What Does Psalm 69:26 Mean in the King James?
For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten; and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse’s “talk” is recounting from a root also used for counting: the wounded are pursued, and their pain is made into an account.
THE MEANING
You see the whole sequence now: God has struck, others pursue the struck person, and the wounded ones’ pain is recounted. “Grief” names aching pain, and “talk” is recounting, keeping the injury concrete as it is spoken over again.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being wounded does not make someone fair game; the verse exposes pursuit and talk about their pain as further harm.
THE ROOT
יְסַפֵּרוּ
yə-sapperū
GROWS FROM
ספר
Count, reckon; recount or tell.
The English “talk” can sound like casual speech, while יְסַפֵּרוּ means recount or tell. The same root forms words for counting and written accounts, so their speech becomes a repeated accounting of pain.
ALSO GROWS
sāfar: Count, reckon, recount.
סָפַר
This verb shares the root’s counting and recounting sense with the speech in the verse.
mispar: Number, count.
מִסְפָּר
It shows the root’s connection to enumerating or reckoning.
sēfer: Book, written account.
סֵפֶר
It extends the root’s recounting into something recorded.
מַכְאוֹב
mak'ov
GROWS FROM
כאב
Ache, hurt, be in pain.
The word rendered “grief” names aching pain, not only inward sadness. The root keeps the wound as something felt in the body, even as others recount it.
ALSO GROWS
ka'av: To hurt, ache, feel pain.
כָּאַב
The verb makes explicit the hurting carried by the noun in the verse.
mak'ovim: Pains, aches.
מַכְאֹבִים
The plural form shows the same root naming pains as concrete experiences.
חֲלָלֶיךָ
chalalekha
GROWS FROM
חלל
Pierce or wound; a pierced or slain one.
The word rendered “wounded” can carry the sharper sense of pierced or slain, naming bodily violence. The same root appears in Psalm 109:22 for a heart wounded within, locating the injury inside the person.
ALSO GROWS
chalal: One pierced, wounded, or slain.
חָלָל
This noun makes the violence in “those whom thou hast wounded” especially concrete.
mecholal: Pierced, wounded.
מְחֹלָל
Isaiah 53:5 uses this form for one who is pierced, echoing the bodily force of the word here.
THE PATTERN
When a wound is followed by pursuit or public speech, the violence continues beyond the initial blow.
Why do ye persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?But in mine adversity they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together: yea, the abjects gathered themselves together against me, and I knew it not; they did tear me, and ceased not:And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads,THE THREAD
For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me.“Those whom thou hast wounded” and “my heart is wounded” carry the same חלל (chalal, pierce or wound) root. Psalm 109:22 locates that wound within the heart, showing how the pain recounted in Psalm 69 can remain inside the person.
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