Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, Vol. LVI: Augustini Epistulae Pars III

descended upon him, of whom John the Baptist also recounts that he heard from God the Father: upon whom you shall see the Holy Spirit descending and remaining upon him, he is the one. And he shall announce judgment to the Gentiles, of whom we also read in the Psalms: O God, give your judgment to the king and your justice to the son of the king. Who also himself speaks in the Gospel: For the Father does not judge anyone, but has given all judgment to the Son. He shall not contend, like a lamb led to the slaughter; he shall not contend in the subversion of those who hear. Nor shall he cry out, according to that which the Apostle Paul writes: Let all clamor and anger and bitterness be taken away from you. He shall not cry out, because Israel did not produce judgment, but clamor. Nor shall anyone hear his voice in the streets or outside. For all the glory of the king’s daughter is from within, and narrow and restricted is the path which leads to life. Whence his voice shall not be heard in the streets, in which wisdom acts confidently, not entering the wide and spacious path, but reproving and condemning it. Whence also to those who were outside, he spoke not in his own voice, but through parables: A bruised reed, he says, he shall not break, or, as the Seventy translated, he shall not crush a broken reed. The broken reed, which was vocal before and sang in praises of the Lord, is to be called Israel, which once stumbled against the cornerstone and fell upon it and was broken in it; for this reason it is said of it: Rebuke, O Lord, the beasts of the reed.

Jerome interprets the "bruised reed" and "smoking flax" from Isaiah (and Matthew) as metaphors for Israel and the Gentiles. He contrasts the "wide path" of the public streets with the "internal" glory of God's wisdom, noting that Christ speaks to the masses in parables while revealing the deeper mystery internally.