If I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me. This is probably the true meaning. David denies that he has wantonly attacked and injured any one with whom he was on friendly and peaceable terms.
No doubt he was accused of having estranged Saul by plotting to take the crown from him. (Yea, I have delivered him that without cause is mine enemy.) This translation, which is retained by our Revisers, has the support also of Ewald, Hupfeld, Mr.
Aglen, and the 'Speaker's Commentary.' If accepted, it must be considered as a reference to 1 Samuel 24:7, or else to 1 Samuel 26:9, or both, and as a sort of parenthetic protest, "Nay, not only have I not injured a friend, but I have gone so far as to let my enemy escape me."
A different meaning is, however, given to the passage by many critics, as Rosenmuller, Hengstenberg, Bishop Horsley, Cheyne, etc; who regard the sense as running on without any parenthesis, and translate, "If I have oppressed him who without cause is mine enemy."
David, according to this view, denies that he has either injured a friend or requited evil to a foe.