You’d be forgiven for not knowing what an “imprecatory Psalm” or an “imprecatory prayer” is, but with things the way they are at the moment, it’s a good time to get familiar with them, and understand how to wield them rightly.

There are many imprecatory Psalms in the Bible, such as 5, 6, 11, 12, 35, 37, 40, 52, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 79, 83, 94, 137, 139 and 143. In essence, imprecatory prayers ask God to rain down His perfect judgement on evildoers—a common theme in the book of Psalms. This might seem harsh, even morally questionable, to twenty-first century westerners. Some are tempted to skirt around the awkward bits of these Psalms calling down God’s wrath, or just skip over them, imagining they were just part of an ancient and barbaric way of life. What place do they have in today’s civilization, if any?

When imprecatory prayers are the right thing to pray

John Piper, a well-loved contemporary theologian, was asked if it was whether we as believers have permission to pray imprecatory prayers today. He said,

“I think I can imagine circumstances where, suppose the Gestapo, a contemporary form of it, is sweeping through your neighborhood and in most brutal way wiping people out, killing people, I think, “God stop them! Do whatever you have to do to stop them!” … so there may be a time when you’re calling down God’s judgement on them.”¹ 

Is this not exactly what we have seen with Hamas?

Piper then recalled the words of Yeshua:

“But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you said love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you, bless those who despitefully use you.” (Matthew 5:44)

He thoughtfully added to his comments, “I don’t think we should pray for people’s damnation, we should bless people, pray for their conversion, or not pray for people if God makes it clear they’re not going to be saved.”

However, imprecatory prayers are not asking for damnation necessarily, but for judgement.

Israel has experienced plenty of God’s judgement, but even still, God refuses to abandon His people. We don’t know who may turn and be saved, so praying for damnation is something else entirely, and not something we’re condoning here. We’d love to see every member of Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and all Israel’s enemies turn to Yeshua and be saved, but we also want their evils to be stopped, punished, and corrected.

If we want to pray in line with His will, we need to get to know our God. We need to know the Scriptures, and to study the way He acts. We know God doesn’t want any to perish, and that includes the people of Gaza. We know His compassion and forgiveness reach extremes that are simply beyond our comprehension as humans. We also know that God is just and does not let wickedness go unpunished, and sometimes love looks like punishment.

The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord is avenging and wrathful;
the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies.
The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty. (Nahum 1:2-3a)

The benefits of Imprecatory Psalms

There are several benefits of praying imprecatory psalms, even if it might take a bit of getting used to.

1. By asking God to execute vengeance, we are dealing with the desire we might feel to take retribution into our own hands. In the book of Romans, Paul the Apostle said, 

“Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:17-21)

Please note, Paul does not say, “never avenge yourselves, but let evildoers get off Scott-free.” No. We are specifically told that the wrath of God will deal with it. By letting God take care of evildoers, we create space to step back ourselves and be able to forgive, releasing the person (or bunch of people) from our own desire for revenge. This is what enables us to love and pray for our enemies. Knowing that God is just enables us to vent our rage upwards, entrust the matter into His hands, and let go.

2. Allowing God to do the punishing also means it will be executed with precision and perfect love. Let’s face it, an unlikely scenario if it was left up to us. We see God’s mercy and perfect judgment of Egypt at the Exodus, the result of which led to a mixed “multitude” of Egyptians joining the house of Israel. God’s harsh punishment of Egypt, the ten plagues and the drowning of the army that were hellbent on preventing God’s people being free to go and worship Him in the desert, was designed to teach the Egyptians themselves who He was.

“The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.” (Exodus 7:5)

To this day, when Jewish people remember the event each year at Passover, ten drops of wine are spilled to remember the plagues meted out upon Egypt. It must have been awful. Each plague, however, took on a different Egyptian deity, demonstrating God’s supremacy over all their idols. God was teaching them a lesson on every level. The same can be said of Psalm 83, in which God promises judgement on the enemies of Israel so that they would know Him. We might feel sorry for the Egyptians who had the misfortune of being born in the wrong time and place, but they got to see the God of Israel in action like very few have ever done. The result was the salvation of many. Even today, the biggest church in the Middle East is in Egypt.

3. Imprecatory Psalms recognize it is God’s good hand steering the story of redemption. These psalms are prayers which acknowledge God as sovereign, and as the only One with the right to bring judgement. He often uses human agents to bring judgement, as we see in the Babylonians carting Israel off to exile, for example. But God is guiding the story of humanity to ultimate redemption. He knows where He’s going and what it will take to get us there. Imprecatory Psalms and prayers recognize God’s right to pour out His wrath on evil, and also demonstrate trust in His ultimate plan. They express humility and faith as we give God His rightful place as judge, trusting in His perfect ways and confident in His goodness.

Coming to terms with these imprecatory psalms also connects us with an aspect of our holy God’s character that many are not so familiar with: He is a mighty warrior. He is the terrifying vanquisher of evil. He is the judge of all the earth, and the hero who will put all things right. Praying in line with these psalms is embracing God as He truly is, and for some this may reveal a previously unexplored part of God’s wonderful nature. There’s always more to know and to love.

Is it wrong to rejoice when God pours out His wrath?

Imprecatory psalms ultimately produce good, not evil. However, is rejoicing in the downfall of enemies acceptable? Surely not?

Proverbs 24 has much sage advice when it comes to enemies. Verse 29 warns against revenge, and verses 19-20 encourage the reader that evildoers will get their comeuppance. But it also warns against rejoicing:

However, Israelites weren’t sorry to see the Egyptians drown. Miriam even wrote a song about it, praising God. (Exodus 15). Similarly, Deborah, one of ancient Israel’s judges, also wrote a song of praise when God gave them victory over their enemies who were trying to kill them. (Judges 5). But check this out — not only did women sing songs of deliverance after episodes of eye-watering destruction of their enemies, the 24 elders in heaven do it too (Revelation 11:18). That’s under God’s direct supervision and approval. In what is a re-do of the exodus redemption, Revelation gives us a glimpse into the wrath that will be poured out on the evil in the world, and the response from heaven is praise (Revelation 15:3-4). Later in Revelation 19, a great multitude sing,

Perhaps the key is not glee when our enemies fall, but giving praise to God when He executes His righteous judgment. Why? Because it is GOOD. Dealing with evil decisively is good, as we know from all the best stories.

Praying for Gaza and the story of Purim

In the story of Purim, the people of Israel (yet again) are under threat of annihilation, but Esther, Jewish woman positioned in the palace, leads a fast for three days. What happens? The tables turn, the Jews are permitted to defend themselves from attack, and 75,000 of those who hated Israel themselves experience a slaughter. Now this does not sit well with many people these days. Consider the moral outrage around the world about the death toll in Gaza. However, like many stories of the Bible, God was rescuing His people and keeping the story of salvation on track, just as He promised. It should be remembered that in the story of Esther, the reason Israel was out in Babylon at the time was because they were also under judgement, but God’s promises remain.

Way back in Genesis 12, God makes an unconditional promise to Abraham that those who bless him He will bless, and those who curse him will be under a curse. Is this not what we are seeing in Gaza? And if yes, how should we pray, if we want to align with God’s will?

In the wake of the horrific events surrounding the Bibas family, which only cements the atrocities continually inflicted on Israel, emotions are raging and many are saying it’s time to simply get rid of Gaza. Even believers are echoing sentiments that there are “no innocent civilians in Gaza.” It has been noted that no stories of “righteous gentiles” have emerged of Gazans willing to help hostages, and much evidence of civilians participating in terrorist activities. Is Gaza like Sodom and Gomorrah? With not even ten righteous people to be found? Or are they like the ancient Assyrians who God called to repentance?

Should we ask God to rain down His wrath on Gaza, or plead for their salvation?

Joel Rosenberg likens the people of Gaza to the people of Nineveh in the book of Jonah. He says that Gaza is experiencing God’s judgement as they sought to destroy Israel and murder our people. However, we can still pray for them. If we want to be in step with God’s Spirit, we need to love what God loves and hate what He hates. God loves the people of Gaza (and yes, there are hundreds of righteous people in Gaza), but He hates murderous plots to wipe Israel off the map and He will not allow it. He is a “dread warrior” fighting on behalf of His people Israel, same as always.

Ever since God brought the people of Israel back to the Land, God’s enemies have opposed them and fought hard against this key development. God has reestablished Israel and it is foolishness to oppose His plans. In essence, Israel has been fighting the War of Independence ever since 1948 until today. We know from Scripture that permanent peace will only come with the Messiah’s return, even though there may be a time of “peace and safety” for a while. We are now back in the times of the people of Israel in the land of Israel, fighting the enemies of Israel. Ultimately these enemies are not fighting Israel, they are fighting God, and it will not go well for them. How do you discipline a people? God does it. That’s why we need imprecatory prayers. They help us to invite God to act in a righteous way.

Pray in line with God and His word

The good thing about directing our angst upward to God is that He can decide what to do with it. If we are wrong, God can always say no. He is not obliged to respond to our prayers if our request is not in line with His will. He is not at our beck and call, and He gets the final say on how to answer imprecatory prayers.

The central verse of Psalm 58 (v6) reads,

It’s right to join God in His commitment to seeing Israel prevail against their enemies. Psalm 94 seems a good prayer to pray over the situation now.

May he who makes peace in high places make peace for us.

Photo by Felix Mittermeier on Unsplash

1. https://youtu.be/eA7B9Qk9Tbo?si=ApuWtogB8Cnn6h58