Zechariah — Latin Vulgate

Hebrew tsemach means branch, sprout, growth — a messianic title (cf. Isaiah 11:1, Jeremiah 23:5). Jerome's Oriens (rising, east, dawn) is an unusual choice — he may have been influenced by the LXX anatole (rising, east) which translates tsemach in some passages. The rendering created the rich 'O Oriens, splendor lucis aeternae' (O Dayspring, brightness of eternal light) antiphon sung on December 21 in the Western Advent liturgy.

The Hebrew pun tsemach/yitsmach (branch/will branch out) is impossible to replicate in Latin. Jerome substitutes Oriens/orietur (rising one/will rise), creating a different wordplay that works in Latin while losing the botanical metaphor. The effect is to shift from organic growth imagery to dawn/light imagery — Christ as sunrise rather than Christ as sprouting branch.

Hebrew ani means humble, lowly, afflicted — primarily a social/spiritual condition rather than economic poverty. Jerome's pauper (poor, impoverished) adds explicit economic content. The LXX's praus (meek, gentle) influenced Matthew's quotation. The contrast between 'king' and 'poor/humble' became the theological foundation of kenotic Christology — the king who empties himself of royal prerogative. Medieval art of the Palm Sunday entry universally shows this paradox: crown and donkey together.

In context, the thirty shekels is the price of a slave (Exodus 21:32) — an insultingly low valuation of the shepherd's service. Matthew explicitly quotes this passage (attributing it to Jeremiah, a textual puzzle). Jerome's argenteos (silver coins) established the Judas connection firmly. The phrase 'thirty pieces of silver' entered every Western language as an idiom for selling out something priceless for a pittance.

The Hebrew has a jarring shift from first person (elai — 'to me') to third person (et asher daqaru — 'the one they pierced'). Some Hebrew manuscripts read 'to him' (elav) instead of 'to me' (elai). Jerome follows the 'to me' reading, making God himself the pierced one. John 19:37 quotes the third-person form ('they shall look on him whom they pierced'). The theological weight is immense either way: the pierced one is identified with YHWH. Revelation 1:7 also alludes to this verse.

Hebrew chattaat (sin/sin offering) and niddah (menstrual impurity/separation) become peccatoris et menstruatae (of the sinner and the menstruating woman) — Jerome personalizes the abstract nouns into specific persons being cleansed. This made the verse more pastorally vivid but narrowed its scope from general purification to specific types of uncleanness. The connection between the piercing (12:10) and the fountain (13:1) was read as Christ's pierced side pouring forth blood and water (John 19:34).

Jerome's rendering is faithful and terse. The verse's enormous influence comes from Jesus' self-application in the Passion narrative. The divine command to 'strike' the shepherd (God commands the striking of his own chosen one) became important for penal substitution theology: the Father orchestrates the Son's suffering. The image of scattered sheep reunited after the shepherd's resurrection (cf. Zechariah 13:8-9, Matthew 28) completed the typology.

The verse is remarkable for its eschatological monotheism — in the future, YHWH's oneness will be universally acknowledged, not just confessed by Israel. Jerome's rendering preserves this without christological modification. The verse became important in Jewish-Christian dialogue: both traditions share the hope of universal acknowledgment of one God, though they differ on whether this has been inaugurated in Christ or awaits future fulfillment.

Hebrew chayil (strength, wealth, army) becomes exercitu (army) and koach (power, strength) becomes robore (strength, might). Jerome's choice of exercitu (army) for the first term militarizes the contrast more than the Hebrew requires — chayil can mean economic power or general capacity, not only military force. The verse was addressed to Zerubbabel about rebuilding the Temple, but its application was universalized in Western tradition to any divine enterprise: God's work succeeds by Spirit, not by human force.