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.