Psalms 69:4

They that would destroy me... — Properly, my exterminators. It seems a piece of hypercriticism to object to this as too strong a word. It is a very allowable prolepsis. At the same time the parallelism would be improved by adopting, as Ewald suggests, the Syriac reading “my enemies without are more numerous than my bones,” and the construction would be the same as in Psalms 40:12.

Wrongfully. — Better, without cause. Comp. Psalms 35:19.

Then I restored. — Rather, what I did not steal I must then restore, possibly a proverbial saying to express harsh and unjust treatment. Comp. Ps. Xxxv. 11; Jeremiah 15:10.