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.