Jerome

"The words of the wise are as goads, and as
nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one
shepherd. "The teacher should not be seen to break from
the law of God and afterwards to justify teaching by himself, more hastily than
Moses not so much of his own will, as first by the anger of God, took teachings
therefrom with enthusiasm. He says that
his words are the words of the wise, which like a goad correct the wicked and
they move the slow steps of mortals with a sharp sting, thus they are hard like
nails which hold things up securely and high; and they are not offered with one
man's authority, but with the advice and agreement of all teachers. Let not mankind's wisdom be despised, for he
says it is given from one shepherd. That
is, many are allowed to teach, but there is only one originator of the
teachings, who is God. He turns the
passage against those who think there is one God of the Old Law, and one God of
the Gospels, since one shepherd taught the advice of the wise. But the wise are just as much prophets as the
apostles themselves. At the same time it
should be remembered that the words of the wise are said to sting, not to
flatter or encourage debauchery by a lack of discipline. But as I have said above it is to give the
wound and slow pain of repentance to those who have come into wickedness. For if his speech does not sting but it like
pleasure for the listeners then that is not the speech of a wise man. For the words of the wise are like the goad,
since after all they cause the conversion of the wicked, are firm, given on the
advice of saints, given by the one shepherd, and are founded on a strong
root. I think I have heard it said in
Paul that Saul was thrown into the way of wickedness by this goad: "it is
hard for you to kick against the pricks." [Act. 9, 5.]

"And further, by these, my son, be
admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness
of the flesh. "If you remove the words which are given by
the one shepherd, related by the advice and agreement of the wise, do nothing
and nothing will be reproved you; follow in the footsteps of the multitude and
do not diverge from their command. Then
too for him who seeks to know many things there is a great number of books that
will lead him to wickedness and make the reader toil in vain. But he also teaches that you must have
enthusiasm and follow meanings more than the words themselves, the opposite
that philosophers and teachers of this world teach, who try to assert the
falsities of their doctrines with flamboyant and unnecessary language. On the other hand divine scripture is
restricted by the small quantity of what is written, and however much it is
enlarged by people's opinions it is restricted by the text itself. This is because the Lord has made speech
concise and brief all over the world, and His word is the same when it is
spoken in our mouth and our heart. [Cfr. Deut. 30, 14; Rom. 10, 8.] Differently: read often, then consider what
you have read daily, there is usually more toil of the mind that that of the
body. For just as whatever you do with
your hand and body is filled with the toil of the hand and the body, so that
which pertains to reading is more the toil of the mind. It seems to me from this that the above points
from the several books must be considered differently to the way in which many
believe them to be. It is the custom of
the Scriptures that, no matter how many books there are, if they all follow the
same matter are have few differences, then we can say that they are one
book. In this way the Gospel and the
"immaculate law of the Lord, converting spirits" [Ps. 18, 8.]
are called one, although there are several books in the Gospel and there are
many laws. In this way too there is one
volume of Isaiah, and all of the divine Scripture has one title; Ezekiel [Cfr. Ez. 3, 1-3.]
and John [Cfr. Apoc. 10, 9.]
are also many books in one book. The Saviour too prophesied in the holy words,
saying, "in the title of the Book is written about me" [Ps. 39, 9.]. According to this meaning therefore I think
it is a teaching that there should not be too many books. For whatever you say, if it is told to him
who was with God in the beginning, the word then is God [Cfr. Ioh. 1, 2.],
as one volume, and the many books are the one law, which is called the
Gospel. But if you argue that they are
varied and differ too much to be in the same volume, and look at them with too
much curiosity, even within each book you will see that there are many
books. They say about this: "you
may not escape the sin of saying too much" [Prov. 10, 19.]. Therefore there is no end to such books, for
all is good and the ending locks in truth, but wickedness and lying have no
end. And the more they are sought, the
more they come about. Study and
consideration of this is toil of the body.
I say of the body here and not of the spirit. But the spirit even has toil according to
what the apostle says: "the more I worked for all these, not I, but the
grace of God which was with me" [I Cor. 15, 10.],
and the Saviour says, "I worked shouting" [Ps. 68, 4.].

Let us indeed “fear God and obey his commandments,” for each person was born for this purpose, that knowing his Creator, he might venerate him with fear, honor and observance of the commandments. When the time of judgment arrives, whatever we have done will stand under judgment and await the double sentence that each person will receive for his work, whether he has done evil or good. We will be held accountable on the day of judgment for what we were able to do, “for every hidden deed, whether good or evil,” as Symmachus and the Septuagint translated it, that is, for every contempt, or at least every negligence, but also for every idle word offered even unknowingly, not willfully. But because fear belongs to slaves and perfect love drives fear away, fear has a double meaning in divine Scripture, for beginners and for the perfect. The fear of him who has been perfected in virtue, I believe, is expressed here: “They who fear the Lord lack nothing.” Or at least because he is still a man and has not taken God’s name, he knows his own nature, that he might fear God while placed in the body. For God will bring each creature, that is, each person, to judgment for every decision he or she made contrary to that which God has arranged and said. “Woe” indeed “to those who call evil good and good evil.”

"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole
matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of
man. For God shall bring every work into
judgement, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be
evil. "The Hebrews say that although it used to be among other
writings of Solomon in the past, they have not persisted in memory; and this
book seems as if it ought to have been omitted, because it asserts that all
God's creations are vain and that he thinks everything is done for nothing, and
he prefers food and drink and transient pleasures to all things; thus he takes
his authority from this one title, so it is now included in the number of
divine books, because he argues well and lists many things like "anakephaiosei, "and he said that his
speeches are the easiest to hear, and to understand; let us therefore fear God
and carry out his commandments. For man
is born for this purpose and, understanding his Creator, he reveres Him in fear
and respect, and in the work of his commandments. And when the time of judgement comes whatever
we have done will stand before the judge and for a long time we will await our
judgement which could go one way or the other, and we will receive our just
rewards, whether they be good or bad.
But where we read, "with every secret thing", Symmachus and the
Septuagint have interpreted, "from all contempt", or even "from
all unknown", which even brought by reluctant words, not by will, but by
ignorance, we will be returned to reason in the day of our judgement. Differently: since fear is more appropriate
to slaves, and perfect love involves no fear, and fear in the divine Scripture
is used to denote those embarking on and those completing education [Cfr. I. Ioh. 4, 18.]. Now I think he talks about the fear inherent
in virtues, according to the passage, which says, "nothing is lacking from
those who fear Him" [Ps. 33, 10.]. Or even, since until now he is a man and has
not yet taken the name of God, he has this reason of his wealth, so that he
fears God while he is still alive. Since
every single deed is judged, that is, God leads all men into judgement about
all things, either good or bad, which are done and said differently than by
Him. For indeed, "woe to those who
say wicked is good, and good is wicked" [Is. 5, 20.].