Bellarmine on Psalm LXXXIV: Verses 4 & 5

Verse 4

Convert us, O God our saviour: and turn off thy anger from us.

Converte nos, Deus salutaris noster, et averte iram tuam a nobis.

The prophet now begins to pray, in the person of God’s people, for the execution and completion of the divine decree. Firstly, he asks God to begin to mitigate His anger, the first effect of this mitigation being the beginning of our salvation, that is, the divine assistance through which we start to be converted to God. For we cannot be converted from sin to God unless His grace prevents us,[1] and converts us by calling, enlightening, assisting and moving us. “Convert us, O God our saviour,” that is, begin to work on our salvation, Thou (who art) God our Saviour, as if Thou dost then Thou dost inspire in us a noble desire for conversion. Ans so that mercifully Thou mayst begin to do this, “turn off thy anger from us,” that is, to be reconciled with us, having cast from your mind the offences which made us Thine enemy.

[1] Prevent : 3. transitive. Theology. Of God, God's grace, etc.: to go before (a person) with spiritual guidance and help;  (a) so as to anticipate a person's actions or needs;  (b) so as to predispose (a person) to repentance, faith, and good works. E.g., 1841   R. C. Trench Parables: Lost Sheep (1860) 371   It is in fact only the same truth..that grace must prevent as well as follow us. 1869   E. M. Goulburn Pursuit of Holiness ii. 12   God in it prevents us (in the old sense of the word ‘prevents’), anticipates us with His Grace. OED

Verse 5

Wilt thou be angry with us for ever: or wilt thou extend thy wrath from generation to generation?

Numquid in aeternum irasceris nobis? aut extendes iram tuam a generatione in generationem?

He persists with the same petition, as though to say: We have borne Thine anger long enough; do not put off showing mercy and granting us peace. “Wilt thou be angry with us for ever?” that is, will your enmity towards the human race be without end? “Wilt thou extend 

thy wrath from generation to generation?” as though saying: This is not  not in keeping with Thine infinite clemency and goodness. In Hebrew, the particle aut / or is absent but it is certainly to be understood; the Septuagint translators have expressed it correctly.

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.