Bellarmine on Psalm 125 : Verses 4 & 5

Verse 4

The Lord hath done great things for us: we are become joyful.

Magnificavit Dominus facere nobiscum; facti sumus laetantes.

Those who have gained their freedom agree with what the gentiles say, and they add the following: Indeed the Lord has dealt with us magnificently, He did for us something beyond what we deserved and what we hoped for, when He called us back from our wretched captivity to our sweetest homeland; and so we are become joyful, we who were groaning in sorrow beneath the yoke of our captivity.

Verse 5

Turn again our captivity, O Lord, as a stream in the south.

Converte, Domine, captivitatem nostram, sicut torrens in austro.

Not all those held in captivity returned straight away, but first of all some came with Esdras, and then others came with Nehemias; those who returned first prayed to God for a full return of all the other captives. In fact, they used the image of a rushing “stream” which, driven by the south wind, is wont to flow most powerfully and swiftly. Accordingly, they say: “Turn again our captivity, O Lord,” that is, bring about the return of all the other captives who are still in a foreign land, every last one of them; let this be done most swiftly, so that the return is rapid and complete, as is the case with those things that a torrent carries away and bears along when, driven by the south wind, it is swollen by rain pouring down from the heavens or snows melting and pouring down the mountain sides. But this prayer is much more necessary for the spiritual exiles : for although some have already arrived in their homeland, yet many others are still in exile : many have even begun to like their captivity, and fixated with worldly things, have no thought for their homeland; and so it 

becomes necessary for God, just like a torrent, to apply force to them like the south wind and compel them to go up (to their homeland). Finally, both the former and the latter are still held as captives; for all expect that every creature shall be delivered from the servitude of corruption,[1] and even the blessed in heaven are waiting for the redemption of their body. For the sake, therefore, of this complete deliverance of the children of God, of which the Apostle speaks in Romans viii, we rightly pray: “Turn again our captivity, O Lord, as a stream in the south.” In the matter of vocabulary, in the Hebrew and Greek codices it has torrents or streams of water, using the accusative plural; but it is probable that in the ancient and more correct Greek texts it was χειμάρρος, that is torrent, and not χειμάρρους, that is, torrents. For St. Jerome in his Commentary on the Septuagint reads torrent, and St. Augustine likewise reads torrent. The Hebrew word can however be read in the nominative or accusative case: but there is no difficulty with the meaning. For the sense is the same whether we say :

“Turn again our captivity,” as a torrent turns and carries along all things with it; or “Turn again our captivity,” a torrent (filled) with things pushed forward and forced along, when filled with waters by the south wind. A bigger question relates to the noun Austri, for more recent commentators, learned and more accurate, maintain that the noun Austri should not be understood as referring to a wind, but to the dry and desert region in the south, such as the deserts of Arabia; and they would render the sense in this context as: “Turn again our captivity,” as streams flow in arid deserts : for the return of the captives shall gladden us, as arid places are gladdened by flowing waters. But for us, the authority of the Fathers is to be respected, for there is no doubt that the Septuagint translators understood Austrum to refer to a wind:  for this properly signifies νὁτος, which they used in this context; hence, St. Jerome, St. Augustine, Theodoret, Euthymius and other ancient writers, Greek and Latin, recognise in this part of the text the similitude of a southern wind causing snows to melt, and making clouds form, and in this way swelling streams. The reasoning behind this connection and the word torrent seems to favour this explanation. For the Prophet uses the noun torrents to refer to the fullness of the returning captives; indeed, it is rivulets that are wont to flow through arid, desert places, not swollen, great torrents, which massive rains or snowfalls cause to flow from the mountains. But, some will say, the Hebrew word does not mean wind, but southern region, or an arid, desert place. I reply, as I have often replied, the meanings of Hebrew words should not be limited to what is written in Hebrew dictionaries : more faith should be placed in the Septuagint translators and in St. Jerome, than in all the dictionaries; and in the same way, the Greek word νὁτος properly signifies a southern wind, and from this may be carried over a reference to the region from which the wind blows : and so it may be that the Hebrew word negheb which these commentators would have as meaning southern region, may by transference also refer to the southern wind, and the authority of the ancients is enough to persuade us that the word is to accepted here in this sense.

[1] Because the creature also itself shall be delivered from the servitude of corruption, into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. quia et ipsa creatura liberabitur a servitute corruptionis in libertatem gloriae filiorum Dei. For we know that every creature groaneth and travaileth in pain, even till now. Scimus enim quod omnis creatura ingemiscit, et parturit usque adhuc. [Rom. viii 21-2]

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.