Psalms 124:1
They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Sion: he shall not be moved for ever that dwelleth
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- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Canticum graduum. Qui confidunt in Domino, sicut mons Sion : non commovebitur in æternum, qui habitat
- Septuagint (Swete)
- ᾨδὴ τῶν ἀναβαθμῶν. Οἱ πεποιθότες ἐπὶ Κύριον ὡς ὄρος Σιών· οὐ σαλευθήσεται εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα ὁ κατοικῶν Ἰερουσαλήμ.
- Hebrew (WLC) shown from Psalms 125:1
- שִׁ֗יר הַֽמַּ֫עֲל֥וֹת הַבֹּטְחִ֥ים בַּיהוָ֑ה כְּֽהַר צִיּ֥וֹן לֹא יִ֝מּ֗וֹט לְעוֹלָ֥ם יֵשֵֽׁב
Haydock's commentary
Canticle of thanksgiving, relating to the times of the Messias, (Abenezra) or to the Jews, who overcame the attempts of the nations at their return, 2 Esdras iv., and vi. (Ven. Bede, &c.) (Calmet)
It exhorts all to confide in God. (Berthier)
Trust. The Jews complied not with this condition, and are become vagabonds; but the faithful inherit this promise, (Hebrews x. 19.; Berthier) which is verified in the Catholic Church. (St. Augustine)
To be secure, like Sion, which is defended by other mountains, we must belong to her society. (Worthington)
The situation of Jerusalem was very advantageous. It was difficult to bring any cavalry against it, except by the way of Idumea. A handful of men might defend the passes leading to the north, as we see in the history of the Machabees.
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 CXXV
2. “They that put their trust in the Lord shall be even as the mount Sion: they shall not be removed for ever” ( ver. 1 ).
St Athanasius Life of Antony. (Vita Antoni.), How he there combated the demons
51. So he was alone in the inner mountain, spending his time in prayer and discipline. And the brethren who served him asked that they might come every month and bring him olives, pulse and oil, for by now he was an old man. There then he passed his life, and endured such great wrestlings, ‘Not against flesh and blood,’ as it is written, but against opposing demons, as we learned from those who visited him. For there they heard tumults, many voices, and, as it were, the clash of arms. At night they saw the mountain become full of wild beasts, and him also fighting as though against visible beings, and praying against them. And those who came to him he encouraged, while kneeling he contended and prayed to the Lord. …
St Athanasius Letters of Athanasius with Two Ancient Chronicles of His Life, For 339. Coss. Constantius Augustus II, Constans I; Præfect, Philagrius the Cappadocian, for the second time; Indict. xii; Easter-day xvii Kal. Mai, xx Pharmuthi; Æra Dioclet. 55
4. It will also be well if a man is not offended at the testimony of the Shepherd, saying in the beginning of his book, ‘Before all things believe that there is one God, Who created and established all these things, and from non-existence called them into being.’ And, further, the blessed Evangelists, who recorded the words of the Lord, in the beginning of the Gospels, wrote the things concerning our Saviour; so that, having first made known the Lord, the Creator, they might be believed when narrating the events that took place. …
St Athanasius Letters of Athanasius with Two Ancient Chronicles of His Life, For 339. Coss. Constantius Augustus II, Constans I; Præfect, Philagrius the Cappadocian, for the second time; Indict. xii; Easter-day xvii Kal. Mai, xx Pharmuthi; Æra Dioclet. 55
6. Therefore the righteous and faithful servants of the Lord, who ‘are made disciples for the kingdom of heaven, and bring forth from it things new and old;’ and who ‘meditate on the words of the Lord, when sitting in the house, when lying down or rising up, and when walking by the way;’, since they are of good hope because of the promise of the Spirit which said, ‘Blessed is the man that hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the seat of corrupters; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law doth he meditate day and night;’, being grounded in faith, rejoicing in hope, fervent in spirit, they have boldness to say, ‘My mouth shall speak wisdom, and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding.’ And again, ‘I have meditated on all Thy works, and on the work of Thy hands has been my meditation.’ And, ‘If I have remem …