For they persecute him whom you have smitten; and they talk to the grief of those whom you have wounded.
For they persecute him whom you have smitten; and they talk to the grief of those whom you have wounded.
For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten; And they tell of the sorrow of those whom thou hast wounded.
Because they are cruel to him against whom your hand is turned; they make bitter the grief of him who is wounded by you.
For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten; and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded.
For they persecute him whom you have wounded. They tell of the sorrow of those whom you have hurt.
For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten; and they tell of the sorrow of those whom thou hast wounded,
For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten - That is, instead of pitying one who is afflicted of God, or showing compassion for him, they "add" to his sorrows by their own persecutions. The psalmist was suffering as under the hand of God. He needed sympathy from others in his trials. Instead of that, however, he found only reproaches, opposition, persecution, calumny. There was an entire want of sympathy and kindness. There was a disposition to take advantage of the fact that he was suffering at the hand of God, to increase his sorrows in all ways in which they could do it.
And they talk to the grief of those - What they say adds to their sorrow. They speak of the character of those who are afflicted; they allege that the affliction is the punishment of some crime which they have committed; they take advantage of any expressions of impatience which they may let fall in their affliction to charge them with being of a rebellious spirit, or regard it as proof that they are destitute of all true piety. See the notes at Psalm 41:5-8. It was this which added so much to the affliction of Job. His professed friends, instead of sympathizing with him, endeavored to prove that the fact that he suffered so much at the hand of God demonstrated that he was a hypocrite; and the expressions of impatience which he uttered in his trial, instead of leading them to sympathize with him, only tended to confirm them in this belief.
Whom thou hast wounded - literally, as in the margin, "thy wounded." That is, of those whom "thou" hast afflicted. The reference is to the psalmist himself as afflicted by God, while, at the same time, he makes the remark general by saying that this was their character; this was what they were accustomed to do.
69:26 For - Which is an act of barbarous cruelty. Talk - Reproaching them, and triumphing in their calamities.