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False witnesses did rise up - There is no doubt that several of this kind were found to depose against the life of David; and we know that the wicked Jews employed such against the life of Christ. See Matthew 26:59, Matthew 26:60.
They laid to my charge things that I knew not - They produced the most unfounded charges; things of which I had never before heard.
False witnesses did rise up - Margin, “witnesses of wrong.” The Hebrew is, “witnesses of “violence,”” חמס châmâs That is, they were persons who, in what they said of me, were guilty of injustice and wrong. Their conduct was injurious to me as an act of “violence” would be.
They laid to my charge - Margin, as in Hebrew: “they asked me.” The word “asked” here seems to be used in the sense of “demand;” that is, they demanded an “answer” to what was said. The usage appears to have been derived from courts, where the forms of trial may have been in the way of question and answer - the mode of accusation having been in the form of “asking” how a thing was, or whether it was so; and the defense being regarded as an “answer” to such an inquiry. Hence, it is synonymous with our expression of laying to the charge of anyone; or of accusing anyone.
Things that I knew not - Of which I had no knowledge; which never came into my mind. What those charges were the psalmist does not specify; but it is not uncommon for a good man to be falsely accused, and we are certain that such things occurred in the life of David.