Abstract EN:

Jerome did not write any complete commentary of the Psalter, but the quotations from the Psalms play a major part in his exegetical work. In a first part, we examine the part played by the quotations from the psalms in his opus prophetale, where they are the most numerous. Invested with a propetic signification, they actually pave the way for the shifting from the old alliance to the new one, as well as set up the christian and even christological meaning of the studied document. With this use of the Psalms, Jerome doesn't really innovate as he frequently borrows whole series of quotations from his predecessors. Starting from the previous observations, we deal in a second part with Jerome's Psalter and interpretation of the psalms. When he comments upon the prophetic books, he quotes from almost the whole Psalter , yet he usually favours the verses invested with a christological signification. As he quotes from memory, he remembers above all the old latin Psalter, but he never forgets his own emendationes. The psalms are a place of dialogue between man and God and between the persons of the Trinity where we can hear especially the voice of Christ. With this christocentric interpretation of the Psalter Jerome falls in a long tradition, which, beyond the use of the fathers, stems from the new testament and the words of Christ risen from the dead.