Bellarmine on Psalm 124 :Verse 2

Verse 2

In Jerusalem. Mountains are round about it: so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth now and for ever.

In Jerusalem. Montes in circuitu ejus; et Dominus in circuitu populi sui, ex hoc nunc et usque in saeculum.

He proves what he has said, that mount Sion is secure and strong, but that those who trust in the Lord are much more so; this is because although Sion has mountains “round about it” like a wall, the man who “trusts in the Lord” has the Lord almighty Himself round about him; and the mountains which encircle mount Sion could fall and be levelled; but the Lord is round about His people “from henceforth now and forever.” The meaning of these two verses is that all those who trust in the Lord should feel perfectly safe, because the Lord protects them from all evil; and even if they should suffer temporary afflictions, this will be worked (by God) to their own good; and if God perchance should permit their riches, or health or such like to be taken away from them, He will replace these with something better, that is, patience and consolation, with the reward of eternal glory. But in this text, confidence or trust must not be understood as vain presumption, but rather that trust which is born of a faith which is not feigned, from a pure heart, from a good conscience and from fervent love.

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

Bellarmine on Psalm 124 : Title, theme and Verse 1

Title and subject matter

Titulum et argumentum

A canticle of the steps

Canticum graduum  

In this Psalm, the Prophet gives good advice to the pilgrims going up to their homeland, whether the earthly or heavenly homeland. The advice is that they should place all their hope in God, for God is almighty, completely faithful and He never disappoints those who hope in Him and who hasten to Him with all their hearts.

Verse 1

They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Sion: he shall not be moved for ever that dwelleth in Jerusalem.

Qui confidunt in Domino, sicut mons Sion : non commovebitur in aeternum, qui habitat in Jerusalem.

The Prophet lays down at the start a general and most certain promise, and he repeats it twice for a greater asseveration[1] of the truth. He says: “They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Sion,” that is, all those who truly trust in the Lord shall be unmoveable and secure, no matter how great a storm (may come), just like mount Sion which is unmoveable, not only because it is a mountain, but also because it is sacred and most dear to God. He then repeats this, as though explaining what he has said : “He shall not be moved for ever,” that dwelleth in Jerusalem; what he says here, “He shall not be moved for ever,” corresponds to the (earlier) words : he will be unmoveable like mount Sion. The following words, “that dwelleth in Jerusalem,” correspond to the other words, “They that trust in the Lord.” They who dwell in thought and hope in 

the heavenly Jerusalem are the very ones who trust in the Lord. Trust in God is explained by Psalm XC : “He that dwelleth in the aid of the most High, shall abide under the protection of the God of heaven.”[2] With regard to the wording, in the Hebrew codex it has different interpunction,[3] and hence a different word order. But since this interpunction was not in the ancient codices but was added by the Rabbis, it should not be mad so much of as to reject the interpunction found in the Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate editions. Besides this the phrase he that dwelleth in Jerusalem, is ambiguous in Hebrew, as it can refer either to mount Sion, or to a man placing his trust in God; but the Septuagint translators have declared this is to be referred to man and not to the mountain: for mountain in Greek is neuter; and the word qui / who is of the masculine gender in Greek and Latin. It is also to be noted that a mountain, unlike a man, cannot properly be said to dwell in a city. Indeed, not to be moved for ever does not apply to all those who dwell in the earthly Jerusalem, since that very Jerusalem itself cannot last forever; and because, to dwell in Jerusalem means the same thing here as to trust in the Lord, and so we have said with St. Augustine that this refers to the inhabitant of the heavenly Jerusalem through hope and desire, in the same way that they dwelled who said: “Our conversation is in heaven.”[4]

[1] Emphatic confirmation of a statement; a word or phrase used to express confirmation; OED.

[2] The praise of a canticle for David. He that dwelleth in the aid of the most High, shall abide under the protection of the God of Jacob. Laus cantici David. Qui habitat in adjutorio Altissimi, in protectione Dei caeli commorabitur. [Ps. xc 1]

[3] The insertion of points between words, clauses, or sentences; punctuation. OED.

[4] But our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ. Nostra autem conversatio in caelis est : unde etiam Salvatorem exspectamus Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum. [Phil. iii 20]

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

Bellarmine on Psalm 123 : Verse 7 (conclusion)

Verse 7

Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

Adjutorium nostrum in nomine Domini, qui fecit cælum et terram.

The Prophet concludes with praise for God, humbly acknowledging that such a great victory, and deliverance from such dangerous temptations, are not to be attributed to his own powers, but to the celestial help he received from God almighty : whose omnipotence is shown by the fact He made heaven and earth. The way in which God is wont to remove His servants from dangerous temptations is implied when he says: “The snare is broken,” for the snare is often broken when a bird, either alarmed by some cry, or drawn by more attractive food, uses force and thus breaks the snare. When a bird, although trapped in a snare, will not leave the bird-catcher’s bait, and does not know it is captured and does not try to escape, it is in this way easily captured and killed. It is the same when the soul of a man falls into temptation, and is then illuminated by God and, either fearful of divine judgement and hell, or drawn by the promises of heavenly glory, the soul begins to think on how hard are the sufferings of the present time, yet how much harder beyond any comparison will be the eternal torments to come; or the soul thinks how sweet this present life seems, how sweet the pleasure and the riches, yet how much sweeter by far shall be the rewards of eternal life: the soul is ablaze with love for the blessings of heaven and is fired by fear of hell’s torments; ablaze with this fire, it conceives divinely assisted strength, and with the grand impetus of a most firm commitment of not sinning against God, it breaks the snare of temptation and, being set free, it flies off and sings in joy: “Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” This form of escape is written of by St. Cyprian in the last chapter of his book De Exhortatione martyrii. What persecution can vanquish or what torments can overcome reflections such as these?

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

Bellarmine on Psalm 123 : Verses 5 & 6

Verses 5 & 6

Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us to be a prey to their teeth. Our soul hath been delivered as a sparrow out of the snare of the fowlers. The snare is broken, and we are delivered.

Benedictus Dominus, qui non dedit nos in captionem dentibus eorum.  Anima nostra sicut passer erepta est de laqueo venantium; laqueus contritus est, et nos liberati sumus.

The Prophet introduces another similitude, from which the divine benefits are still better illustrated and more clearly understood. He compares persecution or temptation to the snare of a bird-catcher, and he says God is to be thanked and blessed because he has not given us to be a prey to their teeth, that is, He did not permit us to be captured, killed and eaten. He explains how God did this, saying: “Our soul hath been delivered as a sparrow out of the snare of the fowlers,” that is, our soul fell indeed into persecution and temptation, like a sparrow, or any other bird (the Hebrew noun signifies birds in general), being trapped in the net of a bird-catcher or huntsman; but the soul is delivered from that temptation or persecution before it is captured by the tempter and killed; just like a bird captured in a snare but taken out before it can be seized, killed and eaten by the bird-catcher. This is done because “the snare is broken, and we are delivered,” that is, because the grace of God put an end to the temptation before the soul either denied its faith or consented to sin in any other way, just as the snare holding the bird is broken and the bird flies off, and frustrates the hope of the bird-catcher standing with his mouth open.

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

Bellarmine on Psalm 123 : Verse 4

Verse 4

Our soul hath passed through a torrent: perhaps our soul had passed through a water insupportable.

torrentem pertransivit anima nostra; forsitan pertransisset anima nostra aquam intolerabilem.

He persists with the same similitude, comparing the persecutions of his enemies to a a swift and deep torrent, which cannot be crossed without most powerful help. If anyone wonders what were the persecutions of the pagans and the heretics against the holy martyrs, and the temptations of the devils against the holy hermits and confessors,[1] he will see that they were like an extremely violent torrent, and although the holy and glorious martyrs and confessors survived its passage, yet many, almost without number, perished as though borne away and swallowed up by the force of this torrent, as can be learned from Cyprian in his sermon De Lapsis, and from Eusebius  of Cæsariensis in book viii, chapter I, of his Hist., the Ruffinus version. Speaking in the person of the saints, the Prophet says:

“Our soul hath passed through a torrent,” that is, our soul has passed through a persecution, as through a torrent; for the flesh succumbed and yielded before the fury of the persecutors, but the soul gloriously passed through it; but “If it had not been that the Lord was with us, perhaps our soul had passed through a water insupportable,” that is, it had entered into a very deep deep torrent from which it could not escape. The word pertransisset / had passed through, does not signify transivisset / had crossed, or evasisset / had escaped, butrather intrasset / had entered into, and pertransire coepisset / had begun to pass through, or pertransire coacta fuisset / had been forced to pass through. The word intolerabilem / insupportable is correctly translated by the Septuagint as ἀνυπόστατον, that is, without substance, without hypostasis, without foundation, without a firm base where the feet can be set, and by this word is signified the depth of the waters, which cannot be passed. But at this point appears an open contradiction between the Hebrew and Septuagint texts. For the Hebrew clearly has a torrent hath passed  over our soul; and a little later, the Hebrew text has perhaps insupportable waters had passed

over our soul; but the Septuagint has perhaps our soul had passed through a water insupportable. Indeed, St. Jerome, in his commentary on this text, does not hide the superiority of the Hebrew reading. But we are of the opinion that these (different) readings may be reconciled in two ways. Firstly, it may be that the Septuagint translators did not have in their text the Hebrew particle which signifies super / above; this particle determines the noun anima / soul in the accusative case, but when it is removed, there is an ambiguity as to whether the word anima / soul, and the words torrens / torrent and aquæ / waters should be in the nominative or accusative. Accordingly, the Hebrew words can support either reading, namely that of St. Jerome : A torrent hath passed through our soul; and that of the Septuagint : Our soul hath passed through a torrent; since it is likely that the Septuagint translators had better codices than St. Jerome, and that they translated faithfully what they found, it follows that the Septuagint reading, which is that of our Vulgate edition and of the Hebrew, as it now appears is to be retained and preferred. It is also possible that the Septuagint translators read the text like St. Jerome but preferred to transfer the sense rather than the words, since when someone passes through a deep torrent, it also comes to pass he passes through the torrent and the torrent passes over him. But the sentence seems clearer if the man is said to pass through the torrent than if the torrent is said to pass over him. For it is possible for a torrent to pass over a man, even when he is motionless and prostrate in the depths, but (such) a man cannot pass through a torrent, so that (truly) the torrent passes over him. So that the Septuagint translators could signify that the torrent passed over a man who was not prostrate but walking or swimming, they preferred to say that the man passed through the torrent rather than that the torrent passed over the man.

[1] One who avows his religion in the face of danger, and adheres to it under persecution and torture, but does not suffer martyrdom; spec. one who has been recognized by the church in this character. (The earliest sense in English.) OED.

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

Bellarmine on Psalm 123 : Verses 2 & 3

Verses 2 & 3

When men rose up against us, perhaps they had swallowed us up alive. When their fury was enkindled against us, perhaps the waters had swallowed us up.

Cum exsurgerent homines in nos, forte vivos deglutissent nos; cum irasceretur furor eorum in nos, forsitan aqua absorbuisset nos;

Behold what might have befallen us if had God had not been in us, and had not helped us with His all-powerful strength. “When men rose up against us, perhaps they had swallowed us up alive,” that is, when our persecutors rose up against us, there was a danger they might swiftly destroy us as the sea or a river swallows up living men who perchance are cast into their waters. Three things are considered in this text: firstly, the persecutors of the just are referred to as men, because they are led by human reason alone, insofar as it remains in a nature corrupted by sin; for human reason, after the corruption of nature, has no taste for anything elevated, divine or spiritual, and it has no other aim than preserving and increasing its own worldly happiness. Of these men, the Apostle says in I Cor. iii: “For, whereas there is among you envying and contention, are you not carnal, and walk according to man?”[1] and a little further on: “Are you not men?”[2] where the Apostle reads to be carnal and to be a man as having the same meaning; as he does with to walk according to the flesh and to walk according to man. Here there is some difficulty relating to the word perhaps, which is repeated a little further on. It seems that this word is not well placed in the Vulgate since an affirmative word should have been used, such as assuredly, in any case, properly. For if we read it as perchance, it follows that God’s help is not necessary in overcoming temptations, seeing that 

the prophet would certainly not dare to affirm this, but he leaves the doubt that a very serious temptation might destroy us, if God is not with us. Although this reading is not absent from the more recent commentators, to whom this word is not pleasing, they do not opt to translate the Hebrew and the Greek as perhaps or perchance but as assuredly or certainly : we, however, dare not depart from the Vulgate translation : for St. Jerome was a man most learned as well as most expert in both these languages; and more faith is to be had in him than in any dictionaries. He consistently translates the Hebrew as perhaps; and in his commentaries on the Psalms in which he interprets the Septuagint edition, he reads the word as perhaps;  finally, in his corrections of the Psalter (ad Suniam et Fretellam), he makes no corrections in this text. St. Hilary too, following Origen, St. John Chrysostom, and St. Augustine are all of one mind in reading the word as perhaps; nor is there any variation of this reading in the Bibles. Nor is it to be feared that this little word should oblige us to take anything away from the grace of God: for the word perhaps does not mean that we could perhaps, without God’s protective grace, resist the enemies rushing into attack us; but it could be that we are not swallowed up alive, because perhaps the enemy did not advance in rage as far as that point. But since there was a danger that the enemies might rush in rage to a most cruel slaughter, the Prophet says: “If it had not been that the Lord was with us, perhaps they had swallowed us up alive.” Finally, we have said that the words they had swallowed us up alive is taken from the similitude of the sea or a river swallowing up and engulfing men alive, for there are no beasts, however cruel, that swallow men whole without tearing and mangling them, as is known; the following verse requires this reading, for as is common in the Psalms, it repeats the same with other words: it reads thus: “When their fury was enkindled against us, perhaps the waters had swallowed us up.” The sense is, perhaps the water had swallowed us up, that is, the fury of our enemies like the watery depths had swallowed us up. Not only in this verse, but also in the ones following, the Prophet maintains the similitude of waters, as we shall see soon.

[1] For, whereas there is among you envying and contention, are you not carnal, and walk according to man? Cum enim sit inter vos zelus, et contentio : nonne carnales estis, et secundum hominem ambulatis? [I Cor. iii 3]

[2] [I Cor. iii 4]

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

Bellarmine on Psalm 123 : Title, theme and Verse 1

Title and subject matter

Titulus et argumentum

A Canticle of the Steps

Canticum graduum

This Psalm contains the rejoicing of those who were delivered from the direst tribulations. And indeed, the children of Israel who returned from the Babylonian captivity to Jerusalem, are not described as suffering any grave persecutions on their journey : but only while they were held as captives, and between the building of the city and the temple, as may be understood from either of Esdra’s books. Accordingly, insofar as this Psalm pertains to Israelites according to the flesh, it should be referred to those afflictions they suffered either when they were in captivity or while they were rebuilding the city and the temple; insofar as it pertains to spiritual Israelites, that is, to Christians going up to the celestial Jerusalem, it should be referred to the persecutions by pagans and other wicked men, from whom the holy martyrs were delivered and other chosen souls are today being delivered.

Verse 1

If it had not been that the Lord was with us, let Israel now say: If it had not been that the Lord was with us.

Nisi quia Dominus erat in nobis, dicat nunc Israel, nisi quia Dominus erat in nobis.

Incomplete and interrupted speech, at the beginning of the Psalm, is a sign of the great and unaccustomed joy which does not allow the person speaking to utter complete sentences. The multitude of the Saints, delivered from great temptations, say: “If it had not been that the Lord was with us,” that is, unless the Lord almighty had been with us, we might never have escaped. But before he completes this sentence, rejoicing in his gladness, he invites Israel, that is, all of God’s people, to offer praise and thanksgiving, saying: “Let Israel now say;” and he repeats the words: “If it had not been that the Lord was with us.” Concerning the words, the quia / because in the Hebrew follows the noun Dominus / the Lord, in this way: Nisi Dominus quia erat in nobis / Unless the Lord because he was with us. But the Septuagint translators, in order to make the sentence clearer, seem to have changed the order of the words; St. Jerome omitted the particle from his version as being redundant and otiose, and his version reads Unless the Lord had been in us. If anyone wanted to retain it, it could be supplied: Unless the Lord, who was in us, had delivered us: or, according to the Septuagint: Unless we had been delivered, because the Lord was in us. What could have been done if the Lord had not delivered us, is explained in the following section.

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

Bellarmine on Psalm 122 : Verse 5 (conclusion)

Verse 5

For our soul is greatly filled: we are a reproach to the rich, and contempt to the proud.

quia multum repleta est anima nostra opprobrium abundantibus, et despectio superbis.

In this last verse, David tells us that the contempt and hatred, of which he spoke earlier, as befalling the poor and humble pilgrims, proceeds from the wealthy and the proud. Some commentators read the words a reproach to the rich, and contempt to the proud as a curse, so that the sense is: May reproach fall upon the wealthy and contempt upon the proud; but if we consider the original text and we want to harmonise St. Jerome’s translation with that of the Septuagint, we are obliged to follow St. Augustine and say that the sense is: “My soul is greatly filled,” namely with confusion, because I am made “a reproach to the rich, and contempt to the proud.” For St. Jerome correctly translated the Hebrew as the soul is greatly filled with the reproach of the rich and the contempt of the proud. The Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate correctly agree with this if the words I am become are understood as implied and the text continues with a reproach, etc. The Prophet therefore says, “My soul is greatly filled,” which is the same as what he said earlier: “We are greatly filled with contempt.” But for the sake of explanation in this context he names the soul, since the sense of contempt pertains properly to the rational soul; for those who lack a rational soul can feel pain but not contempt. The words is filled are read in Hebrew as is satiated with, and this adds to 

the meaning in a marvellous manner; because if they who are greatly satiated, that is, who are filled beyond satiety, even if they are filled with good food, they experience great discomfort: what will be the feeling of those who are filled with bad food, such as are reproaches and contempt? From this it truly follows that: “a reproach to the rich, and contempt to the proud” signify exactly the same thing: for reproach and contempt are the same, as are the wealthy and the proud. All the proud are inflated and are accordingly rich; but they abound in empty wind not in any solid good, that is, they abound in the opinion and estimation they have of themselves; for if they possess worldly riches, they think they are their own and they do not think they will have to render an account  of them to God. If they enjoy (positions of) dignity and honour, they judge all those things to be due to themselves and to be theirs, and they do not understand they will have to render a most strict account for this dignity, and that this is anything other than a burden. In this, they would be no less foolish in boasting of such a burden than would a walking stick that boasted that it walked greatly burdened.[1] If they have a number of strengths, or intelligence, or learning, they convince themselves they are much greater than they are, and they attribute to themselves what are actually gifts from God. Finally, if they are lacking in riches, dignities and honours but on the contrary are punished and scourged, they judge themselves to have been injured and they murmur and blaspheme against God; all this arises from the fact they are full of themselves, or rather they are full of the empty wind of their own self-regard. But there will come a time when reproach and contempt will return to them, namely, when on the last day they will say, as written in Wisdom V: “ These are they, whom we had some time in derision, and for a parable of reproach. We fools esteemed their life madness, and their end without honour. Behold how they are numbered among the children of God, and their lot is among the saints.”[2] And further on, “What hath pride profited us? or what advantage hath the boasting of riches brought us? All those things are passed away like a shadow.”[3]

[1] By the body of the person carrying the stick.

[2] dicentes intra se, poenitentiam agentes, et prae angustia spiritus gementes : Hi sunt quos habuimus aliquando in derisum, et in similitudinem improperii. Nos insensati, vitam illorum aestimabamus insaniam, et finem illorum sine honore; ecce quomodo computati sunt inter filios Dei, et inter sanctos sors illorum est. [Wisdom v 3-5]

[3] 

Quid nobis profuit superbia? aut divitiarum jactantia quid contulit nobis? Transierunt omnia illa tamquam umbra. [Wisdom v 8-9]

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

Bellarmine on Psalm 122 : Verse 4

Verse 4

Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us: for we are greatly filled with contempt.

Miserere nostri, Domine, miserere nostri, quia multum repleti sumus despectione;

Not content with having implored for mercy by fixing his eyes on God, he calls out with the voice of his heart and body on behalf of himself and his fellow travellers, saying: “Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us.”And truly, he who rightly notices and attentively considers what then follows: “for we are greatly filled with contempt,” will understand clearly that our wretchedness is so great that it is not possible to cease crying out in this way. For man, created in the image of God, and set over all the works of the Lord, even frequently adopted by this same God as a son, and predestined for the kingdom of heaven, this man on his (earthly) journey is despised not only by the demons and wicked men, but also by animals, even by the smallest ones, and is greatly troubled by them, so that the Prophet says most truthfully, that we are not only despised, but that “we are greatly filled with contempt,” not merely filled but greatly filled. For what is there that does not look down upon man, even a just and holy man, in this valley of tears? But the principal contempt about which the Prophet speaks in this context is what the good suffer from the wicked, the just from the iniquitous. Most truthful and universal is that saying of the Apostle: “And all that will live godly in Christ Jesus, shall suffer persecution;”[1] note too the words of the Lord: “ If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.”[2] The reason is simple, because good and evil are opposites, and opposites can have no peace with each other. Since the just are patient and meek, and have learned from the Lord not to resist evil, and to turn the other cheek to someone striking them, they are in consequence proudly held in contempt, despised and persecuted by the wicked.

[1] And all that will live godly in Christ Jesus, shall suffer persecution. Et omnes, qui pie volunt vivere in Christo Jesu, persecutionem patientur. [I Tim. iii. 12]

[2] If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Si de mundo fuissetis, mundus quod suum erat diligeret : quia vero de mundo non estis, sed ego elegi vos de mundo, propterea odit vos mundus. [John xv 19]

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

Bellarmine on Psalm 122 : Verses 2 & 3

Verse 2

Behold as the eyes of servants are on the hands of their masters, As the eyes of the handmaid are on the hands of her mistress: so are our eyes unto the Lord our God, until he have mercy on us.

Ecce sicut oculi servorum in manibus dominorum suorum; sicut oculi ancillae in manibus dominae suae : ita oculi nostri ad Dominum Deum nostrum, donec misereatur nostri.

He explains why he has raised his eyes to God, so that God might look upon him being scourged and might be moved by the wretched sight to mercy, so as put an end to the scourging. He illustrates this with a similitude involving servants, who, when they are flogged by their masters, look sadly at the hands of those who are flogging them, seeking by their look to move their masters to mercy and to bring the punishment to an end. The words as the eyes of servants are on the hands of their masters are more clearly understood from the Hebrew, where it has unto the hands of their masters, and this corresponds to the (following) words:  “So are our eyes unto the Lord our God.” The same similitude is used not only with regard to servants but also to handmaids, because not only men but women too are on a journey to their heavenly homeland., and on this journey they are scourged; but because men are strong, they are properly called men; weak and delicate men may be said to be women; and both of these classes suffer their scourges on this (earthly) journey. In fact, the scourges by which God punishes men relate not only to manifest persecutions and calamities, but also to hidden temptations, by which the soul is constantly troubled, and the fears, griefs and sorrows from which no-one is spared in this life; the Psalm does not say there is a particular time to raise our eyes unto God, but rather *we should do this) without ceasing, “until He have mercy on us,” which will not come to pass until we arrive in our heavenly home; for then “God will crown us with mercy and compassion, when He will heal us from all our infirmities, and He will satisfy our desire with good things,” as it says in Ps. CII.[1]

[1] Who redeemeth thy life from destruction: who crowneth thee with mercy and compassion. Who satisfieth thy desire with good things: thy youth shall be renewed like the eagle's. qui redimit de interitu vitam tuam, qui coronat te in misericordia et miserationibus; qui replet in bonis desiderium tuum : renovabitur ut aquilae juventus tua. [Psalm CII 4-5]

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

Bellarmine on Psalm 122 : Title, theme and Verse 1

Title and subject matter

Titulum et argumentum

A canticle of the steps

Canticum graduum  

This Psalm contains a prayer of man on his journey to the heavenly Jerusalem, suffering hardship in his exile or on the journey.

Verse 1

To thee have I lifted up my eyes, who dwellest in heaven.

Ad te levavi oculos meos, qui habitas in caelis.

The Prophet speaks sometimes in the person of a pilgrim and sometimes in his own person, as one of the actual pilgrims; and he says that, whatever the adversities (he suffered), he looked for no other helper than God; since, firstly, He alone dwells in the highest heaven and from there he looks down upon and rules all the creatures below; and, secondly, because He is the one who punishes us through wicked men, and so it is in vain that we seek refuge with any others, since no man can take us out of God’s hands.

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

Bellarmine on Psalm 120 : Verses 7 & 8 (conclusion)

Verse 7

The Lord keepeth thee from all evil: may the Lord keep thy soul.

Dominus custodit te ab omni malo; custodiat animam tuam Dominus.

The Prophet adds another consolation, a general one, as though he were to say: The Lord protects you not only lest you fall or grow weary, but He will also protect you and keep you safe from any other evil that may befall you on the journey, which will mean your soul and your life will be preserved safely for the whole of the journey. In Hebrew and Greek the tense used is the future: The Lord shall keep thee, but there is no difference in the sense: for the Lord provides protection now and in the time to come, and the Hebrew signifies this continuation by means of the future tense.

Verse 8

May the Lord keep thy coming in and thy going out; from henceforth now and for ever.

Dominus custodiat introitum tuum et exitum tuum, ex hoc nunc et usque in saeculum.

The Prophet concludes by adding the final and greatest consolation, as though saying: God’s pilgrim, who in his heart he hath disposed to ascend by steps,[1] is not only kept safe in any part of his journey; but he is kept safe continually throughout the whole journey; for every journey consists in entering and exiting, for when we journey, we enter on one path, and we leave it when it is finished; then we enter on another one, and afterwards we leave it; in the same way we enter one province, one city, one house, and then we leave;  and we enter another and then we leave, until we have finished our journey and we arrive at our home country. In this way we journey along life’s road, while we begin and complete good works: for to begin is to enter; to complete is to leave. From henceforth now and for ever, is the same as now and forever, as though to say: From henceforth, that is, starting from the present time, the Lord begins to keep safe thy coming in and thy going out. St. Augustine understands coming in and going out as entering into temptation and leaving temptation. Other commentators understand more generally the start and finish of work, or of all our actions, or of all human usage, as in Acts I: “the Lord Jesus came in and went out among us,”[2] that is, the Lord Jesus begins to dwell with us. It matters little that the Hebrew uses the future tense, shall keep; for the meanings of tenses vary. Hence St. Jerome himself translates the Hebrew as may (he) keep, as we read in the Vulgate.

[1] Blessed is the man whose help is from thee: in his heart he hath disposed to ascend by steps; Beatus vir cujus est auxilium abs te, ascensiones in corde suo disposuit. [Ps. lxxxiii 6]

[2] Wherefore of these men who have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus came in and went out among us; Oportet ergo ex his viris qui nobiscum sunt congregati in omni tempore, quo intravit et exivit inter nos Dominus Jesus. [Acts I 21]

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

Bellarmine on Psalm 120 : Verses 5 & 6

Verses 5 & 6

The Lord is thy keeper, the Lord is thy protection upon thy right hand. The sun shall not burn thee by day: nor the moon by night.

Dominus custodit te, Dominus protectio tua super manum dexteram tuam. Per diem sol non uret te, neque luna per noctem.

The prophet has said a little earlier that a pilgrim who trusts in God will be protected lest he stumble on the journey; he now adds another consolation, namely, that he will be protected lest he wearies beneath the heat of the sun during the day or beneath the light of the moon during the night, since God will be like a shade to him that he can hold in his right hand, to protect his head or any other part of his body. “The Lord,” says the Prophet, not only “keeps safe Israel,” that is, His people generally, but He keeps you personally safe; He keeps you safe because He is your protection, like a covering against the shade, and the Hebrew sense says properly, “upon thy right hand;” hence it is that such a shade in your right hand serves as a roof so that the sun does not burn thee by day nor the moon by night. The Greek employs the future tense: The Lord shall be thy keeper; but in the Hebrew, it is not properly a verb in the present or future tense, but a participle: The Lord being thy keeper, or thy guardian; but the sense is the same. The Lord is thy protection upon thy right hand:  these words may contain a metaphor, as some would argue, to wit, of an armed man standing on the right hand, so that the sense is: The Lord will be your protection because He stands like an armed soldier on your right hand. But what we have said conforms more to the literal sense firstly, because for the word protection the Hebrew has shade, or sunshade; secondly, because the Hebrew and Greek have upon (thy right) hand, not to the right hand: hence it seems the Prophet had in mind a sunshade carried in the hand and 

adjusted by the hand; finally, because the line continues with: The sun shall not burn thee by day: nor the moon by night; but against the heat, or the brightness of the sun and moon, an armed soldier standing on the right offers no protection, unlike a shade held in the right hand over the head. Furthermore, the metaphor of a shade, of the sun and the moon, the day and the night, refers to the grace of God, which protects a pilgrim in time of prosperity and in time of adversity; for on the journey, the daytime of prosperity is not wont to cause harm any less than the night time of adversity. In his mystical way of reading, St. Augustine explains that God protects the right hand side but not the left, because often He permits man to be injured in wordly things, referring to the left hand, and He does not permit him to be harmed in spiritual things, signified by the right hand side.

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

Bellarmine on Psalm 120 : verse 4

Verse 4

Behold he shall neither slumber nor sleep, that keepeth Israel.

Ecce non dormitabit neque dormiet qui custodit Israel.

The Prophet promises the pilgrim will obtain the grace he was asking for, as though to say: I pray that the Father who took you into His care will not slumber; there is no doubt He will not fall into a sleep; for He who watches over His own people never falls asleep nor slumbers; Israel stands for His own people and yet includes all the people in the world who turn and hasten to go up to the heavenly city. When it says “He shall neither slumber nor sleep,” the meaning is this, He will not doze by closing His eyes and then opening them: much less will he give Himself into a deep sleep; and so He will be ever watchful, not closing His eyes for a moment. St. Augustine puts it beautifully when he says men doze when they have bodily weakness and they fall asleep when they are dying;  the watchfulness of men, therefore, is not to be trusted; but we can safely believe in the Lord, who is a most faithful guardian, for he neither slumbers in weakness nor falls into sleep when dying. St. Augustine correctly notes that Israel is to be understood as referring to faithful men, because Israel is interpreted as (men) seeing God, and the faithful never see God through faith,[1] but after (this earthly life), they will see Him.[2]

[1] Who only hath immortality, and inhabiteth light inaccessible, whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and empire everlasting. Amen. qui solus habet immortalitatem, et lucem inhabitat inaccessibilem : quem nullus hominum vidit, sed nec videre potest : cui honor, et imperium sempiternum. Amen. [I Timothy vi. 16]

[2] We see now through a glass in a dark manner; but then face to face. Now I know in part; but then I shall know even as I am known. Videmus nunc per speculum in aenigmate : tunc autem facie ad faciem. Nunc cognosco ex parte : tunc autem cognoscam sicut et cognitus sum. [I Corinth. Xiii. 12] 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

Bellarmine on Psalm 120 : Verses 2 & 3

Verse 2

My help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

Auxilium meum a Domino, qui fecit caelum et terram.

The traveller declares that he does not expect help from the mountains, to which he has lifted up his eyes, but from Him who presides over the holy city set on the mountains; he explains this more clearly at the beginning of psalm CXXII: “To thee have I lifted up my eyes, who dwellest in heaven;” he then describes the true God through His work of creating heaven and earth, as in Psalm XCV: “All the gods of the Gentiles are devils: but the Lord made the heavens.”

Verse 3

May he not suffer thy foot to be moved: neither let him slumber that keepeth thee.

Non det in commotionem pedem tuum, neque dormitet qui custodit te.

The prophet now changes the person and starts to speaks in his own person; he responds to the traveller, as though to say: Well and wisely hast thou lifted up thine eyes to the mountains, and thou hast paid no regard to the vanities which are found on the way; but, ignoring these, thou hast looked out for help and consolation from the Creator of the heavenly homeland; therefore I pray “that God may not suffer thy foot to be moved,” that is, that He will not allow thee to slip or stumble on the way; but that He will strengthen thy feet so that they may keep steadily right on the road to the (heavenly) homeland. “Neither let him slumber that keepeth thee,” that is, I pray and ask that our Father, who is thy guardian, may ever watch over thee and keep thee safe, and never allow thy feet to be moved. Concerning this verse, note firstly that God is said metaphorically to slumber when he permits us to fall, as if he did not notice, just as someone who is asleep does not notice what is happening. Secondly, the phrase in Hebrew connotes the movement of feet or staggering, for this means to slip into sin, as in Psalm XVII: “My feet are not weakened,”[1] and in Psalm LXXII: “ But my feet were almost moved; my steps had well nigh slipped.”[1] Thirdly, in Hebrew the future tense is used, He will not suffer thy foot to be moved, and according to this reading there is a prophecy and a promise. But, as we have already said, in Hebrew one tense is often used for another, hence not only the Septuagint but also St. Jerome translate the phrase as May he not suffer. St. Augustine reads it as Do not thou suffer my foot to be moved. But I do not know which Codex he was following; our Hebrew, Greek and Latin texts all have the third person, may he not suffer, or He will not suffer thy foot to be moved. 

[1] Thou hast enlarged my steps under me; and my feet are not weakened. Dilatasti gressus meos subtus me; et non sunt infirmata vestigia mea. [Ps. XVII 37]

[2] But my feet were almost moved; my steps had well nigh slipped. Mei autem pene moti sunt pedes, pene effusi sunt gressus mei; 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

Bellarmine on Psalm 120 : Title, theme and Verse 1

Title and subject matter

Titulus et argumentum

A canticle of the steps

Canticum graduum 

The second Psalm of the Steps consoles the travellers going up to Jerusalem, promising God’s perpetual safekeeping; the Prophet speaks firstly in the person of a traveller, then in his own person and he consoles the traveller.

Verse 1

I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains, from whence help shall come to me.

Canticum graduum. Levavi oculos meos in montes, unde veniet auxilium mihi.

Travellers look towards nothing more frequently than the place to which they are journeying, if it can be seen; if not, (they look) towards some other place nearby: for they obtain a great consolation from this, and this consolation provides strength and help to them as they walk; the earthly Jerusalem was in the mountains, and the heavenly Jerusalem is above all the heavens, and so the traveller, whether real or imaginary, says: “I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains,” which is the seat of the holy city, “from whence help shall come to me,” (that) of consolation. In Hebrew, the verb is in the future tense, levabo / I shall lift up, but the tenses often vary in Hebrew; and besides, as far as the sense is concerned, it does not matter a great deal whether the traveller says: I have lifted up my eyes, or I shall lift up my eyes. St. Augustine, in accord with his mystical way of interpreting texts, interprets mountains as referring to the holy Apostles; for just as mountains are the first to receive the light of the rising sun, so it is that, with the coming of Christ, the sun of justice, the Apostles were the first to receive the light.

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.