Psalms 7:4

4 if I have repaid my ally with evil or without cause have robbed my foe—

Psalms 7:4 in Other Translations

KJV

4 If I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me; (yea, I have delivered him that without cause is mine enemy:)

ESV

4 if I have repaid my friend with evil or plundered my enemy without cause,

NLT

4 if I have betrayed a friend or plundered my enemy without cause,

MSG

4 betrayed my friends, ripped off my enemies - If my hands are really that dirty,

CSB

4 if I have done harm to one at peace with me or have plundered my adversary without cause,

Psalms 7:4 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 7:4

If I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me,
&c.] That is, when Saul was at peace with him; when he lived at his court, and ate at his table his meaning is, that he did not conspire against him, nor form schemes to deprive him of his crown nor of his life: or, as it may be rendered, "if I have rewarded to him that rewarded me evil" ^F21; that is, as Jarchi explains it, if I rewarded him as he rewarded me, evil for evil. This David did not; and it is eminently true of Christ his antitype, ( 1 Peter 2:23 ) ; and in it he ought to be imitated by every believer, ( Romans 12:17 ) ;

yea, I have delivered him that without cause is mine enemy;
meaning Saul, who persecuted David without any just reason, and whom David delivered without any obligation to do it; not for any benefit and kindness he had received from him; for the phrase "without cause" may be read in connection either with the word "delivered" ^F23; for the deliverance was wrought without any cause or merit on Saul's part, or profit to David; or with the word "enemy", for Saul was David's enemy without any just cause on David's part: and the deliverance referred to was when he cut off Saul's skirt, in the cave at Engedi, and spared his life; and when he took away his spear from him, as he was sleeping in the trench, and did not destroy him, nor suffer those that would to do it, ( 1 Samuel 24:4 1 Samuel 24:5 1 Samuel 24:7 1 Samuel 24:10 1 Samuel 24:17 ) ( 1 Samuel 26:8 1 Samuel 26:11 ) . The words may be rendered, "only I stripped him" ^F24. The sense is, that he cut off the skirt of his coat, and took away his spear, and so in part stripped him both of his clothes and armour, at two different times; not to do him any hurt, but to let him know, as Jarchi observes, that he was delivered into his hands, and he could have slain him, but did not. The same Jewish writer interprets the word used "of stripping of garments"; and Aben Ezra observes, from R. Moses, that the "vau", rendered "yea", signifies "only", as in ( Genesis 42:10 ) .

FOOTNOTES:

F21 "Si malum malo rependi", Castalio.
F23 (Mqyr) "absque emolumento ullo ad me inde redeunte", Gussetius.
F24 Verbum (Ulx) "proprie extrahere significat, et de vestibus quae alieui exuuntur et eripiuntur proprie dicitur", De Dieu.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible