Bellarmine on Psalm XCII: Verses 4-6

 Verses 4-6

The floods have lifted up, O Lord: the floods have lifted up their voice. The floods have lifted up their waves, With the noise of many waters. Wonderful are the surges of the sea: wonderful is the Lord on high.

Elevaverunt flumina, Domine, elevaverunt flumina vocem suam, elevaverunt flumina fluctus suos, a vocibus aquarum multarum. Mirabiles elationes maris; mirabilis in altis Dominus.

If they are referred to the creation, as they should be according top the first sense, all these things signify the manner in which God made the earth inhabitable, so that it might be the fixed seat of the 

human race. For in the beginning of the creation, waters covered the whole earth, and by a great movement the inundations of waters were lifted up; but God, being more elevated and higher, and infinitely more powerful, rebuked and restrained the waters, and He shut them up in caverns of the earth, and He ordered them not to return to cover the land. This is said more clearly in Psalm ciii : “ Who hast founded the earth upon its own bases: it shall not be moved for ever and ever. The deep like a garment is its clothing: above the mountains shall the waters stand,” that is, in the beginning the earth was so formed that an abyss of waters covered it everywhere, so that the waters stood over the mountains themselves.  “At thy rebuke they shall flee: at the voice of thy thunder they shall fear,” that is, but Thou, omnipotent God, didst rebuke the waters, and with the thundering of Thy command Thou didst trouble them so that they fled and hid themselves in the depths of the earth.  The

mountains ascend, and the plains descend into the place which thou hast founded for them. “Thou hast set a bound which they shall not pass over; neither shall they return to cover the earth[1] The same description is found in the Book of Job, chapter xxxviii,but here the Prophet has condensed all these things in the following words: “Wonderful are the surges of the sea: wonderful is the Lord on high,” that is, all the waters of the sea, and every abyss of the waters, with a great roaring were lifted up over the land : but God most wonderful, dwelling in the heights, and more elevated (than all things) in every height, confined the waters and made the earth inhabitable. But according to the second interpretation, in this place is described the magnitude of the persecutions by

the Jews and Pagans against the kingdom of Christ beginning at His resurrection, and Christ’s victory over all His enemies. “The floods,” he says, “have lifted up their voice(s) and their waves.” By the floods I understand the persecutions by the Jews, who immediately began to lift up their voices against the Gospel, and to contradict it everywhere. “Wonderful are the surges of the sea,” that is, but the Lord, dwelling in the heights, appears more wonderful, for he has brought back victory against all the persecutors and the recalcitrant, and He has extended His kingdom over all lands. By flumina / the floods, St. Augustine understands the Apostles, who, filled with the Holy Spirit, inundated the world like so many celestial floods, and full freely lifted up their voices. By maris elationes / the surges of the sea, he understands the persecutions of the faithful; for just as when rivers flow into the sea, the entry of the fresh water makes the salt water swell and roar : so too in the same way, on encountering the preaching of the Apostles which was doctrine contrary to their customs, the infidels began rise up and to roar. Either interpretation of this text is excellent.

[1] Who hast founded the earth upon its own bases: it shall not be moved for ever and ever. The deep like a garment is its clothing: above the mountains shall the waters stand. At thy rebuke they shall flee: at the voice of thy thunder they shall fear. The mountains ascend, and the plains descend into the place which thou hast founded for them. Thou hast set a bound which they shall not pass over; neither shall they return to cover the earth.  Qui fundasti terram super stabilitatem suam, non inclinabitur in saeculum saeculi. Abyssus sicut vestimentum amictus ejus; super montes stabunt aquae. Ab increpatione tua fugient, a voce tonitrui tui formidabunt.  Ascendunt montes, et descendunt campi in locum quem fundasti eis. Terminum posuisti quem non transgredientur; neque convertentur operire terram.  [Ps. ciii. 5-9]

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.