Introduction.

p. 495 The Commentaries.

The extant commentaries by Jerome on the books of Holy Scripture may be arranged thus, chronological sequence being observed as far as possible:

A. New Testament:

The Epistles to Philemon, Galatians, Ephesians, Titus. a.d. 387.

Origen on St. Luke. a.d. 389.

St. Matthew. a.d. 398.

B. Old Testament:

Ecclesiastes. a.d. 388.

1. The Twelve Minor Prophets:

Nahum, Michah, Zephaniah, Haggai, Habakkuk. a.d. 392.

Jonah. Begun three years after the foregoing (Preface). Finished between a.d. 395 and a.d. 397.

Obadiah. a.d. 403.

Zechariah, Malachi, Hosea, Joel, Amos. Finished by a.d. 406.

2. The Four Greater Prophets:

Daniel. a.d. 407.

Isaiah. a.d. 408–410.

Ezekiel. a.d. 410–414.

Jeremiah. Commenced after the death of Eustochium in a.d. 418. The commentary on this book, which stops short at chapter xxxii., was therefore written in a.d. 419, the year which intervened between Eustochium’s death and Jerome’s own.

We have thought it best to give the Prefaces, as in those to the Vulgate, in the order of the books as they stand in our Bible, not in the order in which they were written.