Translations of the biblical commentaries of St Jerome

St Jerome produced a significant quantity of commentaries on the bible, and translated still others.  These last were mostly by Origen.  Yet his commentaries have remained untranslated until recent times; and it is actually surprisingly difficult to discover what has, and has not, been translated.

I thought that I would give what information I have available, if only for my own use.  Contributions are welcome; I have little information about French translations, for instance.

There are modern critical editions of the text of most of these in CCSL vols. 72-76, and no doubt older, punctuated, and more readable ones in the Patrologia Latina.

Quaestiones Hebraicae in Genesim. Ed. PL23, col. 983-1062 (better than CCSL) Tr. C.T.R. Hayward, St Jerome’s Hebrew Questions on Genesis, Series: Oxford Early Christian Studies, Clarendon Press (1995)

Notes on the Psalms.  Isolated scholia, printed in CCSL 72.  [No translation.]  German: Siegfried Risse, Hieronymus: Commentarioli in Psalmos – Anmerkungen zum Psalter, Series: Fontes Christiani 79, Brepols, 2005.

Commentary on Ecclesiastes.  Tr. Richard J. Goodrich, ACW 66 (2012).  Tr. Robin MacGregor, ed. John Litteral (2014, but made earlier).  Amazon.  French: Commentaire de l’Ecclésiaste / Jérôme ; trad., introd., annot., guide thématique de Gérard Fry,…, Migne (Paris) 2001.  Spanish: Comentario al Eclesiastés / Jerónimo ; introducción, traducción y notas deJosé Boira Sales, Ciudad Nueva (Madrid) 2004.

Commentary on Isaiah.  Tr. Thomas P. Scheck, ACW68 (2015).  Italian translation by  R. Maisano for Citta Nuovo, 2014.

“Adbrevatio” on 1st five verses of Isaiah.  [No translation.]

Commentary on Jeremiah.  Tr. Michael Graves, 2012, for IVP Academic.

Commentary on Ezekiel.  Translation by Thomas P. Scheck, forthcoming (see comment below).

Commentary on Daniel.  Translated by Gleason L. Archer, 1958, and online.  Italian translation: S. Cola, S. Girolamo: Commento a Daniele, Rome 1966.

Commentary on Hosea.  Translated by Thomas P. Scheck &c, Commentary on the minor prophets, vol. 2, IVP 2017.

Commentary on Joel.  Translated by Thomas P. Scheck &c, Commentary on the minor prophets, vol. 2, IVP 2017.

Commentary on Amos.  Translated by Thomas P. Scheck &c, Commentary on the minor prophets, vol. 2, IVP 2017.

Commentary on Obadiah.  Translated by Thomas P. Scheck &c, Commentary on the minor prophets, vol. 1, IVP 2016.

Commentary on Jonah.  Tim Hegedus, thesis, 1991.  Online here.  Tr. Robin MacGregor, ed. John Litteral, 2014.  ISBN: 978-1500784935. (Amazon)  French: SC 43.  Translated by Thomas P. Scheck &c, Commentary on the minor prophets, vol. 1, IVP 2016.

Commentary on Micah.  Anthony Cazares, “A Translation of St. Jerome’s Commentary on Micah.” MA thesis, Ave Maria University, 2013. This translation is contracted to be published by Intervarsity Press (Ancient Christian Texts). [1]  Translated by Thomas P. Scheck &c, Commentary on the minor prophets, vol. 1, IVP 2016.

Commentary on Nahum. Sr. Albert Marie Surmanski, OP, “A Translation of St. Jerome’s Commentary on Nahum.” 2011. This translation is contracted to be published by Intervarsity Press (Ancient Christian Texts).  [2]  Translated by Thomas P. Scheck &c, Commentary on the minor prophets, vol. 1, IVP 2016.

Commentary on Habakkuk.  Translated by Thomas P. Scheck &c, Commentary on the minor prophets, vol. 1, IVP 2016.

Commentary on Zephaniah.  Translated by Thomas P. Scheck &c, Commentary on the minor prophets, vol. 1, IVP 2016.

Commentary on Haggai.  Daniel M. Garland, St. Jerome’s Commentary on the Prophet Haggai” in St. Jerome’s Commentaries on the Twelve Prophets, vol. 1, Ancient Christian Texts, IVP Academic, 2016.

Commentary on Zechariah.  Translated by Thomas P. Scheck &c, Commentary on the minor prophets, vol. 2, IVP 2017.

Commentary on Malachi.  Translated by Thomas P. Scheck &c, Commentary on the minor prophets, vol. 2, IVP 2017.

Commentary on Matthew.  Tr. Thomas P. Scheck, in FOC 117, 2008.  Preview.  French: SC 242 & 259.  Italian: S. Aliquo, Rome, 1969.

Commentary on Galatians.  Ed. PL 26.  Tr. Andrew Cain, St Jerome: Commentary on Galatians, series: Fathers of the Church 121 (2010): Preview.  Also tr. Thomas P. Scheck, St Jerome’s Commentaries on Galatians, Titus and Philemon, Notre Dame (2010).  Italian: Commento alla Epistola ai Galati / Girolamo di Stridone ; introduzione, traduzione e note a cura di Giacomo Raspanti, Brepols, 2010.

Commentary on Ephesians.  Ed. PL 26.  Tr. Ronald E. Heine, The Commentaries of Origen and Jerome on St. Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians, OUP 2002.

Commentary on Titus.  Ed. PL 26.  Tr. Thomas P. Scheck, St Jerome’s Commentaries on Galatians, Titus and Philemon, Notre Dame (2010)

Commentary on Philemon.  Ed. PL 26.  Tr. Thomas P. Scheck, St Jerome’s Commentaries on Galatians, Titus and Philemon, Notre Dame (2010)

Commentary on Revelation.  A revision of the commentary of Victorinus of Pettau.  Ed. CSEL 49 (1916).

There’s quite a lot more extant in English than I had realised, in truth.  It looks very much as if Thomas P. Scheck has the remainder in hand, possibly in cooperation with IVP’s Ancient Christian Texts series of translations purely of ancient commentaries.  If so, then we should all be grateful.

* UPDATE: I learn from a correspondent (see the comments below) that Thomas P. Scheck has translated Jerome on Ezekiel, and has also collected translators for a two-volume translation of the commentaries on the minor prophets, to appear from IVP.  That will mean that for the first time, we will have all of Jerome’s commentaries available in English.  Well done, Dr Scheck!

UPDATE: The two-volume translation of Jerome’s Commentaries on the Twelve Prophets has now been published from IVP (vol. 1, 2016; vol. 2, 2017).  I have updated the lists.

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  1. [1]Translation directed by Thomas P. Scheck: see CV here.
  2. [2]Translation directed by Thomas P. Scheck: see CV here.

10 thoughts on “Translations of the biblical commentaries of St Jerome

  1. Unfortunately, Tim Hegedus never published his 1991 M.A. (!) thesis, which was an introduction to, translation of, and notes on Jerome’s Jonah commentary. Fortunately, it is now available for PDF download, so that’s something to be thankful for. Worth noting here, I reckon!

  2. We should indeed be grateful for Thomas Scheck’s work translating St. Jerome! He has just finished Jerome’s Commentary on Ezekiel, which I believe will be published with Paulist. He also recruited graduate students from Ave Maria University to translate Jerome’s Commentaries on the Minor Prophets, which will be published in two volumes by IVP (with Dr. Scheck as editor) and will finally bring to completion the work of translating all of Jerome’s biblical commentaries into English.

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