Bellarmine on Psalm 31: Verses 13-14 (conclusion)

Today we conclude St Robert Bellarmine's commentaries on Psalm 31, the second in the series of seven Penitential Psalms.

The Latin is reproduced courtesy of the Digital Collection site  - UANL and is accompanied by my fairly literal translation. The Scripture excerpts (Douay Rheims/Vulgate) are taken from the DRBO site but the verse numbering follows that of Bellarmine’s Latin text.

Where footnotes are included, the text follows each verse.

Verse 13

Many are the scourges of the sinner, but mercy shall encompass him that hopeth in the Lord.

Multa flagella peccatoris; sperantem autem in Domino misericordia circumdabit.

This is the explanation of the bit and the bridle, as though the Prophet were to say: the impenitent sinner, and he who takes pleasure in sin, will suffer many scourges, both in this life and the life to come. For although sinners sometimes seem to thrive, their sin is itself a most grave punishment, which gives rise to other punishments without number, worries, anxieties, fears, dangers, remorse of conscience and the like. Not content with these, God, a just judge, adds many other scourges thereto; and unless the sinner comes to his senses, and prays to God in a seasonable time, he will arrive without doubt at everlasting punishment. The just man, on the other hand, who hopes in the Lord, and does not put his trust in the vanity of mortals, will in the end be encompassed by the divine mercy itself, so that the scourge of punishment will not come nigh to him from any side. Furthermore, the divine mercy is the fountainhead of all good things; so when he says: “Mercy shall encompass him that hopeth in the Lord,” it refers to the treasure-house of all good things which bears fruit super-abundantly for those who stay close to the one God. And so, quite correctly, the Psalm concludes with the following words:

Verse 14

Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye just, and glory, all ye right of heart.

Laetamini in Domino, et exsultate, justi; et gloriamini, omnes recti corde.

Just as at the beginning he said the just are blessed, so now at the end he urges them to joy, which is like an indirect exhortation unto perseverance in justice, so that they may persevere in joy. “Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice,” that is, great is your cause, O ye just, for rejoicing and exulting, but (let this be) “in the Lord” who is for you the cause of so many good things, in which your abundance is great. This is why you should not be saddened by temporary setbacks for which you will be compensated in eternity, in good measure and pressed down and shaken together and running over;[1] here, in the meantime, spiritual consolation will not be lacking. “And glory, all ye right of heart,” repeats the same thing with other words. Now, “to glory,” in this context, is not to puff oneself up with praises, as it sounds in Latin, but to rejoice, as connoted by the Hebrew word veharninu, that is, to praise God with joy; this is not the

only time in Scripture that gloriari / to glory is taken to mean to rejoice and to be glad, as when the Apostle says in Romans v: “But we glory also in tribulations,”[2] The word which signifies correctly in Hebrew “to glory” is at the beginning of Ps LI: “ Why dost thou glory in malice?”[3] It is not the same word in this text but another, which means to rejoice. By right of heart we understand the just; for from righteousness of heart arises righteousness of words and deeds; the just are they whose hearts, words and deeds are most conformable to the most righteous rules which make up the divine law; from which righteousness it comes to be that God is pleasing to man and man to God; and whatever happens to man, through the will or permission of God, is accepted with equanimity; so that there may be in a man’s heart not only justice but also “ peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost,”as the Apostle says in Romans xiv.[4] Whence most correctly does David say: “Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye just,” etc., because only the just are blessed and enjoy true and unshakeable happiness.

[1] Give, and it shall be given to you: good measure and pressed down and shaken together and running over shall they give into your bosom. For with the same measure that you shall mete withal, it shall be measured to you again. Date, et dabitur vobis : mensuram bonam, et confertam, et coagitatam, et supereffluentem dabunt in sinum vestrum. Eadem quippe mensura, qua mensi fueritis, remetietur vobis. [Luc. vi. 38]

[2] And not only so; but we glory also in tribulations, knowing that tribulation worketh patience; Non solum autem, sed et gloriamur in tribulationibus : scientes quod tribulatio patientiam operatur : [Rom. v. 3]

[3] Why dost thou glory in malice, thou that art mighty in iniquity? Quid gloriaris in malitia, qui potens es in iniquitate? [Ps li. 3]

[4] For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but justice, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Non est enim regnum Dei esca et potus : sed justitia, et pax, et gaudium in Spiritu Sancto : [Rom. Xiv. 17]

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.