Bellarmine on Psalm 129: Verses 2-3

We continue with St Robert Bellarmine's commentary on Psalm 129, the sixth 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 2

Let thy ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication.

Fiant aures tuae intendentes in vocem deprecationis meae.

It is not enough for someone to cry out with a loud voice for him to be heard, but the person to whom he cries must also be listening. It is often the case that such a person has his mind fixed on something else so that he he does not pay attention to what is being said to him; and so in vain does the sound of words reverberate in his ears. Now God indeed sees and hears all things; but when He does not grant what we seek, He seems to be comporting Himself as if  he were not attending to the 

voice of the one praying, as though he were thinking on other matters. David, greatly desiring to be heard, and not content with having cried out with a loud voice, asks God furthermore that He would deign to attend to him, that is, to receive his prayers and grant what he seeks.

Verse 3

If thou, O Lord, wilt mark iniquities: Lord, who shall stand it?

Si iniquitates observaveris, Domine, Domine, quis sustinebit?

Having now procured a hearing, he sets forth his petition, which is that God should not deal with him in judgement but in His mercy; He should not rigidly require payment of his debts but should mercifully pardon them. But he does not put forward this petition simply (in so many words), lest he seem to be too bold, and so he wraps it in a rationale capable of moving God to grant it; which is a marvellous piece of persuasion and (seems to be) drawn from the Holy Spirit. He speaks thus: “O Lord, if the iniquities” of men Thou shouldst wish to mark, Thou wouldst condemn everyone; it is not however fitting for Thy infinite goodness to cause the huge loss of so many; I must not therefore seem to be overly bold if I ask Thee to pardon my sins and to draw me out of the depths into which my sin alone has plunged me. In relation to the words used, the noun iniquities signifies all kinds of sins, such as any breaking of the law, as it says in I John iii: “ and sin is iniquity,”[1] on the other hand not all sins are strictly speaking an iniquity, that is, an injustice, since there are other sins such as of luxury, of pride, etc. 

The word  observaveris / wilt mark, in the original text and in the Septuagint edition, properly signifies to keep a record, so that the sense is: if Thou keepest in Thy book of accounts a record of our iniquities, which are so to speak our debts, not one of us will be able to make Thee satisfaction. And so I ask Thee to blot them out from Thy book, and mercifully to be kind to us  when we are not loosed (from our sins). The words “who shall stand it?” do not refer to waiting patiently, as when it says a little further on “by reason of thy law, I have waited for thee, O Lord,” but mean rather to support in a judgement, or not to be remiss in rendering an account. In the Latin edition, the same word is used in this and the following verse, but the words are different in the Hebrew and Greek texts. It is indeed true that if God wished to judge us without mercy, no-one at all would survive; for an offence against God is of an infinite magnitude, and without His grace not only are we unable worthily to make satisfaction, but we are not sufficiently capable of recognising the gravity of our sin, or of conceiving sorrow for the sins confessed, or of making a start to penitence; besides which, we know neither the number nor the gravity of our sins, for “Who can understand sins?”[2] God however knows the number of our sins with perfect exactness, and keeps them written down in His book. “ Thou indeed,” says Job, “hast numbered my steps;”[3] He knows too and alone understands the infinite gravity of immortal sin; how then will a man so ignorant and so feeble be able to settle his account with the One who calculates so wisely and exacts with such power? This is like a man who can throw himself down into a well but is not capable of climbing back out of it; and thus he can sin but not make satisfaction, unless he is mercifully given assistance.

[1] Whosoever committeth sin committeth also iniquity; and sin is iniquity. Omnis qui facit peccatum, et iniquitatem facit : et peccatum est iniquitas.  [I Ioan. ii. 4]
[2] Who can understand sins? from my secret ones cleanse me, O Lord: Delicta quis intelligit? ab occultis meis munda me;[Ps. Xviii. 13]
[3] Thou indeed hast numbered my steps, but spare my sins. Tu quidem gressus meos dinumerasti, sed parce peccatis meis. [Job xiv. 16]

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.