the same books one way through the Seventy Interpreters and another way through the Apostles, so that what the former kept silent, the latter lied about as being written. What then? Do we condemn the ancients? Not at all. But after the studies of those who came before, we labor in the house of the Lord as much as we can. They interpreted before the coming of Christ, and because they did not know, they produced ambiguous sentences; but we, after his passion and resurrection, write not so much prophecy as history. For things heard are told one way, and things seen another; what we understand better, we also express better. Listen then, rival; pay attention, detractor: I do not condemn, I do not rebuke the Seventy; but I confidently prefer the Apostles to all of them. Christ speaks to me through their mouths, whom I read were placed among spiritual gifts before the Prophets, while Translators occupy almost the last rank. Why are you twisted by envy? Why do you stir up the minds of the ignorant against me? If anywhere in my translation I seem to you to err, ask the Hebrews, consult the teachers of various cities. What they have concerning Christ, your codices do not have. It is a different matter if they later rejected testimonies used against them by the Apostles, and if the Latin copies are more corrected than the Greek, and the Greek than the Hebrew. But this is against the envious. Now I pray you, dearest Desiderius—since you have made me undergo such a great work and take my beginning from Genesis—help me with your prayers, so that I may be able to translate these books into the Latin tongue with the same spirit in which they were written.

THE SAME AUTHOR'S

PREFACE TO

JOSHUA.

At last, having finished the Pentateuch of Moses, as if freed from a great debt, let us set our hand to Jesus son of Nave In Greek and Latin, the name Joshua is written as "Jesus," and "Nun" is written as "Nave." Jerome views Joshua as a "type" or symbol of Jesus Christ., whom the Hebrews call יהושע בן נון translated: Yehoshua bin Nun; Joshua son of Nun., and to the book of Judges, which they call שופטים translated: Shophetim; Judges.; and to Ruth and Esther, whom they call by the same names. We warn the reader that a diligent scribe should preserve the "forest" of Hebrew names and the distinctions divided into members, lest both our labor and his study perish. And let him know first, as I have often testified, that I do not forge new things to rebuke the ancients, as my friends accuse me;