Letter 36. To Pope Damasus.

Jerome's reply to the foregoing. For the second and fourth questions he refers Damasus to the writings of Tertullian, Novatian, and Origen. The remaining three he deals with in detail.

Gen. iv. 15, he understands to mean "the slayer of Cain shall complete the sevenfold vengeance which is to be wreaked upon him." Exodus xiii. is, he proposes to reconcile with Gen. xv. 16, by supposing that in the one place the tribe of Levi is referred to, in the other the tribe of Judah. He suggests, however, that the words rendered by the LXX. "in the fifth generation" more probably mean "harnessed" (so A.V.) or "laden." In reply to the question about Isaac he says: "No man save Him who for our salvation has deigned to put on flesh has full knowledge and a complete grasp of the truth. Paul, Samuel, David, Elisha, all make mistakes, and holy men only know what God reveals to them." He then goes on to give a mystical interpretation of the passage suggested by the martyr Hippolytus. Written the day after the previous letter.

The below translation made by ChatGPT 3.5 from this Latin text.

Blessed Pope Damasus, Jerome.

1. After I received the letter from Your Holiness, I immediately summoned a notary to record it. As he was preparing to perform his duties, I was already imagining what I was going to say. At that moment, the notary and I were both preparing to speak when suddenly a Hebrew man interrupted us, carrying several volumes that he had apparently received from the Synagogue to read. 'Here you have what you requested,' he said. This surprised me and I didn't know what to do, so he scared me and I forgot everything else and immediately started writing. And that's what I've been doing ever since. Yesterday, since you sent a message to me as a deacon, stating that you were expecting commentary from me on the Epistle, as I understand it, and desiring a brief response to individual matters that necessitate the length of large volumes, I have outlined these things for you, leaving aside only two questions: not because I could not respond to them, but because they have been written in the Latin language by the most eloquent men, namely our Tertullian and Novatian; and if we want to introduce new material, there will be a broader discussion. Certainly, I am awaiting what you would prefer: whether you would like the thoughts to be sorted out in a brief letter, or whether you would like to prepare the books of individuals. For both Origen in his Commentary on the Fourth Epistle to the Romans discussed circumcision with great care, and treated of the clean and unclean animals under the Levitical law at length; so that even if I myself had been unable to find anything, I could still have borrowed from his sources. Moreover, to speak more truly, I have in my possession Didymus's book on the Holy Spirit, which I wish to dedicate to you in a translated form, lest you think that I am only sleeping, who find reading without writing to be a cure for sleeplessness. Therefore, having premised what you had proposed by way of inquiry, I will tell you what I think, asking your pardon for the tardiness and haste of my reply; for haste, because I have wished to write you an answer at one sitting, which is the work of many days; for tardiness, because being detained by other work, I have not immediately answered your questions.

2. What does it mean that it is written in Genesis: 'Everyone who kills Cain will pay sevenfold'?

Before we speak of the question, it seems right to arrange editions of individual interpreters, comparing them with the Hebrew language in order that the meaning of the scriptures can be more easily understood. Vaiomer Lo Adonai Lochen Chol Orec Cain Sobathaim Joccamo. Aquila. 'And the Lord said to him, Therefore, whoever kills Cain shall be avenged sevenfold.' Symmachus: 'And the Lord said to him: Not so, but whoever kills Cain shall be avenged seven times, or the seventh time.' Septuagint and Theodotion: And the Lord said to him: 'Not so, but whoever kills Cain shall pay seven vengeances.' After Cain had killed his brother, when asked by the Lord, 'Where is your brother Abel?' he insolently replied, 'I do not know: am I my brother's keeper?' Therefore, cursed with a groaning and trembling existence on earth, he was not willing to beg for forgiveness, but multiplying sin on sin, he thought it was such a great offense that it could not be pardoned by the Lord. Finally, he replied to the Lord, 'My cause is greater than to be forgiven,' that is, 'I have sinned more than I deserve to be absolved.' Behold, thou dost cast me forth this day from the face of the earth, and from thy face shall I be hidden, and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond upon the earth: every one, therefore, that findeth me, shall kill me. And Cain said to the Lord: My iniquity is greater than that I may deserve pardon. Behold thou dost cast me out this day from the face of the earth, and I shall be hidden from thy face, and I shall be a vagabond and a fugitive on the earth, and whosoever shall find me, shall kill me. "Not so," that is, not as you perceive, will you die, and you will receive death as a remedy: rather you will live until the seventh generation, and you will be tormented by the fire of your conscience, so that whoever kills you, according to double understanding, will either free you in the seventh generation, or the seventh will free you from torture. It is not because Cain himself who killed will be subjected to seven revenge: but because the killer who killed him who had been left to punishment will pay seven revenges that ran for such a long time in Cain.

3. But in order that what we say may become more clear, let us set forth an example of daily custom. Let the servant speak amidst the beatings to his master: I have burned down your house and dissipated all your wealth, kill me. And let the master respond: Not as you wish, but you shall die and end in the punishment of death; instead, you shall be kept alive for a long time, and shall live so unhappily in this life that whoever kills you will provide a favor for the killed one, in freeing you from so many tortures. And according to the Septuagint version, this seems to be the sense to us.

4. But concerning what Aquila set forth, in sevenfold manner: And so the opinion of our elders is that Symmachus, the seventh or seventh generation, will avenge it, because they believe that in the seventh generation from Lamech Cain was killed. For Adam begot Cain, Cain begot Enoch, Enoch begot Irad, Irad begot Mehujael, Mehujael begot Methuselah, Methuselah begot Lamech, who was the seventh from Adam, and he did not kill Cain voluntarily (as it is written in a certain Hebrew book), as he himself confesses later on, "For I have slain a man to my wounding, and a youth to my hurt: for revenge is appointed sevenfold to Cain; but for Lamech seventy times sevenfold" (Gen. 4:23–24). Indeed, nothing obscure, of Cain, who in the seventh generation from Lamech was murdered, and according to another account, suffered the punishment of his crime, and he lived on the earth, groaning and trembling for so many generations.

5. Payment of 77 vengeances to be made on Lamech. - Now that which you had not asked crept upon you while we were discussing something else. What are the seventy-seven vengeances which are to be paid on Lamech? They say, from Adam to Christ there are 77 generations. Read Luke the Evangelist, and you will find it to be so, as we say. Therefore, just as in the seventh generation Cain's sin was obliterated, for God will not twice exact vengeance for the same thing, and whoever has once received afflictions in this life will not suffer the same torments after death, which they have suffered in life, so also should Lamech's sin, that is, the sin of the whole world and blood that was shed, be dissolved by Christ's coming, who has taken away the sins of the world, who has washed his garments in the blood of the grape, and who has trodden the winepress alone, who has ascended from Edom, red in his garments, (Isaiah 63.1-3); who performed a miracle to the angels crying out: "Lift up your gates, O princes, and be ye lifted up, O eternal gates, and the King of glory shall come in" (Psalm 24:7), and so on. A certain Hebrew was telling me that in the apocryphal books seventy-seven souls from the offspring of Lamech were found to have been destroyed by the deluge: and that in this number was made the vengeance on Lamech, in that his race persevered until the catastrophe.

6. Cain committed seven sins. Others suspect various revenges as the seven of Cain. The first they claim was a sin, that he did not divide correctly. The second, that he envied his brother. The third, that he acted deceitfully, saying: "Let us go into the field". Fourth, that he killed. Fifth, that he shamelessly denied, saying: "I know not, am I my brother's keeper?" (v. 9)? Sixth, that he condemned himself, saying: "Greater is my fault than to be forgiven" (v. 13). Seventh, because neither the condemned have repented, like Nineveh and King Hezekiah of Judah, that they lifted up tears for impending death, not to perish, but by doing penance, they obtained the mercy of God. For they say that god is merciful, therefore, he prolonged it to the seventh generation, until, compelled by his own misery and longevity of sorrow, he would do penance and deserved to be absolved at least from those evils themselves.

7. Some interpret the number seven as full and perfect, gathering testimonies from many places in the Scriptures, and this being the meaning which we have explained above, that whoever kills Cain shall be freed by a great affliction, passing through all punishments.

8. But there are also those who ask of the Gospel concerning the question from Peter: 'Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?' Jesus said to him, 'I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.' And they think that death and sin were sanctified on the seventh generation of the Sabbath when Enoch was taken, 'and he was not found because God had translated him' (Gen. 5:24). But on the seventy and seven, they follow this explanation: in the coming of Christ, the sting of death and sin was broken.

9. I will give another opinion, lest I should seem to have passed over something. Some interpret the seventh year of remission, the fiftieth of Jubilee, and the four hundred and ninetieth, which they would have to mean seventy-sevenfold, in many ways: asserting that for this reason the numbers fifty and five hundred were placed in the Gospel for the debtor; and the fiftieth Psalm of penitence; which is completed in seven weeks, and breaks forth at the beginning of the octad. But let our discussion not proceed farther: suffice it to say that we have spoken thus far on this subject, because from the things we have sprinkled, you can yourself make an entire forest of debate: knowing that Origen has spoken of this Question only in his twelfth and thirteenth book of Genesis.

10. Why did God speak to Abraham that in the fourth generation his descendants would return from Egypt, and yet Moses later writes that in the fifth generation the Israelites left Egypt? Unless this is explained, it appears to contradict.

But when I read this problem, I began to boil silently within myself, and running through Genesis and Exodus step by step, I found places where things seem to be a matter of doubt. And at first I thought, comparing spiritual things with spiritual, that they were indissoluble, as are many other things. For it is written that Methuselah lived only fourteen years after the flood, yet he did not enter the ark with Noah. And although God Himself spoke to Abraham, saying, "Know for a certainty that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years" (Gen. xv. 13), yet Moses writes later in Exodus: "And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt" (Exod. xii. 41). Moreover, Agar also carried Ishmael, as if he were a nursing and tender child on her shoulders, when he was almost eighteen years old; and it was ridiculous for such a great youth to have sat on his mother's neck. Now Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, began his reign in the forty-first year of his age, and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem, while his father, starting to reign in his twelfth year, had reigned for forty-one years and had not been able to generate a son for eleven years.

11. "While I was turning over these and many such things, disturbed within me, he opened the door for me which is opened by the key of David, and entered with me into his chamber, and there placed me on the couch on which he himself was reclining" (St. Augustine, Confessions, Book VII, Chapter XVII, 27). For even though the Scripture may seem to contradict itself, both are true, since it is different. The sons of Israel went out of the land of Egypt in the fourth generation: Replicate the genealogy of Levi. Levi begot Caath, Caath begot Amram, Amram begot Aaron, Aaron begot Eleazar, Eleazar begot Finees. Caath entered Egypt with his father Levi. Again Eleazar, with his father Aaron, went out of Egypt. From Caath to Eleazar, four generations are counted: although some want to start from Amram and reach Finees, as we did in Eleazar. But if you want to show an uneven number, how the sons of Israel went out of the land of Egypt in the fifth generation according to Exodus, let it be counted for you by the tribe of Judah and the order. Judah begot Perez, Perez begot Hezron, Hezron begot Aram, Aram begot Amminadab, Amminadab begot Nahshon, Nahshon begot Salmon. Count from Perez to Nahshon, you will find five generations: although some (as we show in the tribe of Levi) make a beginning in Hezron and come down to Salmon.

12. I think the difficulty has been resolved: but if this is not satisfactory, I will come to the point and say in Hebrew that it does not make a difference. Aquila, who interpreted the text more diligently, as some think, rather than contentiously, translated the passage where the Septuagint had: 'Now the children of Israel went up, harnessed, out of the land of Egypt, in the fifth generation' (Exodus 13:18) as follows: Καὶ ἐνοπλισάμενοι ἀνέβησαν οἱ υἱοὶ Ἰσραήλ ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς Αἰγύπτου,' which means, 'And the children of Israel, having equipped themselves marched forth from the land of Egypt.' Although, according to the ambiguity of the Greek language, for the term 'having equipped themselves' which we used, it might be understood as 'having provided themselves with household goods, which they had taken from the Egyptians.'

13. To one who thinks curiosity has limits, a greater desire to seek arises: and I am dissolved on all sides, as Jeremiah (Jeremiah 20) [said]: why did the Seventy, and Aquila translate "armored" as a fifth generation? I repeat the Hebrew volume, which Paul calls "a palm tree" according to some, and examining the characters themselves carefully, I find it written: Vamusim Alu Bne Israel Mearez Mesraim. In the remaining part the interpretations do not differ: the entire battle is over the word "Amusim," which is written with these letters, Heth, Mem, Sin, Jod, Mem, whether it means "five" or "fortified. And indeed we cannot deny that this is said in fivefold number, not the fifth as some interpret it, in singular: but the word Dor, which in Hebrew means generation, is not found in it. So if it were the fifth generation, it would have been read in their language as Amesa Dor. But now the word Amusim, that is to say, five or rather the fifth, is written only so that it might mean: "And the children of Israel ascended the fifth time from the land of Egypt," which seemed less understood, and so the word generation was added. But in this place especially, all Judea proclaims that the eagle properly translated everything else, and the entire seating of the synagogues agrees with it, namely that the same language, written with the same letters, has different sounds and meanings among them. We present one example for the sake of clarity: the words "pastors" and "lovers" are written with the same letters, Res, Ain, Jod, Mem, but "pastors" are read as Roim and "lovers" are read as Reim. This is why, when Jerusalem in the Prophets is accused of the crime of fornication with its lovers, in our own codices, the name of the shepherds is substituted for that of the lovers.

14. I know that these things are vexatious to the reader, but one who discusses Hebrew letters should not seek Aristotle's arguments, nor should he who seeks to be eloquent be led by the Tullian river, nor should Quintilian's ears be soothed by flowers and school declamation. A simple and everyday speech, similar to that of ordinary people and smelling of no lucubration, is necessary, one that explains the matter, teaches the meaning, reveals the obscure, not one that flourishes with verbal composition. Let others be eloquent, let them be praised, they may pour out words from their inflated mouths, but for me it is sufficient to speak in such a way that I am understood, imitating the simplicity of the Scriptures themselves when discussing them.

15. "Why did the just man and beloved of God, Isaac, bless not him whom he wanted, but whom he did not want, deceived by error?" (Genesis 17)

I delay a little on the topic, and I pass over those things which our elders have interpreted about this place, not because I do not agree with their opinion, but because you only seek this: why did a just man not know something and act against his will? To which a concise answer is: No man, except for him who deigned to put on flesh for our salvation, had full knowledge and the most certain truth. Finally, Paul knows in part and prophesies in part (1 Corinthians 13:9) and now sees through a mirror in a riddle and says that we do not know how to pray as we ought (Romans 8:26) because when the perfect comes, then what is in part will be destroyed (1 Corinthians 13:10). The Prophet Samuel, consecrated to Moses in the Psalter, was sent to anoint the king. When he saw Eliab, one of Jesse's eldest sons, he said, "Surely the Lord's anointed is before him." But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at what man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." Samuel continued to search until he found David. Elisha, who was glorified in two spirits and whose bones gave life to a dead man, is also described as not understanding everything until he was visited by the Shunamite woman who fell weeping at his feet. When Gehazi tried to send her away, Elisha said, "Let her go, she is in bitter distress, and the Lord has hidden things from me and has not told me." There are many things that we ought not to teach from examples, holy men who are beloved by God knowing only those things which have been revealed to them by the Lord: to have been ignorant of those things which have not been revealed to them: and to question the angel at every vision, Zacharias and Daniel, and to implore him, that he may explain to him what those things are which they see. From whence it is no wonder, and to his own greatest usefulness, that Isaac did not know what he was doing, when he erred more at that time that he wanted to bring out his son dedicated to bloody pleasure, and he who could afterwards kill his brother, having passed over him who innocently dwelt at home, and wanted to do his own will more than God's. I think it was a divine dispensation, that he should be blinded in his eyes, and yet when he himself said, 'The voice indeed is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau" (Gen. 27. 22): he did not understand that the younger son, who had stood by, had stolen his brother's blessing.

16. The mystical interpretation of the martyr Hippolytus. But since we have promised to add what it signifies in figure, let us include the words of the martyr Hippolytus, about which our Victorinus does not differ much: not that he has accomplished everything more fully, but that he may give the reader an occasion for a more comprehensive understanding. "Isaac bears the image of God the Father, Rebecca of the Holy Spirit, Esau of the former people and the devil. Jacob [bears the image] of the Church or of Christ. Isaac's age symbolizes the completion of the world: his blindness indicates that faith in the world has perished and the light of religion has been neglected before him." That the elder son is called, is a Jewish legal custom. That his father loves his food and his catch, saves men from error, whom every righteous person hunts through doctrine. The word of God is a promise of blessing and hope of the future kingdom in which the saints will reign with Christ, and celebrate the true Sabbath. Rebecca, full of the Holy Spirit, knowing what she had heard before she gave birth, because the elder will serve the younger» (Gen. 25, 23); rather, it is the form of the Holy Spirit, which knew the future in Christ, that meditates beforehand in Jacob: he speaks to his younger son: Go to the flock, and bring me from there two goats» (Gen. 27. 9); "foreshadowing the coming of the fleshly Savior, in which he would especially liberate those who were held in bondage by sin: for in all the Scriptures, goats are taken for sinners. But the fact that he is ordered to bring two, signifies the adoption of two peoples: the tender and good, docile and innocent souls. The robe or clothing of Esau are the faith and Scriptures of the Hebrews, with which the people of the Gentiles are clothed. The skins that are wrapped around his arms are the sins of both peoples, which Christ affixed to the cross together with him in the extension of his hands. What Isaac asks of Jacob and why he came so quickly, marvels at the rapid faith of believers. The fact that delicious food is offered is a pleasing sacrifice to God, the salvation of sinners. After eating, a blessing follows, and one delights in its fragrance, announcing the power of the resurrection and the kingdom with an open voice: how his brothers should also adore him and serve him, believing from Israel. "Therefore, since injustice is an enemy of justice, Esau is stirred up to discord, and deceit devises death, saying in his heart: 'The days of my father's passion are approaching, and I will kill my brother Jacob.'" (Gen. 27:41) “Thus the devil, who premeditated fratricide in Cain, confesses it most clearly in Esau, also indicating the time of the murder: 'The days of my father's passion are approaching, so that I may kill my brother.' Therefore, Rebecca, that is, patience, informed her husband of the plot against her brother-in-law, and he called Jacob and instructed him to go to Mesopotamia and take a wife of the stock of Laban the Syrian, his mother's brother. So, fleeing his brother's trickery, Jacob went to Mesopotamia (Gen. 28); in the same way, Christ, compelled by the unbelief of the Jews, went to Galilee, from which he would take the Church for himself as a bride from the Gentiles.” These things were said by the man mentioned above.

17. But we say that the Lord did not come except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, nor did he desire to accept bread from the children and give it to the dogs, and that he brought the first blessing to the people of Judah, to whom the words of God (Rom 3:2) and the promise and legislation and completion of the Testament (Rom 9:4) were entrusted; but because they did not want to believe, the blessing was transferred to the lesser Jacobite people. Nor, however, was the elder son utterly despised, because when the fullness of the gentiles entered, then all Israel will be saved (Rom. 11:25 and 26).