For they persecute him whom you have wounded. They tell of the sorrow of those whom you have hurt.
Parallel Translations
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For they persecute him whom you have wounded. They tell of the sorrow of those whom you have hurt.
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For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten; and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded.
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(69-27) For they persecute him whom Thou hast smitten; and they tell of the pain of those whom Thou hast wounded.
Cross-references (9)
Passages linked to Psalms 69:26 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Isaiah 53:4 Surely he has borne our sickness and carried our suffering; yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted.
- Zechariah 1:15 I am very angry with the nations that are at ease; for I was but a little displeased, but they added to the calamity.”
- Mark 15:27-32 With him they crucified two robbers; one on his right hand, and one on his left. The Scripture was fulfilled, which says, “He was counted with transgressors.” Those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads, and saying, “Ha! You who destroy the temple, and build it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!” Likewise, also the chief priests mocking among themselves with the scribes said, “He saved others. He can’t save himself. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, that we may see and believe him.” Those who were crucified with him also insulted him.
- Isaiah 53:10 Yet it pleased Yahweh to bruise him. He has caused him to suffer. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he will see his offspring. He will prolong his days and Yahweh’s pleasure will prosper in his hand.
- 2 Chronicles 28:9 But a prophet of Yahweh was there, whose name was Oded; and he went out to meet the army that came to Samaria, and said to them, “Behold, because Yahweh, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah, he has delivered them into your hand, and you have slain them in a rage which has reached up to heaven.
- Zechariah 13:7 “Awake, sword, against my shepherd, and against the man who is close to me,” says Yahweh of Armies. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; and I will turn my hand against the little ones.
- 1 Thessalonians 2:15 who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and drove us out, and don’t please God, and are contrary to all men,
- Job 19:21-22 “Have pity on me. Have pity on me, you my friends; for the hand of God has touched me. Why do you persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?
- Psalms 109:16 because he didn’t remember to show kindness, but persecuted the poor and needy man, the broken in heart, to kill them.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 26. For they have persecuted him whom thou hast…
26. For they have persecuted him whom thou hast smitten. He brings forward the crime with which they were chargeable, to make it manifest that they richly deserved such dreadful punishments. Some explain the verse in this way: “These enemies, O Lord! not content with the strokes which thou hast inflicted, have exercised their cruelty upon a wretched man, who had already been wounded by thy hand.” And as it is the dictate of humanity to succor the afflicted, he who treads down the oppressed most assuredly betrays the brutal cruelty of his disposition. Others reject this exposition, whether upon sufficient ground I know not, observing that David, properly speaking, was not stricken or wounded by the hand of God, it being of the violent rage of his enemies that he complains through the whole of the psalm. Accordingly, they have recourse to a subtle interpretation, and view David as meaning that his enemies wickedly pretended that they had just cause against him, and boasted of being the ministers of God, whose office it was to execute punishment upon him as a wicked person. This is a pretext under which the wicked generally shield themselves, and by which they are led to think that they may lawfully do what they please against those who are in misery, without ever being called to account for it. Thus we find this purpose of the wicked expressed in another place,
“Come let us persecute him, for God hath forsaken him; for there is none to deliver him,” (Psalm 71:11.)
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But I am rather of opinion that the Psalmist applies the term smitten to the man whom God intended to humble as one of his own children; so that in the very chastisement or correction, there was engraven a mark of God’s paternal love. And he employs the expression, the wounded of God, almost in the same sense in which Isaiah 26:19 speaks of the dead of God, the prophet thereby denoting those who continue under the Divine guardianship, even in death itself. This cannot be extended to all men in general, but is exclusively applicable to true believers, whose obedience God puts to the test by means of afflictions. If from this the wicked take occasion to persecute the righteous with greater severity, it is not to be wondered at if they involve themselves in heavier damnation. Upon seeing such examples set before them, the manner in which they should have reasoned with themselves is this,
“If these things are done in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?” (Luke 23:31.)
But from their becoming more and more hardened, it is evident that the pride and insolence which they manifest against the children of God proceed from contempt and hatred of true religion. The Hebrew word יספרו, yesapperu, which is usually translated they will recount, I would interpret differently. It properly signifies to number, and may, therefore, be properly enough translated to add to or increase, giving here the meaning, That the persons spoken of, by adding misery to misery, raised grief to its utmost height.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 69:26 For they persecute [him] whom thou hast…
Psa 69:26 For they persecute [him] whom thou hast smitten; and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded.
Ver. 26. For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten] Christ was "stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted," Isa 53:4. Him they persecuted to the death, and abused, when he was at the greatest under, with bitter taunts and Satanical sarcasms; so the pagans and Papists dealt by the dying martyrs; and so profane persons and malicious miscreants do still by God’s poor afflicted; falling as cursed curs upon the dog that is worried; and as when a deer is shot the rest of the herd push him out of their company: so here. Now, if it could be said of Mithridates, that he hated such as maliciously persecuted virtue forsaken of fortune; much more may we think doth God abhor such cruel criminals as are here spoken of. See Isa 47:6 Oba 1:1 Zec 1:15.
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And they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded] Narrationes contexunt, they frame discourses to the grief of thy wounded ones, pouring into their wounds not oil, or balsam, but vinegar, or salt water, Heb. they number, or cipher up the grief; that is, saith one, they study and devise new ways of torturing them, so that he who would speak of them all, must keep a remembrance of their number.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Smitten; which is an act of barbarous cruelty and…
Smitten; which is an act of barbarous cruelty and inhuman malice. They talk; reproaching them with and insulting and triumphing in their calamities.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten,.... Meaning…
For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten,.... Meaning the Messiah, who was not only smitten and scourged by men, but was stricken and smitten of God; according to his determinate counsel and foreknowledge, and agreeably to his will and plea sure; with the rod of his justice for the satisfaction of it; for the sins of his people, whose surety he was. Him the Jews followed with reproaches and calumnies; pursued after his life, and persecuted him unto death; and which was the cause of their ruin and destruction; see Th1 2:15;
and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded; or, "of thy wounded ones" (l); not wounded by him, but wounded for his sake, on his account, and for their profession of faith in his son Jesus Christ. These, as they were led to the slaughter, had trial of cruel mockings, which aggravated their sufferings, and were very grieving to them; especially such talk as reflected upon their dear Redeemer, for whose sake they were put to death.
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(l) "vulneratorum tuorum", Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version, Musculus; so Ainsworth.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain For - Which is an act of barbarous cruelty.…
For - Which is an act of barbarous cruelty. Talk - Reproaching them, and triumphing in their calamities.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Psa 69:26. For they persecute him whom thou hast…
Psa 69:26. For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten — Christ was he whom God had smitten, for it pleased the Lord to bruise him, and he was esteemed stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted, Isa 53:4-5; and him the Jews persecuted with a rage which reached up to heaven, crying, Away with him; crucify him, crucify him. And the psalmist is here assigning the cause of the forementioned calamities inflicted on them; namely, that, instead of mourning and sympathizing with him, when the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all, they, by reproaches and blasphemies, aggravated his sufferings to the uttermost; and afterward continued to persecute his disciples in the same manner.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten -…
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 Psa 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.
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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.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Though smitten of God (Isa 53:4), men were not…
Though smitten of God (Isa 53:4), men were not less guilty in persecuting the sufferer (Act 2:23).
talk to the grief--in respect to, about it, implying derision and taunts.
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wounded--or, literally, "mortally wounded."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 26. They persecute… whom thou hast smitten—Such is their…
26. They persecute… whom thou hast smitten—Such is their cruelty to man and their impiety to God. David acknowledges the hand of God in his affliction; but this does not justify the excessive cruelty of his enemies.
They talk—Not their acts only, but their words, aggravate the sorrow of one already suffering under the strokes of divine chastisement.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 26. For they persecute &c.] They had no commission…
26. For they persecute &c.] They had no commission to aggravate the sufferings of one who was already smitten with the rod of chastisement by God Himself. We think of Job and his friends (Job_19:21-22), and of the Suffering Servant of Jehovah (Isa_53:4). Cp. Isa_47:6.
they talk to the grief] R.V., they tell of the sorrow, or as marg., the pain. The LXX and Syr. represent a reading which suits the parallelism better: “they add to the sorrow.”
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him whom thou hast smitten] The plural of the next line suggests the rendering those whom &c., which the Heb. admits: but the A.V. follows the Ancient Versions in giving the singular.
those whom thou hast wounded] Cp. Psa_109:22, “my heart is wounded within me.” Note that the Psalmist is not alone in his suffering.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (26) They talk . . .—Better, and respecting the…
(26) They talk . . .—Better, and respecting the pain of thy pierced ones, they talk. (For the construction of this verb talk, see Psa_2:7.) We naturally think of Isa_53:4, and of the Cross.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten. This…
For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten. This would apply equally to David, and his great Antitype. It is an aggravation of cruelty when men persecute one who is already suffering affliction at God"s hand. And they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded; rather, they talk of the grief of those, etc. They speak of it mockingly, or, at any rate, unsympathetically.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 26. For they persecute him whom thou hast…
Ver. 26. For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten. They are cruel where they should be pitiful. When a stroke comes to any in the providence of God, their friends gather around them and condole, but these wretches hunt the wounded and vex the sick. Their merciless hearts invent fresh blows for him who is "smitten of God and afflicted."
And they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded. They lay bare his wounds with their rough tongues. They lampoon the mourner, satirise his sorrows, and deride his woes. They pointed to the Saviour's wounds, they looked and stared upon him, and then they uttered shameful accusations against him. After this fashion the world still treats the members of Christ. "Report, "say they, "and we will report it." If a godly man be a little down in estate, how glad they are to push him over altogether, and, meanwhile, to talk everywhere against him. God takes note of this, and will visit it upon the enemies of his children; he may allow them to act as a rod to his saints, but he will yet avenge his own elect. "Thus saith the Lord of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem, and for Zion, with a great jealousy; and I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction."
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Ver. 26. When David's misery deserved compassion, Shimei's foul mouth loaded him with malediction. Hereof he complained: They persecute him whom thou hast smitten; and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded. The picking out of such an opportunity doubled his malicious rancour. Such words would have galled at another time, which now are ready to kill. Let an arrow fly against the wind, it will hardly stick upright; with the wind, it pierceth deep. While thine enemy stands, he may ward thy blows; but once fallen on his back, he is at thy mercy; and how base is that spirit which will prey on prostrate fortunes! Little children have so much valour and justice, as to call him a coward that strikes his adversary when he is down. To insult upon those whom God hath humbled, and to draw blood of that back which is yet blue from the Maker's stripes, is even the murder of a virulent tongue. Nor will it be any rare thing at the day of judgment for curses to be indicted of murder. They would kill if they durst; they do kill as far as they can. I would be loath to trust his hand, that bans one with his lips. Balaam would soon have been the death of all Israel, if either tongue or sword could have affected his will. Thomas Adams.
Ver. 26. They talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded. The very talking and venting of ill speeches, to the prejudice of Christ's cause and truth, and true holiness in his saints, especially when they are under suffering and afflictions, whatsoever, is a high provocation of God's wrath. David Dickson.
Ver. 26. It were to be wished, that the sorrows of the penitent, when wounded with a sense of sin, never subjected him to the scorn and contempt of those who would be thought Christians. George Horne.
None.
Psalms 69:27*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 they persecuted the one
they persecuted the one
"they persecuted the man"
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you struck down
Here to be "struck down" refers to punishment. AT: "you punished" (See: Metonymy)
those you have wounded
Here to be "wounded" refers to causing them to suffer. AT: "those you have caused to suffer" (See: Metonymy)
Accuse them of having committed iniquity after iniquity
"Keep making a record of all their sins"
iniquity after iniquity
"very many sins"
do not let them come into your righteous victory
To come into God's victory is an idiom that means to receive a reward from him. AT: "do not let them receive your righteous reward" (See: Idiom)
translationWords
persecute
report
accuse
iniquity
righteous
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.