Today commemorates Jerome, Translator of Holy Scripture. The devotional reading comes from the Treasury of Daily Prayer.
Today commemorates Jerome, Translator of Holy Scripture. This commemoration gives us occasion to thank God for His Holy Word, which brings life and salvation. As we remember Jerome’s life in Christ, we pray that we, too, would hold God’s Word as our dearest treasure as we gladly hear and learn it.
Jerome was born in a little village on the Adriatic Sea around AD 345. At a young age, he went to study in Rome, where he was baptized. After extensive travels, he chose the life of a monk and spent five years in the Syrian Desert. There he learned Hebrew, the language of the Old Testament. After ordination at Antioch and visits to Rome and Constantinople, Jerome settled in Bethlehem. From the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, he used his ability with languages to translate the Bible into Latin, the common language of his time. This translation, called the Vulgate, was the authoritative version of the Bible in the Western Church for more than a thousand years. Considered one of the great scholars of the Early Church, Jerome died on September 30, 420. He was originally interred at Bethlehem, but his remains were eventually taken to Rome.
O Lord, God of truth, Your Word is a lamp to our feet and a light on our path. You gave Your servant Jerome delight in his study of Holy Scripture. May those who continue to read, mark, and inwardly digest Your Word find in it the food of salvation and the fountain of life; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Reading and Prayer of the Day are from Treasury of Daily Prayer, page 770-71 © 2008 Concordia Publishing House. All rights reserved.