Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 69:26

"For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten; And they tell of the sorrow of those whom thou hast wounded." — Psalms 69:26 (ASV)

For they persecute him whom you have smitten – This means that instead of pitying one who is afflicted by God, or showing compassion for him, they “add” to his sorrows by their own persecutions.

The psalmist was suffering as though under the hand of God. He needed sympathy from others in his trials. Instead of that, however, he found only reproaches, opposition, persecution, and calumny. There was an entire lack 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 they could.

And they talk to the grief of those – What they say adds to their sorrow. They speak about the character of those who are afflicted; they allege that the affliction is the punishment for some crime they have committed. They also take advantage of any expressions of impatience that the afflicted may let fall in their suffering to charge them with having a rebellious spirit, or they regard it as proof that they are destitute of all true piety. See the notes at Psalms 41:5-8.

It was this that added so much to Job’s affliction. His professed friends, instead of sympathizing with him, endeavored to prove that the fact that he suffered so much at God’s hand demonstrated he was a hypocrite. Moreover, the expressions of impatience he uttered in his trial, instead of leading them to sympathize with him, only tended to confirm them in this belief.

Whom you have wounded – literally, as in the margin, “your wounded.” This refers to those whom you have afflicted. The reference is to the psalmist himself as afflicted by God. At the same time, he makes the remark general by stating that this was their character; this was what they were accustomed to do.