Bellarmine on Psalm 101: Verses 19-23

We continue our series of posts featuring St Robert Bellarmine's commentary on Psalm 101, the fifth of the 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 section.

Verse 19

Let these things be written unto another generation: and the people that shall be created shall praise the Lord:

Scribantur haec in generatione altera, et populus qui creabitur laudabit Dominum.

Lest the Jews should attribute this prophecy to themselves and, lest it should be understood that the things mentioned above relate to the end of the Babylonian captivity and the building of an earthly Jerusalem; the Holy Spirit was pleased to give an admonishment in the following words which St Peter wrote later in his first Epistle: “ the prophets ... prophesied of the grace to come in you;”[1] and further on: “ To whom it was revealed, that not to themselves, but to you they ministered those things which are now declared to you by them that have preached the gospel to you.”[2] And so the Holy Spirit says through the mouth of David: “Let these things be written unto another generation,” that is, let these mysteries be noted on behalf of a generation still to come; he says unto another generation for in another generation…. or for to another generation, as in Hebrew. And it does not refer to many because in Hebrew and Greek it has the singular number, let this thing be written. For the meaning is exactly the same. “And the people that shall be created,” that is, the people who will be in future times, “ shall praise the Lord,” when they see fulfilled what had for such a great time been prophesied. Perhaps, as St. Augustine notes, a new creature will be introduced into the people who will be created, of whom the Apostle says in Galatians vi: “ For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature;”[3] and in Ephesians ii: “Created in Christ Jesus in good works.”[4]

[1] Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and diligently searched, who prophesied of the grace to come in you. De qua salute exquisierunt, atque scrutati sunt prophetae, qui de futura in vobis gratia prophetaverunt : [I Pet. I. 10]
[2] To whom it was revealed, that not to themselves, but to you they ministered those things which are now declared to you by them that have preached the gospel to you, the Holy Ghost being sent down from heaven, on whom the angels desire to look. quibus revelatum est quia non sibimetipsis, vobis autem ministrabant ea quae nunc nuntiata sunt vobis per eos qui evangelizaverunt vobis, Spiritu Sancto misso de caelo, in quem desiderant angeli prospicere.[I Pet. I. 12] 

[3] For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. In Christo enim Jesu neque circumcisio aliquid valet, neque praeputium, sed nova creatura. [Gal. vi. 15]
[4] For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus in good works, which God hath prepared that we should walk in them. Ipsius enim sumus factura, creati in Christo Jesu in operibus bonis, quae praeparavit Deus ut in illis ambulemus. [Ephes. ii. 10]

Verse 20

Because he hath looked forth from his high sanctuary: from heaven the Lord hath looked upon the earth.

Quia prospexit de excelso sancto suo, Dominus de caelo in terram aspexit;

This is the reason why the people of the New Testament will praise the Lord, for the Lord has from His heavenly sanctuary deigned to look upon the vale of our misery; that is, He looks down from heaven to earth, not with an idle glance, but so that He may from the highest become lowly, and be seen on earth and converse with men.

Verse 21

That he might hear the groans of them that are in fetters: that he might release the children of the slain:

ut audiret gemitus compeditorum, ut solveret filios interemptorum;

Why then did the most high Lord abase Himself and descend to earth? This was the reason, so that, close at hand, “ he might hear the groans of them that are in fetters,” whom the Prince of this world had made captive, and kept in fetters; so that, on hearing their groans, He might free them and send them away liberated. This was fulfilled in His advent, as the Lord testifies in chapter iv. of Luke’s gospel.[1] The Hebrew has vincti / bound instead of compeditorum / fettered: That he might hear the groans of them that are bound; but the sense is the same. For filios interemptorum, the Hebrew has filios mortis / the sons of death, that is, men condemned to death: as we also see  in Ps. Lxxviii,

 where we read, filios  mortificatorum / the children of them that have been put to death; but what we say for this text, filios mortis, the Septuagint translators understand as murdered sons of parents. It is possible that the Hebrew text of the Septuagint had interemptorum / slain, because changing one letter can change the sense. However, by compeditos / those in fetters, we understand in this context as meaning those men shackled by their own lusts for the works of the devil and groaning under the yoke of their passions. By the children of the slain we understand the old children of Adam and Eve who were first to be killed by the cunning of the serpent; for, as it says in Wisdom ii: “ By the envy of the devil, death came into the world;”[2] and in the Gospel, the Lord says of the devil: “ He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth.”[3]  

[1] Vide e.g., And he began to say to them: This day is fulfilled this scripture in your ears.Coepit autem dicere ad illos : Quia hodie impleta est haec scriptura in auribus vestris.[Luc. iv. 21]
[2] But by the envy of the devil, death came into the world: Invidia autem diaboli mors introivit in orbem terrarum : [Sap. ii. 24]

[3] You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father thereof. [Ioan. Viii. 44]

Verse 22

That they may declare the name of the Lord in Sion: and his praise in Jerusalem;

ut annuntient in Sion nomen Domini, et laudem ejus in Jerusalem,

The Lord came to free those in fetters and to pluck them out of the power of darkness, “That they may declare the name of the Lord in Sion,” that is, so that converted to the living and true God, they may glorify the name of the Lord in the spiritual Sion, which is the Church; and he repeats the same, saying: “and his praise,” which they make clear by adding “in Jerusalem,” praising and blessing God, giving thanks for such a signal benefit in the Catholic Church which is the new Jerusalem. St. Peter explains this in I Epist. ii, where he says: “ But you are a chosen generation, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people: that you may declare his virtues, who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.”[1]

[1] But you are a chosen generation, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people: that you may declare his virtues, who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Vos autem genus electum, regale sacerdotium, gens sancta, populus acquisitionis : ut virtutes annuntietis ejus qui de tenebris vos vocavit in admirabile lumen suum. [I Pet. ii. 9]

Verse 23

When the people assemble together, and kings, to serve the Lord.

in conveniendo populos in unum, et reges ut serviant Domino.

He explains the time when, delivered from the powers of darkness, they should praise the name of the Lord. “When the people,” he says, “assemble together,” that is, when the peoples of the nations, who formerly were divided, walking after various gods, come together as one, and are made one body, and there will be for them one Spirit, one God, one faith, one baptism, and even further, through charity there will be one heart and one soul; when not only the peoples but also their kings will come together in the one body of the Church, so that they may themselves serve the Lord. In Hebrew it has regna/kingdoms, and this is how St. Augustine reads it; but in Greek, it has reges/kings, and this is how it is read by St. Jerome in his Commentary and by St. Gregory and others. The sense is the same; for when they say, the kingdoms serve the Lord, the sense is: the kings with their peoples serve the Lord. The Septuagint read kings, not kingdoms.

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.