Bellarmine on Psalm 95 : Verse 7

Verse 7

Bring ye to the Lord, O ye kindreds of the Gentiles, bring ye to the Lord glory and honour: Bring to the Lord glory unto his name.

Afferte Domino, patriae gentium; afferte Domino gloriam et honorem; afferte Domino gloriam nomini ejus

He had predicted that the knowledge of God would be preached to all nations through the advent of Christ : he now predicts that all the Gentiles will be converted and will glorify God. As he had predicted the former by means of an exhortation, saying : “Declare his glory among all men (the Gentiles),” so now he predicts by way of (another) exhortation, saying : “Bring ye to the Lord, O ye kindreds of the Gentiles,” that is, O ye families of the Gentiles, scattered over the whole world, when there shall have been declared to you the glory of the Lord, who came down from heaven to earth, and who, after having worked your redemption, ascended glorious into heaven: ye families, be not your hearts hardened against belief, nor slow to act, (but be like those) who went up in their families on the festival days to the temple of the Lord which was in Jerusalem. He is referring here to the Holy Spirit, so that what the Jewish families used to do in the body, should be done by all the Gentiles in the spirit, as, for example, everyone is to come to the Church and render unto God glory and honour for all His wondrous works, which were accomplished in the redemption of the human race;  for not by our own industry or merits did we attain unto the adoption and grace of children of God, but by the mercy of God, to whom is due all honour and glory. For the word gentium / of the gentiles, the Hebrew has populorum / of the peoples; but the Septuagint translators preferred gentium / of the gentiles, instead of populorum / of the peoples, lest the Jews should say the Prophet was speaking only of their people. Accordingly, they removed the word’s ambiguity and taught that the Holy Spirit was speaking of the peoples of the gentiles, of whom the Prophet had said a little earlier: “Declare his glory among the Gentiles;” and a little further on: “Say ye among the Gentiles, the Lord hath reigned;”  for in both cases the Hebrew word properly means gentiles / Gentiles.

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.