Nisi quia Domini. The church giveth glory to God for her deliverance, from the hands of her enemies. A gradual canticle.
The whole Church, and euerie iust person, gratfully confesseth, that by Gods protection they are secure, without which none could escape ruine.
1If it had not been that the Lord was with us, let Israel now say:Cantico dei gradi. Se il Signore non fosse stato con noi; dica adesso Israele:A gradual Canticle. BVT that our Lord was in vs, let Israel now say:Canticum graduum. Nisi quia Dominus erat in nobis, / dicat nunc Israël, 2If it had not been that the Lord was with us, When men rose up against us,Se il Signore non fosse stato con noi, Allorché gli uomini si levaron su contro di noi,but that our Lord was in vs, When men rose vp against vs,nisi quia Dominus erat in nobis: / cum exsurgerent homines in nos, 3Perhaps they had swallowed us up alive. When their fury was enkindled against us,ci avrebber forse ingoiati vivi: Allorché il loro furore infuriava contro di noi,perhaps they had swalowed vs aliue: When their furie was angrie against vs,forte vivos deglutissent nos; / cum irasceretur furor eorum in nos, 4Perhaps the waters had swallowed us up.forse l'acqua ci avrebbe assorti.perhaps water had swalowed vs.forsitan aqua absorbuisset nos; 5Our soul hath passed through a torrent: perhaps our soul had passed through a water insupportable.L'anima nostra ha valicato il torrente: forse l'anima nostra avrebbe dovuto valicare un'acqua insuperabile.Our soule hath passed through a torrent: perhaps our soule had passed through an intolerable water.torrentem pertransivit anima nostra; / forsitan pertransisset anima nostra / aquam intolerabilem. 6Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us to be a prey to their teeth.Benedetto Dio, che non ci ha fatti preda de' loro denti.Blessed be our Lord which hath not geuen vs, for a pray to their teeth.Benedictus Dominus, qui non dedit nos / in captionem dentibus eorum. 7Our soul hath been delivered as a sparrow out of the snare of the fowlers. The snare is broken, and we are delivered.L'anima nostra è stata sciolta qual passera dal lacciuolo de' cacciatori: Il laccio è stato spezzato, e noi siamo stati liberati.Our soule as a sparow is deliuered from the snare of the fowlers: The snare is broken, and we are deliuered.Anima nostra sicut passer erepta est / de laqueo venantium; / laqueus contritus est, / et nos liberati sumus. 8Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.Il nostro aiuto è nel nome del Signore, che fece il cielo, e la terra.Our helpe is in the name of our Lord, who made heauen and earth.Adjutorium nostrum in nomine Domini, / qui fecit cælum et terram.
123:1
Berthier
Canticle. Hebrew, etc., with some Latin copies add, "of David," (Calmet) who might write it after being delivered from some danger. It may also be applicable to the martyrs, and to all who have been freed from temptation. (Berthier)
Calmet
The captives might compose it in thanksgiving for the leave to return, (Calmet) or when they had been delivered from the assaults of the neighbouring nations. (Origen) (Calmet)
123:3
Calmet
Perhaps. This word is here affirmative. Hebrew, "Then." Septuagint, "Surely." (Calmet)
Worthington
He modestly leaves it to others to judge what would have been the event if God had not sent help. The weak would have been destroyed, as soon as if they had become a prey to wild beasts, as Jonas was swallowed up. (Worthington)
Menochius
See Proverbs 1:12. (Menochius)
123:5
Calmet
Insupportable. Without bottom, or beyond our strength, anupostaton. (Calmet)
Calmet
Hebrew, "Then the swelling waters it had passed over our soul." (Montanus) (Calmet)
Worthington
A torrent implies sudden great troubles. (Worthington)
123:7
Calmet
Sparrow. Hebrew, "bird." This comparison shews at once the dangers to which the Jews had been exposed, and their miraculous deliverance. (Calmet)
Worthington
Men may deceive others: but they cannot impose on God. (Worthington)
Berthier
Grace preserves the soul from the most imminent dangers of temptation, sin, etc. (Berthier)
St. Ambrose
We must therefore fly; but who will give us wings except God? (St. Ambrose)
123:1
If God had not sent his helpe, and defence to vs,
123:2
we could not haue escaped the force of our enimies.
123:3
The vvord [perhaps] doth not here import a doubt, or vncertanitie, but in modest maner of asseueration, leaueth the iudgement of the euent that should hapen (if God did not protect his seruantes) to their ovvne consideration: vvhich is an vsual phrase in most languages.
So sudainly should the vveake, vvithout Gods protection, be destroyed, as men are deuoured & svvalovved vp by rauening vvild beasts, euen before they be throughly dead So vvas Ionas svvalovved into the vvhales bellie.
123:4
Furious persecution.
123:5
Suddaine great trubles.
123:7
Mans subteltie often deceiueth an other man, but there is no counsel able to circumuent God.
123:1
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 35.26
… 25 ); that is, We have done what we could, we have slain him, we have taken him away. “Let them not say:” show them that they have done nothing. “Let them not say, We have swallowed him up.” Whence say those Martyrs, “If the Lord had not been on our side, then they had swallowed us up quick.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 69.25
… They are such as know their iniquity, and in it most obstinately do persevere: in their own presence there is made a trap for them. These are they that, being too destructive, “go down into Hell alive.” Lastly, of persecutors what hath been said? Except that the Lord were in us, perchance alive they had swallowed us up.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 124.3
3. “If the Lord Himself had not been in us, now may Israel say” (
123:2
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 119.7
… In this humiliation, that is, in this tribulation, that hope comforted him which was given in the word of God, who promised aid, that the faith of the Martyrs might not faint; and who by the presence of His Spirit gave strength to them in their toils, that they might escape from the snare of the fowlers.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 119.20
… Whence this, save because that hath been fulfilled which was prophesied of that Man who hath been spread abroad around the whole world. We recognize this, and render thanks to the Lord our God. For thou, man, thou hast thyself said in another Psalm, “If the Lord Himself had not been on our side, they would have swallowed us up quick.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 124.3
3. “If the Lord Himself had not been in us, now may Israel say” ( ver. 1 )…When? “When men rose up against us” (
123:3
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 64.2
… and yet from enemies they were delivered. Others being afraid gave consent, and lived, and yet the same by enemies were swallowed up. The slain were delivered, the living were swallowed up. Thence is also that voice of thanksgiving, “Perchance alive they would have swallowed us up.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 124.3
… For what could men do to you, while ye rejoiced, and sang, and securely held everlasting bliss? what could men do to you when they rose against you, if the Lord had not been on your side? what could they do? “Perchance they had swallowed us up quick” (
123:4
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Concerning Repentance 1.14
74. Let us then pass through the fires of youth and the glow of early years; let us pass through the waters, let us not remain therein, lest the deep floods shut us in. Let us rather pass over, that we too may say: “Our soul has passed over the stream,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 124.4
4. …“When their fury was enraged upon us.” They are now in anger, they now openly rage: “perchance the water had drowned us” (
123:5
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 On Virginity 4
… Just so, only the man who lives in the turmoil of life has to feel its force; only he has to receive those sufferings which nature’s stream, descending in a flood of troubles, must, to be true to its kind, bring to those who journey on its banks. But if a man leaves this torrent, and these “proud waters
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 124.4
… for our Lord hath suffered. If therefore our Head hath been already raised up, why doth the body fear the torrent? Without doubt, because the Head hath been raised, the body also will say hereafter, “Our soul hath passed over the torrent. Perhaps our soul hath passed over the water without substance” (
123:6
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 124.8
8. Let them escape the water without substance, and say, “Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us over for a prey unto their teeth” (
123:7
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Funeral Oration on Meletius 1
… “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death ” of such a man, or rather it is not death, but the breaking of bonds, as it is said, “Thou hast broken my bonds asunder.” Simeon has been let depart . He has been freed from the bondage of the body. The “snare is broken and the bird hath flown away
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 22.3
… “Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken and we are escaped.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 124.9
9. “Our soul is escaped, even as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers” (
123:8
St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 3.10.3
… For the Framer [Demiurge] of the entire universe made promise to David, as David himself declares: “My help is from God, who made heaven and earth;”
St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 4.2.1
1. Moses, therefore, making a recapitulation of the whole law, which he had received from the Creator (Demiurge), thus speaks in Deuteronomy: “Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.” Again, David saying that his help came from the Lord, asserts: “My help is from the Lord , who made heaven and earth.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 100
1. I would indeed that the African Church were not placed in such trying circumstances as to need the aid of any earthly power. But since, as the apostle says, “there is no power but of God,” it is unquestionable that, when by you the sincere sons of your Catholic Mother help is given to her, our help is in the name of the Lord, “who made heaven and earth.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 124.10
10. …“Our help standeth in the Name of the Lord, who hath made heaven and earth” (
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Douay 1609-10), transcription by EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Public domain.