Psalms 46:4
He hath subdued the people under us; and the nations under our feet.
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- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Subjecit populos nobis, et gentes sub pedibus nostris.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- ὑπέταξεν λαοὺς ἡμῖν, καὶ ἔθνη ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας ἡμῶν·
- Hebrew (WLC) shown from Psalms 47:4
- יַדְבֵּ֣ר עַמִּ֣ים תַּחְתֵּ֑ינוּ וּ֝לְאֻמִּ֗ים תַּ֣חַת רַגְלֵֽינוּ
Haydock's commentary
Feet. The Chanaanites were subdued by Josue, and others by David, &c. The army of Cambyses became a prey to the Jews, Ezechiel xxxix. 10. (Calmet)
All who embrace the true faith, even kings, become subjects, and not heads of the Church. (Worthington)
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 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John, Chapter III. 22-29
3. John, however, may say something more evidently, that our Lord Jesus Christ is God. We may find this in the present passage, that it is perhaps of Him we have been singing, “The Lord reigned over all the earth;” against which they are deaf who imagine that He reigns only in Africa. But let them not suppose that it is not of Christ it is spoken when it is said, “God reigned over all the earth.” For who else is our King, but our Lord Jesus Christ? It is He that is our King. …
St Augustine Expositions on the Book of Psalms, Psalm XLVII
4. “He hath subdued the people under us, and the nations under our feet” ( ver. 3 ). Which subdued, and to whom? Who are they that speak? Haply Jews? Surely, if Apostles; surely, if Saints. For under these God hath subdued the people and the nations, that to-day are they honoured among the nations, who by their own citizens earned to be slain: as their Lord was slain by His citizens, and is honoured among the nations; was crucified by His own, is adored by aliens, but those by a price made His own. For therefore bought He us, that aliens from Him we might not be. Thinkest thou then these are the words of Apostles, “He hath subdued the people under us, and the nations under our feet”? I know not. Strange that Apostles should speak so proudly, as to rejoice that the nations were put under their feet, that is, Christians under the feet of Apostles. …
St Gregory of Nyssa Against Eunomius, Examination of the meaning of 'subjection:' in that he says that the nature of the Holy Spirit is subject to that of the Father and the Son. It is shewn that the Holy Spirit is of an equal, not inferior, rank to the Father and the Son
Let us first, then, ascertain the meaning of this word ‘subjection’ in Scripture. To whom is it applied? The Creator, honouring man in his having been made in His own image, ‘hath placed’ the brute creation ‘in subjection under his feet;’ as great David relating this favour (of God) exclaimed in the Psalms: “He put all things,” he says, “under his feet,” and he mentions by name the creatures so subjected. There is still another meaning of ‘subjection’ in Scripture. Ascribing to God Himself the cause of his success in war, the Psalmist says, “He hath put peoples and nations in subjection under our feet,” and “He that putteth peoples in subjection under me.” This word is often found thus in Scripture, indicating a victory. …
St Gregory of Nyssa Against Eunomius, He proceeds to discuss the views held by Eunomius, and by the Church, touching the Holy Spirit; and to show that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are not three Gods, but one God. He also discusses different senses of “Subjection,” and therein shows that the subjection of all things to the Son is the same as the subjection of the Son to the Father
Let us however resume Eunomius’ statement in its entirety. “Having come into being from the only God through the Only-begotten, this Spirit also, ” What proof is there of the statement that “this Spirit also” is one of the things that were made by the Only-begotten? They will say of course that “all things were made by Him,” and that in the term “all things” “this Spirit also” is included. Our answer to them shall be this, All things were made by Him, that were made. Now the things that were made, as Paul tells us, were things visible and invisible, thrones, authorities, dominions, principalities, powers, and among those included under the head of thrones and powers are reckoned by Paul the Cherubim and Seraphim: so far does the term “all things” extend. …
The Fathers are given as they wrote. Where a passage lays the Passion on the Jewish people, the Church teaches that it cannot be charged against all the Jews then living, nor against the Jews of today, and that all sinners were its authors (CCC 597, 598).