Bellarmine on Psalm XLV: Verses 2 & 3

Verses 2 & 3

Therefore we will not fear, when the earth shall be troubled; and the mountains shall be removed into the heart of the sea. Their waters roared and were troubled: the mountains were troubled with his strength.

Propterea non timebimus dum turbabitur terra, et transferentur montes in cor maris. Sonuerunt, et turbatae sunt aquae eorum; conturbati sunt montes in fortitudine ejus.

These two verses are very obscure, but we are following the holy Fathers Basil and Chrysostom. From what the people of God said: “Our God is our refuge and strength,” he concludes that he will be fearless, even if the earth and the sea were to be turned upside down, and were to change positions with a dreadful sound. “Therefore,” say God’s people, “we will not fear, when the earth shall be troubled,” that is, when the earth shall be greatly troubled, or even if the earth shall be 

massively troubled, “and the mountains shall be removed into the heart of the sea,” that is, even if the mountains themselves, which seem to have been founded and rooted by God so that they might be thought to be immovable, even if they are agitated and shake and are cast into the depths of the sea, that is, even if it is thus and these things come to pass, “we will not fear,” because almighty God is our refuge and our strength. “Their waters roared and were troubled,” that is, we will not fear, even if the collapse of the mountains into the depths of the sea cause the waters of the sea to roar and be troubled. He says eorum / their, that is, of the seas, because where we have in cor maris / into the heart of the sea, the text in Hebrew and Greek reads, in corda marium, / into the hearts of the seas;  our translators however changed the plural into a singular and wrote maris / of the sea, but left the pronoun in the plural, whence arose this difficulty. “And the mountains were troubled.” that is, even if the mountains themselves were cast into the sea, 

their stability undone, by the might, power and strength of God. For it is God alone who is able to cause the earth to be troubled, to cast the mountains into the heart of the sea, and to make tremble the sea itself and the mountains, as it says in Psalm lxxvi: “ The waters saw thee, O God, and[1] they were afraid, and the depths were troubled.” See also Psalm ciii: “He looketh upon the earth, and maketh it tremble;”[2] and Isai. Li: “But I am the Lord thy God, who trouble the sea, and the waves thereof swell.”[3]  And so in these lines is announced the supreme confidence of God’s people, who will not fear, even if the world collapses; at the same time, the supreme power of God is made known,  who can disturb and move all the elements: as He will in fact do at the end of the world, when “there will be great earthquakes in divers places … by reason of the confusion of the roaring of the sea and of the waves ... men withering away for fear;”[4] and then the people of God will not only not fear but will look up and “will raise their heads,” as it says in the Gospel, “for their redemption is at hand. Matth. ”[5]  All these things can be understood figuratively, so that by earth are signified earthly men, by mountains those who are not only earthly but the might and the proud, such as were the great kings, the enemies of the Church; by sea, however, is signified the bitterness of tribulations and pains buy which will swallow up all the wicked. The earth will be troubled when “  the wicked will be terrified with a terrible fear”[6] “And the mountains shall be removed into the heart of the sea,” when the 

great kings who once persecuted the Church, shall be cast down into the depths of the abyss; and then the waters of the seas will roar and be troubled, when the final tribulation to come will trouble the wicked and their kings in a dreadful manner, since then it will become apparenthow great is the power of God’s anger towards (unrepentant) sinners.

[1] The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee: and they were afraid, and the depths were troubled. Viderunt te aquae, Deus; viderunt te aquae, et timuerunt; et turbatae sunt abyssi. [Psalm lxxvi. 17]

[2] He looketh upon the earth, and maketh it tremble: he toucheth the mountains, and they smoke. Qui respicit terram, et facit eam tremere; qui tangit montes, et fumigant. [Psalm ciii. 32]

[3] But I am the Lord thy God, who trouble the sea, and the waves thereof swell: the Lord of hosts is my name. Ego autem sum Dominus Deus tuus, qui conturbo mare, et intumescunt fluctus ejus; Dominus exercituum nomen meum. [Isai. li. 15]

[4] Luc. Xxi. 25-6.

[5] Matth. Xxiv. Unable to trace this quotation. 

[6] Wisdom v. 2 et seq.

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.