This type of psalm is found throughout the book. We need to consider two aspects of the psalmist’s attitude to understand the imprecatory psalms: A. 12:3) prayed, “Rise up, O Lord! Gordon J. Wenham is professor emeritus of the University of Gloucestershire and tutor in Old Testament, Trinity College, Bristol, UK. Combining several of the lists, here are 17 that some have categorized as imprecatory: Psalms 5, 7, 10, 17, 35, 55, 58, 59, 69, 70, 79, 83, 109, 129, 137, 139 and 140. In history, the Psalms, especially the Imprecatory Psalms, have been understood to be the prayers of Christ by: St Augustine, Jerome, Ambrose, Tertullian, Luther and many other Church fathers. What I Learned Preaching on the Man with the Limp. The imprecatory Psalms were not avoided by Jesus. And the reason, the author suggests, is because we don't really understand them. The major imprecatory psalms are Psalms 5, 10, … How should Christians respond to psalms that invoke calamity or curses upon one’s enemies? Now I think when you read the psalter carefully, what you find is—not in every psalm, but in every section of the Psalter—there is first a call to the ungodly to repent, and only then prayers for judgment on the ungodly. Bob said something else I want to come back to. Gordon J. Wenham. When you discover the literary type of the psalm, you will gain a greater understanding of the makeup of the psalm. So we have to be careful with them, we have to be sensitive with them. There are different ways to categorize the literary types but for this article I will categorize them as wisdom psalms, royal psalms, lament psalms, imprecatory psalms, thanksgiving psalms, pilgrimage psalms and enthronement psalms. This book is a gift to victims of violence who long for justice and need to regain courage, meaning, and hope. So setting love of enemy radically over against judgment is not biblical. The Psal… In light of the complete antipathy on the part of his enemies, he offers prayers of imprecation (vv. When you pray, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” that includes everything uttered in the Psalms and anywhere else in Scripture. Psalms of imprecation, the calling down of curses upon the Lord's enemies, are often misunderstood as being the 'Old Testament prayer' because New Testament prayers shouldn't be like that. Here’s why I think we should pray them: Because the Lord’s Pattern Prayer teaches us to pray similarly: “Your kingdom come, your will be on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). While this psalm is generally categorized as an Imprecatory Psalm, the reader doesn’t really take note of the violent cry for revenge until the end of the psalm. Some contain elements of imprecation and other material such as blessings, appeal, adoration, worship, and more. Lightly edited for readability, this is a transcript of  W. Robert Godfrey’s, Albert Mohler’s, and William VanDoodewaard’s answers given at our 2016 National Conference. Let’s start with the name, “imprecatory … Christ is praying these prayers of vengeance. Imprecatory psalms are those in which the author imprecates; that is, he calls down calamity, destruction, and God’s anger and judgment on his enemies. Fix that problem! The psalmist was not seeking personal vengeance, but rather was asking God to take action. When evangelicals speak against the imprecatory Psalms, they are speaking against a tool that the Lord has given for His glory and our good. How this destroys all that is good and holy.”, And so there’s a longing there: “Your kingdom come.” At the same time we pray, as my family does, for example, for dictators, “Oh Lord, please convert this man; but if he’s not going to repent, please remove him.”. The Ligonier Ministries site requires Javascript, but you’ve got Javascript disabled. Take just a few examples. 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