Psalms 121:5
Because their seats have sat in judgment, seats upon the house of David.
Open Psalms 121:5 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Quia illic sederunt sedes in judicio, sedes super domum David.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- ὅτι ἐκεῖ ἐκάθισαν θρόνοι εἰς κρίσιν, θρόνοι ἐπὶ οἶκον Δαυείδ,
- Hebrew (WLC) shown from Psalms 122:5
- כִּ֤י שָׁ֨מָּה יָשְׁב֣וּ כִסְא֣וֹת לְמִשְׁפָּ֑ט כִּ֝סְא֗וֹת לְבֵ֣ית דָּוִֽיד
Haydock's commentary
Upon. Or "over." (Haydock)
The Jews made their sanhedrim superior to the kings, as the Chaldean here insinuates. But the text rather means that both the ecclesiastical and civil courts shall be re-established, and bring an immense concourse of people to the city. (Calmet)
The Church is empowered to pass sentence, (Worthington) and the apostles shall judge both men and angels. (Haydock)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Augustine Expositions on the Book of Psalms, Psalm CXXII
9. “For there were seated seats for judgment” ( ver. 5 ). This is a wonderful riddle, a wonderful question, if it be not understood. He calleth those seats, which the Greeks call thrones. The Greeks call chairs thrones, as a term of honour. Therefore, my brethren, it is not wonderful if even we should sit on seats, or chairs; but that these seats themselves should sit, when shall we be able to understand this? As if some one should say: let stools or chairs sit here. We sit on chairs, we sit on seats, we sit on stools; the seats themselves sit not. What then meaneth this, “For there were seated seats for judgment”?…If therefore heaven be the seat of God, and the Apostles are heaven; they themselves are become the seat of God, the throne of God. …