Jerome — Commentary on Scripture

Proverbs 16:3

We are commanded to show him our ways and make our ways to him, which are made straight, not by our own efforts but by his help and mercy. Whence it is written, “Make straight your way in my sight” (or as other copies have it, “make straight my way in your sight”), so that what is straight to him may also appear straight to me. Solomon also says, “Lay open your works to the Lord, and your thoughts shall be directed.” For our thoughts are directed then, and only then, when we lay open to the Lord, as to a firm and very stable rock, everything that we do and impute everything to him.

Against the Pelagians 3.8

Proverbs 18:17

Blessed, therefore, is he who acknowledges that he is a sinner just as the apostle does: “I am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.” If the apostle makes such a confession, how much more should the sinner? Scripture says, moreover, “If the just man is prompt to accuse himself, how much more should the sinner be?”

HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 47 (PSALM 135)

Proverbs 20:9

“Who can say,” writes the wise man, “I have made my heart clean”? The stars are not pure in the Lord’s sight; how much less people whose whole life is one long temptation.

LETTER 125.7

Proverbs 20:24

You maintain that “all are governed by their own free choice.” What Christian can bear to hear this? For if not one, or a few or many but all of us are governed by our own free choice, what becomes of the help of God? And how do you explain the text, “A man’s goings are ordered by the Lord”?

Against the Pelagians 1.27

Proverbs 21:1

[Daniel 5:19] "'He slew whomever he would and smote to death whomever he wished to; those whom he wished he set on high, and brought low whomever he would.'" Thus he sets forth the example of the king's great-grandfather, in order to teach him the justice of God and make it clear that his great-grandson too was to suffer similar treatment because of his pride. Now if Nebuchadnezzar slew whomever he would and smote to death whomever he wished to; if he set on high those whom he would and brought low whomever he wished to, there is certainly no Divine providence or Scriptural injunction behind these honors and slayings, these acts of promotion and humiliation. But rather, such things ensue from the will of the men themselves who do the slaying and promoting to honor, and all the rest. If this be the case, the question arises as to how we are to understand the Scripture: "The heart of a king reposes in the hand of God; He will incline it in whatever direction He wishes" (Proverbs 21:1). Perhaps we might say that every saint is a king, for sin does not reign in his mortal body, and his h…

[Daniel 5:19] "'He slew whomever he would and smote to death whomever he wished to; those whom he wished he set on high, and brought low whomever he would.'" Thus he sets forth the example of the king's great-grandfather, in order to teach him the justice of God and make it clear that his great-grandson too was to suffer similar treatment because of his pride. Now if Nebuchadnezzar slew whomever he would and smote to death whomever he wished to; if he set on high those whom he would and brought low whomever he wished to, there is certainly no Divine providence or Scriptural injunction behind these honors and slayings, these acts of promotion and humiliation. But rather, such things ensue from the will of the men themselves who do the slaying and promoting to honor, and all the rest. If this be the case, the question arises as to how we are to understand the Scripture: "The heart of a king reposes in the hand of God; He will incline it in whatever direction He wishes" (Proverbs 21:1). Perhaps we might say that every saint is a king, for sin does not reign in his mortal body, and his heart therefore is kept safe, for he is in God's hand (Romans 6:1-23). And whatever has once come into the hand of God the Father, according to the Gospel, no man is able to take it away (John 10:28). And whoever is taken away, it is understood that he never was in God's hand at all.

St. Jerome, Commentary on Daniel, CHAPTER FIVE

Proverbs 21:1

The heart of Julian, the persecutor, of Nero, of Decius, are their hearts in the hand of God? No, the hearts in the hand of God are those who govern their body, who bring it into subjection and compel it to servitude, lest preaching to others they themselves should be rejected. These are the kings of whom Wisdom says in Proverbs, “He gives kingship to kings.”

HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 54 (PSALM 143)

Proverbs 21:1

Was the heart of Julian, the persecutor, in the hand of God? The heart of Saul, was it in the hand of God? Was the heart of Manasseh in the hand of God? The heart of Ahab? Were the hearts of all the impious kings of Judah in the hand of God? Do you see that this verse does not admit of a literal interpretation? The kings, therefore, are the saints, and their hearts are in the hand of the Lord.… The following words of the apostle are appropriate here: “But I chastise my body and bring it into subjection, lest perhaps after preaching to others, I myself should be rejected.” May our soul be in command, our body in subjection. Then Christ will come at once to make his abode with us.

HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 9 (PSALM 75)

Proverbs 21:1

The kings of the earth are those who reign over sin; consequently, they who govern sin shall give thanks. The prophet is certainly not referring to the kings of this world, for it is written, “The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord.” Do you for one moment suppose that the heart of Julian the Apostate was in the hand of God? God forbid! Or of Nero or of Maximianus and Decius, the persecutors? God forbid! No, he is speaking of those who have control over sin, who, because their heart is in the hand of God, have conquered the vices and passions of their soul and thereby prevail over sin.

HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 49 (PSALM 137)

Proverbs 23:1

Holy writ warns us to partake of the feast prudently when we have been invited to dine at the table of a rich man. I might say that a rich man’s table of Scripture has been laid before us. We enter a meadow filled with flowers; here the rose blushes; there the lilies glisten white; everywhere flowers abound in all varieties.

HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 11 (PSALM 77)

Proverbs 25:24

What necessity rests upon me to run the risk of the wife I marry proving good or bad? “It is better,” [Solomon] says, “to dwell in a desert land than with a contentious and passionate woman.” He who is married knows how seldom we find a wife without these faults. Hence that sublime orator, Varius Geminus, says well, “The man who does not quarrel is a bachelor.” [In fact], “it is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop than with a contentious woman in a house in common.” If a house common to husband and wife makes a wife proud and breeds contempt for the husband, how much more if the wife is the richer of the two and the husband but a lodger in her house!She begins to be not a wife but mistress of the house; and if she offends her husband, they must part.

Against Jovinianus 1.28

Proverbs 28:13

“As confession and beauty are in the sight of God,” so a sinner who confesses his sins and says, “My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness” loses his foul wounds and is made whole and clean. But “he that covers his sins shall not prosper.”

LETTER 122.3

Proverbs 30:15-16

Who can hide from himself what is thus enigmatically expressed? “The horseleech had three daughters, dearly loved, but they satisfied her not, and a fourth is not satisfied when you say Enough: the grave, and woman’s love, and the earth that is not satisfied with water, and the fire that does not say Enough.” The horseleech is the devil, the daughters of the devil are dearly loved, and they cannot be satisfied with the blood of the slain: “the grave, and woman’s love, and the earth dry and scorched with heat.” It is not the harlot or the adulteress who is spoken of, but woman’s love in general is accused of ever being insatiable. Put it out, it bursts into flame; give it plenty, it is again in need. It enervates a man’s mind and engrosses all thought except for the passion which it feeds.

Against Jovinianus 1.28

Proverbs 31:4

The wine of the flesh does not cheer the heart of man but overpowers it and produces madness; it is written, in fact, that it is not for kings to drink wine. The apostle, too, writes that it is good not to eat meat and not to drink wine; yet we are told that wine gladdens the heart of man. This means, however, spiritual wine, by which, if one drinks, he immediately becomes inebriated.

HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 42 (PSALM 127)