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.

Bellarmine on Psalm 129: Title, theme and verse 1

Today, we begin a new series of posts featuring 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.

Cant

Canticum Graduum Salomonis

A gradual canticle of Solomon.[1]

This Psalm is short but filled with most salutary teaching. Not without cause is it used in the Church for reasons, apart from any others, such as the following: one comes from the gradual Psalms, because it laments the misery of exiles; one comes from the penitential Psalms because it teaches the reason for performing true penance; it is also a custom in the Church for it to be recited very frequently for the dead, since if it is said in the person of a soul detained in purgatory, everything fits in perfectly: for those souls are, so to speak, in the depths, and they want to rise therefrom, and they look for the mercy of God in the atonement paid by our Redeemer. In summary, the Psalm contains three things: a prayer to God, an exhortation to the people and a proclamation of future redemption.

[1]  “Fifteen psalms — namely, Psalms 119-133 (in Hebrew 120-134) — bear a Hebrew inscription which is rendered in the Vulgate as canticum graduum, and translated in the Douay Version as "a gradual canticle". The Authorized Version calls them "songs of degrees"; the Revised Version, "songs of ascents". Of the various conjectural explanations, the most probable regards them as psalms recited when going up to the annual festivals in Jerusalem, pilgrim-songs.” From the Catholic Encyclopedia, New Advent.

Verse 1

Out of the depths I have cried to thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my voice.

De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine; Domine, exaudi vocem meam.

The Prophet, being about to pray to God, first craves a hearing and then explains his petition. He craves a hearing in the first two verses. He begins with the similitude of a man lying at the bottom of a very deep valley, or in a deep well, who, unless he cries out with a loud voice, cannot be heard by those who are on a very high mountain; and this truly is a most apt similitude: for although God is everywhere in His essence and power, and yet by reason of man's dissimilitude, sinful man is a long way off from God. For God is always just and blessed, and "dwelleth on high;"[1] sinful man is always bad and miserable, and like Jonah the prophet who, because he did not want to obey (God), was not only cast into the depths of the sea but also deep inside the belly of a whale; and yet crying out thence, he was heard: for a fervent prayer breaks through and penetrates all things. Now David says “Out of the depths,” not out of the depth or deep, for a truly penitent person ought to cry out from two depths: (firstly) from the depths of his misery, as from a vale of tears, or, as is said in another Psalm, out of the pit of misery and the mire of dregs;[2] (secondly), from the depth of the heart, that is, from an intimate reflection upon and understanding of his own misery: for he who does not

think about and reflect upon the depth in which he finds himself does not care about rising out of it but sets it at naught; and so he sinks more deeply still, as it says in Proverbs: “The wicked man when he is come into the depth of sins, contemneth:”[3] But he who understands through a profound reflection that he is an exile, a pilgrim, and running into the great danger that he might never attain his heavenly home, and what is of infinite misery, that he is already in a lower part of hell, if not now then he certainly has begun to deserve such a position, it is not possible for such a one not to be frightened and horrified in all his heart, not to call out with all his might to Him who alone can wrest him free from such a terrible depth and extend a hand to draw him upwards. And so follow the words: “Lord, hear my voice,” that is, although I down in the depths and Thou dwelleth on high, yet because with a loud voice I cry out, Thou canst hear me; and so I pray that Thou mayest hear my voice.

[1] Who is as the Lord our God, who dwelleth on high: Quis sicut Dominus Deus noster, qui in altis habitat. [Ps. Cxii 5]
[2] And he heard my prayers, and brought me out of the pit of misery and the mire of dregs. And he set my feet upon a rock, and directed my steps. Et exaudivit preces meas, et eduxit me de lacu miseriae et de luto faecis. Et statuit super petram pedes meos, et direxit gressus meos. [Ps. Xxxix. 3]
[3] The wicked man when he is come into the depth of sins, contemneth: but ignominy and reproach follow him. Impius, cum in profundum venerit peccatorum, contemnit; sed sequitur eum ignominia et opprobrium. [Prov. xviii. 3]

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

Bellarmine on Psalm 101: Verses 26-29 (Conclusion)

Today we conclude 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. 

Verses 26-28

In the beginning, O Lord, thou foundedst the earth: and the heavens are the works of thy hands.

Initio tu, Domine, terram fundasti, et opera manuum tuarum sunt caeli.

They shall perish but thou remainest: and all of them shall grow old like a garment: And as a vesture thou shalt change them, and they shall be changed.

Ipsi peribunt, tu autem permanes; et omnes sicut vestimentum veterascent. Et sicut opertorium mutabis eos, et mutabuntur;

But thou art always the selfsame, and thy years shall not fail.

tu autem idem ipse es, et anni tui non deficient.

He proves God alone to be eternal, because He alone is immutable; this reason is clearly theological and a priori, as the schools teach. That God alone is immutable he proves  from the fact that, always remaining the same, He changed the heavens from not being to being, and He will change them again from being to not being; and what is said of the heavens may be understood of the whole world, of which the greatest and post noble portion is heaven. “In the beginning, O Lord, thou foundedst the earth,” that is, from the beginning before the world was, Thou Lord wast in being, and Thou didst make the earth, which is the lower part of the world, from its foundations, and Thou didst not found the earth on something already existing. “And the heavens are the works of thy hands,” that is, Thou didst create not only the earth but also the heavens, which are the higher part of the world; Thou didst this alone, not through angels or other agents, but with Thy own hands, that is, by Thy own power and wisdom; and thus did Thou lead the whole world from not being into being. “They,” namely the heavens, “shall perish but thou remainest.” This may be understood in a twofold manner. Firstly, in this manner of an hypothesis: Even if the heavens were to grow old, be changed and perish, Thou would remain the same. As in the Gospel of Matthew it says: “Till heaven and earth pass, one jot, or one tittle shall not pass of the law, till all be fulfilled.”[1] Luke says: “It is easier for heaven and earth

to pass, than one tittle of the law to fall.”[2] This means absolutely, but a change not with regards to substance but to mode. For the heavens will perish, grow old and change, as regards the stars, the influence of heat, the generation of inferior things; in the same as the earth will perish, as regards the production of plants and animals, and the whole world will be consumed, as regards the shape and condition which it now has; for the Apostle writes: “ for the fashion of this world passeth away;”[3] and “ For the things which are seen, are temporal; but the things which are not seen, are eternal.”[4] Where he calls temporal all things that are seen by us, because even those things which are mild and heavenly according to the manner in which we see them, they will have an end. For we see the earth clothed with trees, stocked with cattle, and decorated with buildings; we see the skies now clear, now cloudy; we see the stars in continuous motion: and all these things are temporal and will have an end. “ We look for new heavens and a new

earth according to his promises,”as St. Peter writes.[5] “all of them shall grow old like a garment:,” that is, all the heavens, as regards their external shape and mode, will be consumed. “And as a vesture thou shalt change them, and they shall be changed,” that is, like an old cloak, Thou wilt remove this celestial garment from the heavens and clothe them anew: and as the heavens are changed, so shall man, when he changes clothes, as regards his external appearance but not as regards his inner substance. “But thou art always the selfsame, and thy years shall not fail,” that is, in no way shalt Thou change howsoever many years may pass. For by no reason can God be changed for the reason is evident, since anything which can be changed is in potency unto the acquiring of something else; but God is pure and most perfect act, in fact of infinite perfection and so He can acquire nothing since He is lacking in nothing.

[1] For amen I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot, or one tittle shall not pass of the law, till all be fulfilled. Amen quippe dico vobis, donec transeat caelum et terra, jota unum aut unus apex non praeteribit a lege, donec omnia fiant. [Matt. v. 18] 
[2] And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fall. Facilius est autem caelum et terram praeterire, quam de lege unum apicem cadere. [Luc. Xvi. 17]
[3] And they that use this world, as if they used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away. et qui utuntur hoc mundo, tamquam non utantur : praeterit enim figura hujus mundi. [I Cor. Vii. 31]
[4] While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen, are temporal; but the things which are not seen, are eternal. non contemplantibus nobis quae videntur, sed quae non videntur. Quae enim videntur, temporalia sunt : quae autem non videntur, aeterna sunt.  [II Cor. iv. 18]

[5] But we look for new heavens and a new earth according to his promises, in which justice dwelleth. Novos vero caelos, et novam terram secundum promissa ipsius exspectamus, in quibus justitia habitat. [II Pet. Iii. 13]

Verse 29

The children of thy servants shall continue: and their seed shall be directed for ever.

Filii servorum tuorum habitabunt; et semen eorum in saeculum dirigetur.

Having described God’s eternity and this world’s consummation and restoration, he foretells that participating in the renewed world will be God’s servants and children, and the children of these servants, unto eternity; not because in this future world there will be propagation of children, but because all the faithful servants of God, with their posterity, who will have followed their piety, will attain unto that blessed peace; and this is the promise once made to Abraham, see Genesis xvii: “ I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and between thy seed after thee in their generations, by a perpetual covenant.”[1] By servants of God, we understand the Patriarchs; by their children, the Apostles; by the children of the Apostles, the rest of the faithful Christians. “The children of thy servants shall continue,” that is, the Apostles with their ancestors the Patriarchs, will dwell in Thy kingdom, in a restored 

heaven, in the heavenly Jerusalem; “and their seed shall be directed for ever,” that is, not only these but also however

many they shall beget through the Gospel, if they remain in faith and love, “shall be directed for ever,” that is, they will remain in all prosperity, righteous and constant in eternity. In Hebrew, it has, and their seed will persevere before thy face; St. Jerome translates it thus. But the Hebrew word has a very broad meaning, and it can mean to be directed, to be made steady, to remain and to persevere. The words translated as in eternity mean rather in thy presence or before thy face. The sense is however the same; for to remain before God is to remain for as long as God will remain, which will be without end. There is a similar phrase in Psalm lxxi: “ His name continueth with the sun and before the moon,”[2] that is, for as long as the sun and the 

moon shall continue. Behold, O reader, whither true penitence leads, which was described at the beginning 

of the Psalm; for it leads to eternal happiness with God: without penitence the sinner will remain in eternal torments with the devil.

[1] And I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and between thy seed after thee in their generations, by a perpetual covenant: to be a God to thee, and to thy seed after thee. Et statuam pactum meum inter me et te, et inter semen tuum post te in generationibus suis, foedere sempiterno : ut sim Deus tuus, et seminis tui post te. [Ge.n. xvii. 7]
[2] Cf. Let his name be blessed for evermore: his name continueth before the sun. And in him shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed: all nations shall magnify him. Sit nomen ejus benedictum in saecula; ante solem permanet nomen ejus. Et benedicentur in ipso omnes tribus terrae; omnes gentes magnificabunt eum. [Ps. Lxxi. 17]

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

Bellarmine on Psalm 101: Verses 24-25

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 24

He answered him in the way of his strength: Declare unto me the fewness of my days.

Respondit ei in via virtutis suae : Paucitatem dierum meorum nuntia mihi :

This verse is very obscure, both as regards the words and the meaning. St. Jerome translates it from the Hebrew as: He fastened my fortitude on the way. But it is easy to see the reason for the differences; for the Hebrew word is derived from hhinneh, which can mean to answer and to be fixed, and if a point is written on the second letter, it will mean He fastened, as St. Jerome writes. If it is read without the

point, it means He answered, as the Septuagint reads. And so if the Hebrew is read with iod, as St. Jerome reads it, it means my fortitude; but if it is read with vau, as the Septuagint does, it means his fortitude or his strength. But it does not read in translation as in the way of his strength but in the way his strength, because Hebrew has no case endings. And so our reading is correct: “He answered him in the way of his strength;” but it is difficult to judge in which name the verb respondit/answered is conjugated. St. Jerome writes in his Commentary the sense as being: “The Lord answered to Jerusalem.” St. Augustine reverses the sense: “Jerusalem answered to the Lord;” Euthymius  says the poor man  answered, referred to in the title of the Psalm. What if we add a fourth explanation and say that he answered him  who commanded him to write these things for another generation? For it seems this is the coming together of these verses: The Lord said to the Prophet: these words are to be written for another generation, and the people who will be created will praise the Lord, etc. The Prophet answered him in the way of his strength, that is, in the flower of his age, when he was in the most powerful way of his  life. “Declare unto me the fewness of my days,” that is, make me understand and seriously be convinced that few are my days to come, lest perhaps I am deceived by the flower of my age into thinking I will have a very long life; and lest I be taken hence when I least think it will happen, at an untimely moment and unprepared, and I will not belong to the people who will be created and who will praise Thee perpetually in the heavenly Jerusalem. 

Verse 25

Call me not away in the midst of my days: thy years are unto generation and generation.

ne revoces me in dimidio dierum meorum, in generationem et generationem anni tui.

The first half of this verse refer to the previous verse, for he sad there: “Declare unto me the fewness of my days;” he adds the prayer: “Call me not away in the midst of my days,” that is, do not call me away from my life’s course when I am only way, when I expect death less, when Thou shalt find me unprepared. In Hebrew, these verses are differentiated differently; and so St Jerome translates: I shall say: My God, do not take me away in the midst of my days. But those words, I shall say, my God, by altering the points, may be read as, tell Thou me, and this is how the Septuagint renders it; joining it to the previous verse,  Declare unto me; but there is no reason why we should not follow the reading and distinction in the Greek and Latin since that is what the Hebrew words bear best, with the points taken away that the Rabbis added. Regarding the following words: “thy years are unto generation and generation,” this is why it is meet for God to allow man to live as long as is necessary for him to die well, with a holy death, as though he might say: Thy years, O Lord, are eternal, and they endure from generation unto generation without any end; it is therefore meet for

Thee to grant unto him made in Thy image the sufficient and convenient space of time that may be required for him to gain eternal salvation.

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

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.

Bellarmine on Psalm 101: Verses 17-18

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 17

For the Lord hath built up Sion: and he shall be seen in his glory.

quia aedificavit Dominus Sion, et videbitur in gloria sua.

This is why all the nations and all the kings will fear Christ’s glory: “For He hath built up Sion,” that is, despite the unwilling and resistant nations and kings, He has built up His Church in the present, “ and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it;”[1] and in the future, “he shall be seen in his glory,” when he shall come with all His angels, upon the clouds of heaven, to judge the world in great power. When He began to build up Sion, He was seen in His humility, as Isaias says in chapter liii: “ We have seen him, and there was no comeliness in him,”[2] but when He shall come to judge, then will He be seen in His glory.

[1] And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Et ego dico tibi, quia tu es Petrus, et super hanc petram aedificabo Ecclesiam meam, et portae inferi non praevalebunt adversus eam. [Matt. xvi. 18]
[2] And he shall grow up as a tender plant before him, and as a root out of a thirsty ground: there is no beauty in him, nor comeliness: and we have seen him, and there was no sightliness, that we should be desirous of him: Et ascendet sicut virgultum coram eo; et sicut radix de terra sitienti. Non est species ei, neque decor, et vidimus eum, et non erat aspectus, et desideravimus eum; [Isai. Liii. 2]

Verse 18

He hath had regard to the prayer of the humble: and he hath not despised their petition.

Respexit in orationem humilium et non sprevit precem eorum.

These words are referred by some to the prayers of the holy prophets and pious men of the Old Testament, who were awaiting the coming of the Messiah; but perhaps they understand more correctly who refer them to the prayers of the holy Martyrs, who say in the Apocalypse: “How long, O Lord … dost thou not judge and revenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?”[1] For the Son of God will be seen in His glory, because He has had regard to the prayer of all the martyrs and all His other pious servants, and He has not rejected their prayers; and so He will come to judge and to avenge their blood on those who are on earth. This explanation makes better sense of the words of the Psalm; for according to the first explanation, the present verse gives an account of their words: “ Thou shalt arise and have mercy on Sion,” which are in verse 14; and according to the second explanation,  it gives an account of the words immediately preceding, but in the second part of the verse, namely: “and he shall be seen in his glory.”

[1] And they cried with a loud voice, saying: How long, O Lord (holy and true) dost thou not judge and revenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? et clamabant voce magna, dicentes : Usquequo Domine ( sanctus et verus), non judicas, et non vindicas sanguinem nostrum de iis qui habitant in terra? [Apoc. vi. 10]

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

Bellarmine on Psalm 101: Verses 15-16

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 15

For the stones thereof have pleased thy servants: and they shall have pity on the earth thereof.

quoniam placuerunt servis tuis lapides ejus, et terrae ejus miserebuntur.

The Prophet foresaw and foretold the renewal of holy Sion, and when he saw the servants of God already on fire with a desire for building the Church, he actually foresaw the holy Apostles, who previously had worked in fishing and other humble pursuits, but were later taught by Christ and filled with the Holy Spirit, so that having left behind all other cares, they devoted themselves wholly to the building of the Church. “For,” he says, “the stones thereof have pleased thy servants,” that is, those whom Thou didst choose and predestine as Thy servants; “the stones thereof have pleased,” that is, the building of the new Jerusalem has been pleasing, it has also been pleasing to collect and place together the living stones, to be built upon the foundation already laid. “And they shall have pity on the earth thereof;” and they will love and cherish the very earth of the new Jerusalem, as a mother loves and cherishes the infant in her womb: for in Scripture, the word miserendi / having pity on. can mean to love with a fatherly or motherly affection. See Isai. Xlix: “ Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to have pity on the son of her womb?”[1] By stones are to be understood the constant and the perfect; by terram / earth (or pulverem / dust, following the Hebrew), are to be understood the weak and the infirm, of whom the Apostle says in Romans chapter xiv, “Him that is weak in faith, take unto you;”[2] see also Romans chapter xv: “ Now we that are stronger, ought to bear the infirmities of the weak;”[3] and II Corinthians, chapter xi: “ Who is weak, and I am not weak?”[4] 

[1] Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to have pity on the son of her womb? and if she should forget, yet will not I forget thee. Numquid oblivisci potest mulier infantem suum, ut non misereatur filio uteri sui? Et si illa oblita fuerit, ego tamen non obliviscar tui. [Isai. Xlix. 15]
[2] Now him that is weak in faith, take unto you: not in disputes about thoughts. Infirmum autem in fide assumite, non in disceptationibus cogitationum. [Rom. Xiv. 1]
[3] Now we that are stronger, ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Debemus autem nos firmiores imbecillitates infirmorum sustinere, et non nobis placere. [Rom. Xv. 1]
[4] Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalized, and I am not on fire? Quis infirmatur, et ego non infirmor? quis scandalizatur, et ego non uror? [II Cor. Xi. 29]

Verse 16

And the Gentiles shall fear thy name, O Lord, and all the kings of the earth thy glory.

Et timebunt gentes nomen tuum, Domine, et omnes reges terrae gloriam tuam;

From this text we understand this Psalm explains, less correctly than foretold in the preceding verses, the return of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity, and the rebuilding of Jerusalem, cast down in the reign of Nabuchonosor; in those days not all the people feared the name of God and not all the kings feared His glory. Indeed, these things were reserved for the advent and glorification of the Messias, and as it was foretold, so did it famously come to pass. And so he says: “And the Gentiles shall fear,” that is, when the new Sion is built, the Gentiles will be converted and they will fear with a holy fear and a pious veneration “thy name, O Lord,” Jesus Christ; “and all the kings of the earth” will in the same way be converted and shall fear “Thy glory,” that is, Thy majesty, as the king of Kings, and the Chief of the kings of the earth, seated at the right hand of the Father, until all Thy enemies are made Thy footstool,[1] and afterwards as the Judge who will come to judge all the living and the dead, and will render to everyone according to his works.[2]

[1] The Lord said to my Lord: Sit thou at my right hand: Until I make thy enemies thy footstool. Psalmus David. Dixit Dominus Domino meo : Sede a dextris meis, donec ponam inimicos tuos scabellum pedum tuorum. [Ps. Cix. 1]
[2] Who will render to every man according to his works. qui reddet unicuique secundum opera ejus : [Rom. ii. vi]

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.