Psalm 92 (after Bellarmine)

David introduces the Psalms. Master Jean de Mandeville,
(French, active 1350 - 1370) [Getty Museum]

We continue to build the pages of the Little Office website. Below is Psalm 92, from Lauds, with notes based on St Robert Bellarmine's explanations.

Totus tuus ego sum 
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum tutus semper sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam

[ ]  Footnotes are not hyperlinked but refer to the notes after the Psalm.

Psalmus 92

Dominus regnavit. The glory and stability of the kingdom; that is, of the church of Christ. Praise in the way of a canticle, for David himself, on the day before the sabbath, when the earth was founded.

[1] Dóminus regnávit, decórem indútus est: * indútus est Dóminus fortitúdinem, et præcínxit se.
The Lord hath reigned, he is clothed with beauty: * the Lord is clothed with strength, and hath girded himself.

[1a] Étenim firmávit orbem terræ, * qui non commovébitur.
For he hath established the world * which shall not be moved.

[2] Paráta sedes tua ex tunc: * a sæculo tu es.
Thy throne is prepared from of old: * thou art from everlasting.

[3] Elevavérunt flúmina, Dómine: * elevavérunt flúmina vocem suam.
The floods have lifted up, O Lord: * the floods have lifted up their voice.

Elevavérunt flúmina fluctus suos, *[4] a vócibus aquárum multárum.
The floods have lifted up their waves, * with the noise of many waters.

Mirábiles elatiónes maris: * mirábilis in altis Dóminus.
Wonderful are the surges of the sea: * wonderful is the Lord on high.

Testimónia tua credibília facta sunt nimis: * domum tuam decet sanctitúdo, Dómine, in longitúdinem diérum.
Thy testimonies are become exceedingly credible: * holiness becometh thy house, O Lord, unto length of days.

Notes

[1] Dóminus regnávit, decórem indútus est: * indútus est Dóminus fortitúdinem, et præcínxit se.
The Lord hath reigned, he is clothed with beauty: * the Lord is clothed with strength, and hath girded himself.

The beginning of this Psalm may apply either to the creation or the redemption, and it is not unusual for passages in the Scripture to have more literal meanings than one. “The Lord hath reigned;” has got possession of his kingdom, has begun to reign; “he is clothed with beauty;” has assumed his beautiful robes of office. “The Lord is clothed with strength;” he has not only got possession of the throne, but he has got strength and power to hold it, a matter of great consequence to one in power; “and hath girded himself,” to govern and to rule. If this be referred to creation, God may be said to have begun to govern when he created the world, and peopled it. If it be referred to the reparation, it was in the resurrection that Christ began to reign, and then he was clothed with the beauty of his glorious body, as well as with strength; for all power in heaven and on earth was given unto him, so that he should no longer be subject to any creature, but have everything under his feet. Finally, he girded himself to extend his kingdom to the bounds of the earth, through the preaching of his Apostles.

[1a] Étenim firmávit orbem terræ, * qui non commovébitur.
For he hath established the world * which shall not be moved.
“For he hath established the world, which shall not be moved;” God began to reign from the beginning of the world, for he then founded it from its very lowest foundations, and he established and settled it so that it cannot be moved; and thus gave a fixed habitation to men, who are bound to obey and to acknowledge him as their King. Christ, too, by his passion and resurrection, established and settled the world, that was hitherto harassed by demons, and by the worship of many false gods, in one true faith and religion.

[2] Paráta sedes tua ex tunc: * a sæculo tu es.
Thy throne is prepared from of old: * thou art from everlasting.
Though your reign commenced with the creation of the world, or with the resurrection, your existence did not date from it; for, “thou art from everlasting;” which means that he not only existed, but that he had within him the fullness of existence, which contains everything; for, before the creation, God was not a pauper, nor did he need anything, nor did he become richer or more wealthy by the creation of the world, for God did not create the world to enrich himself, but to share his riches with us. Thus, it was not from coercion that he created the world, but from mercy and love, which same mercy and love led him to make atonement for the world. “For God so loved the world as to give his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him may not perish, but may have life everlasting,” John 3.

[3] Elevavérunt flúmina, Dómine: * elevavérunt flúmina vocem suam.
The floods have lifted up, O Lord: * the floods have lifted up their voice.
Elevavérunt flúmina fluctus suos, *[4] a vócibus aquárum multárum.
The floods have lifted up their waves, * with the noise of many waters.
Mirábiles elatiónes maris: * mirábilis in altis Dóminus.
Wonderful are the surges of the sea: * wonderful is the Lord on high.

If these verses be referred to the creation, they explain the manner in which God made the earth habitable, so as to be the fixed residence of mankind. In the beginning of creation the waters covered the whole earth, and in consequence of a great inundation were raised considerably above it; but God, being brighter and more elevated again, and infinitely more powerful than them, rebuked and restrained the waters, and shut them up in the caverns of the earth, with strict orders never to return thence. This is expressed more clearly in Psalm 103, where he says, “Who hast founded the earth upon its own basis, it shall not be moved forever and ever. The deep like a garment is its clothing; above the mountains shall the waters stand;” that is to say, the earth was originally so formed that an abyss of water completely enveloped it, covering even the tops of the highest mountains; but, “At thy rebuke they shall flee, at the voice of thy thunder they shall fear;” that means, but you, O Almighty, rebuked the waters and so confused them by your thunder, that they fled and hid themselves in the depths of the earth; and then “you set a bound which they shall not pass over; neither shall they return to cover the earth.” A description of the same is to be found in Job 38, and has been beautifully condensed here by the Prophet, “Wonderful are the surges of the sea; wonderful is the Lord on high;” all the waters of the sea and the great abyss of waters raged and roared at a great elevation over the earth; but the Lord, who is wonderful, who dwelleth on high, and who is higher than anything created, confined the waters, and made the earth habitable.
If we interpret this in reference to the redemption, we must take it as a description of the extent of the persecutions got up by the Jews and Pagans against the kingdom of Christ, just commenced at his resurrection, and his victory over all his enemies. “The floods have lifted up their voice; the floods have lifted up their waves.” The Jews lifted up their voices when they began to speak out against the Gospel and to thwart it. “Wonderful are the surges of the sea;” the persecutions of Nero, Domitian, and the other Roman emperors, that were seas as compared to rivers, when set alongside the persecutions of the Jews. “Wonderful is the Lord on high;” more wonderful than them all is the Lord who dwells on high, having obtained a victory over all his persecutors; and having, in spite of them all, propagated his kingdom throughout the entire world.

[5] Testimónia tua credibília facta sunt nimis: * domum tuam decet sanctitúdo, Dómine, in longitúdinem diérum.
Thy testimonies are become exceedingly credible: * holiness becometh thy house, O Lord, unto length of days.

If this verse be referred to creation, it must be taken as a reply to an objection that may be raised, for one may say, how do we know that what has been said about the founding of the earth, the abyss of waters, and their being restrained and confined, took place at all; for this happened before the creation of man, when there was no one to witness it? The prophet replies that he has it from God’s own testimony, who revealed it to his servant Moses, and that such testimony is worthy of all belief, by reason of Moses having proved himself a faithful servant of God, and a true prophet, by many signs and prodigies.
The same may be said if we refer the verse to the redemption, for the testimonies to Christ, conveyed to us through his Apostles, are become so exceedingly credible, through the miracles of both, and through the accomplishment of the prophecies, and for various other reasons without end, that so established Christianity, that no one, having heard them, can possibly gainsay it. From which the prophet concludes that “holiness,” that is, that it should be regarded as holy, and that all who dwell in it should lead a holy life; and by the holiness of their lives, correspond with the holiness of “thy house,” the Church of God which has, and in which are preached, such testimonies; “unto length of days;” that it is right the Church should be saved and preserved by you, O Lord, unto length of days; “that the gates of hell may not prevail against her.”