Talk:Imprecatory Psalms

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Jesus' quotation of imprecatory psalms

   * Matthew 27:24, John 15:25, John 2:17 

Technically only the John 15 passage is a quotation, the rest are the writers pointing out the connection. This section should probably be called Quotations or Usage in the Gospel Accounts or something similar. --Rey 15:54, 6 November 2007 (UTC)

A more balanced approach

Actually to say that imprecatory prayer is a contradiction of what Jesus said is really not correct. If you read the passage in Matthew 5:44, quote "But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you." NKJV

Notice the emphasis on "you", when you are wronged personally, you have to take it, you can't react, you can't say imprectory prayers, you must love and pray for them, that God would grant them repentance. For the most part the imprecatory prayers mainly found in the Psalms are twards reprobate men, who shed blood without a cause, reprobate by definition means a mind of no return. I wouldn't say that this is a fast rule, but a general one.

Remember "All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, reproof, correction and training in righteousness" 1Tim. 3:16. So Psalm 139,35,55,58,69,109,137 are God's word if you believe the Bible, Jesus also said, "For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by noe means pass from the law till all is fulfilled."

So either we are presuppositionalist and believe God's word above are own, or we stand as the Judge, Judging our Lord's precious word. Here is a rebuttal to someone's post on another site about imprecatory prayer, I used the New Testament to back the Old Testament because they were saying that Imprecatory Prayers were Old Testament only, oh, don't forget about Ananias and Saphira.

If you are a Christian and you believe that God's word is his word, you must believe that imprecatory prayer is Biblical, it's all through the Psalms, the prophets and the New Testament as well. In Acts 13 there was Bar Jesus the sorcerer who Paul pronounced a curse on and he was struck blind for a season, he probably repented as Paul did, I would imagine. But to pray against God's enemies is Biblical, another New Testament verse is Revelation 6:10 And they cried out with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, wilt Thou refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" Again in 1 Timothy 1:20 Among those are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, so that they may be taught not to blaspheme. And how about Jude where he talks about Men that are clouds without water, carried along by winds, autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted: he goes on to say that black darkness is reserved for them, and there is much more in the New Testament. So to imply that Paul, John and Jude who wrote part of the Holy Scriptures that are profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness are all wrong, Would be saying that God's word is wrong, so now we are the Judge, judging our Lords' precious word.

To conclude, if someone slaps you or wrongs you, don't retaliate, love them, go the extra mile, help them in whatever way that you can. This is the principle, you cannot retaliate and pray prayers against your neighbor or someone that wrongs you personally. Our attitude daily shoud be love.

With imprecatory prayer we are talking about a perfect anger, we are talking about God's enemies, we must hate those that hate God as David said. This is not a bitter anger, your heart has to be clean, it's righteous Godly anger. I challenge all of you to look to the scriptures for the balance, not to your own knowledge or feelings, I encourage you to dig deep, start with Matthew 23 when the Lord told off the Pharisees. God's word is our standard, not our own minds.

Now that I have said all of that, remember that love triumphs over evil, that God loves the sinner and we are to reach out to them in actions and prayer. Imprecatory prayer is rare, but it is scriptural and necessary at times. — unsigned comment by Footsoldier (talk • contribs)