HOMER, Jonathan, clergyman, born in Boston, Massachusetts, in October, 1759; died in Newton, Massachusetts, 13 February, 1843. He was graduated at Harvard in 1777, and in 1782 was ordained pastor of the Congregational church in Newton, where he remained till his resignation in 1839. The degree of D. D. was conferred on him by Brown university in 1826. He published, besides occasional sermons, a "Description and History of Newton," in the Massachusetts historical collections, vol. v. (1798). From 1824 till the end of his life he devoted his attention to investigating the sources of the common English version of the Bible. By the examination of the labors of the earlier English translators and of Luther trod the German reformers, he reached the conclusion theft the work of King James's translators was to a large extent a compilation. He did not publish the results of his biblical studies, but superintended the preparation of an edition of Teal's "Columbian Bible," adding notes and introductions to the several books.