John Calvin 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 have persecuted him whom thou hast smitten. He brings forward the crime with which they were chargeable, to make it clear that they richly deserved such dreadful punishments. Some explain the verse in this way: “These enemies, O Lord! not content with the strokes which you have inflicted, have exercised their cruelty upon a wretched man, who had already been wounded by your hand.” And as it is the dictate of humanity to help the afflicted, he who treads down the oppressed most assuredly betrays the brutal cruelty of his disposition.

Others reject this exposition—though whether on sufficient ground, I do not know. They observe that David, properly speaking, was not struck or wounded by the hand of God, as he complains throughout the whole psalm about the violent rage of his enemies. Accordingly, they resort to a subtle interpretation, viewing 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 (Psalms 71:11).

However, I am rather of the 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 engraved a mark of God’s paternal love. He employs the expression the wounded of God almost in the same sense in which Isaiah 26:19 speaks of the dead of God, by which the prophet denotes 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 tests through afflictions.

If the wicked use this as an opportunity to persecute the righteous with greater severity, it is no wonder that they involve themselves in heavier damnation. When such examples are set before them, they should have reasoned with themselves as follows:

If these things are done in a green tree,
what shall be done in the dry? (Luke 23:31).

But since they become more and more hardened, it is evident that the pride and insolence 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 can, therefore, be suitably translated to add to or increase, meaning here that the persons spoken of, by adding misery to misery, raised grief to its utmost height.