Bellarmine on Psalm 96 : Verse 12

Verse 12

Light is risen to the just, and joy to the right of heart.

Lux orta est justo, et rectis corde laetitia.

Here is another reward of the just, that they will not only be delivered from evils, but they will also be filled with good things. By light in this context may be understood the light of divine grace, or, as seems more likely, the light of justice, of which it says in Wisdom v : “Therefore we have erred from the way of truth, and the light of justice hath not shined unto us, and the sun of understanding hath not risen upon us.”[1] Now the light of justice and understanding is said to rise on someone when he begins to know, not only in theory but in practice, what is just and unjust, what is good and what is evil, and when he judges and chooses what is truly just and good, and not what only appears just and good in a mind badly affected by the turmoil of his passions. This light, therefore, has risen to the just, without which he would not be a just man; and just as it is a joy to the just to do what is just, as the Philosopher teaches, the Prophet rightly adds: “and joy to the right of heart;” for justice directs the heart, and an indescribable joy is poured into that heart because it renders up what is conformable to the will of God, and this soul finds pleasing all that is pleasing to God, on whose will all things depend. Accordingly, there is nothing that can sadden the just man; for he will rejoice even in the midst of the severest tribulations, and no-one will take his joy away from him. In Hebrew, it says, light is sown to the just; but it seems the Hebrew letters have been corrupted by a change in one, for thus is the Hebrew word for to sow read today, but a very similar word means to rise, and this is the reading of St. Jerome and the Septuagint, and it is confirmed by reason of the metaphor employed; for light is not properly said to be sown but most properly it is said to rise. And so the reading of our Vulgate edition should not be changed for the Hebrew sense; but rather, the Hebrew should be changed.

[1] Therefore we have erred from the way of truth, and the light of justice hath not shined unto us, and the sun of understanding hath not risen upon us. Ergo erravimus a via veritatis, et justitiae lumen non luxit nobis, et sol intelligentiae non est ortus nobis. [Wisdom v. 6]

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.