Can Christians pray imprecatory psalms? Ask the Sons of Thunder
On the day conservative activist Charlie Kirk was murdered, one Christian commenter on X posted, “I had never prayed an imprecatory psalm before — until today.” Many other professing Christians shared similar sentiments, and some have long held that Christians are justified in reciting the expressions of judgment in those psalms toward certain people today.
Imprecatory psalms are those that depict or desire God’s wrath upon His enemies. Perhaps the most-quoted one is Psalm 58, where verse 6 says:
O God, shatter their teeth in their mouth;
Break out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord.
Those who recite them use the simple justification that they’re in the Bible. If David, a man after God’s own heart, prayed that, and his words are God’s word, why wouldn’t we?
In the Bible, God’s people also sacrificed animals, executed people for defying their parents, and slaughtered entire civilizations in Canaan. But then we see a drastic change from the Old Testament to the New, in multiple ways. No more stories of warring nations and violent kings. No more exacting judgment ourselves. The focus of God’s people shifts from conquering land to conquering souls. Jesus gives the church a new commission — to preach the good news of salvation and forgiveness, of reconciliation with God. Only once in the Bible does a Christian use a weapon, and Jesus rebuked him for it, saying “all who take the sword will perish by the sword” (Matthew 26:52). Therefore, it’s not enough to just say it’s “Biblical.”
Related: Why God no longer works through nation-states
Does this mean we’re renouncing any mention of God’s wrath? No. Warnings of the Lord’s impending judgment accompanied the apostles’ gospel preaching — for example, in Acts 17:31, Paul said, “He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained.” Jesus Himself will strike the nations (Revelation 19:15), break them with a rod of iron and dash them to pieces (Psalm 2:9), execute kings in the day of His wrath (Psalm 110:5), and exact a vengeance of flaming fire on those who reject Him (2 Thessalonians 1:7-8). Even when He was on earth, Jesus looked forward to His day of wrath: “I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!” (Luke 12:49). God’s wrath is good and just and righteous; everyone who suffers it deserves it.
Related: How the Lord’s enemies are made His footstool
But all of those violent judgments take place in the future, at the end of the church age. In the meantime, the New Testament overwhelmingly teaches us a different way of thinking. Our age is an age of grace, of love, of mercy, of longing for our enemies not to be wiped out, but to be saved. Here are some passages that illustrate this:
Elijah’s fire
In Luke 9, Jesus and His disciples journey through Samaria, but the Samaritans — already hated by the Jews — rejected Him. In response, James and John — the “sons of thunder,” as Jesus called them — ask, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?” That is the equivalent of an imprecatory prayer. Like some Christians today, they proof-texted the story of Elijah mocking and bringing God’s wrath upon the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18.
But Jesus throws cold water on their fire: “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of” (verse 55). Their spirit was one of hate and vengeance, and therefore, Elijah’s encounter did not apply to them. In some versions of verse 56, Jesus adds, “For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” While that doesn’t appear in some ancient manuscripts, it’s easily consistent with the rest of Jesus’ teachings and the mission of the New Testament church, which is an extension of Christ’s ministry. We are sent not to destroy men’s lives but to save them. We preach good news.
Stephen’s prayer
This compassion was embodied by Stephen in Acts 7. He was wrongfully executed by the enemies of the gospel; he was murdered. If any Christian had a right to go imprecatory, he did. But look what he prayed instead: “Lord, do not charge them with this sin” (Acts 7:60). He prayed mercy for them. Forgiveness. He loved his enemies, as Christ taught, right when they were throwing rocks at him.
That prayer was effective: One of his murderers was Saul of Tarsus, and I assume you have some idea of what the Lord did with him. Today, Stephen and Paul are rejoicing together in glory; that is what every Christian should desire for their murderer, should that happen to them. The Lord told us to pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44) — for, not against. If you’re a believer, it’s probably in part because someone prayed for you. I bet Paul is pretty glad that Stephen’s prayer about him wasn’t imprecatory.
Christ’s example
And of course, there’s no greater example than Jesus Himself, as 1 Peter 2 teaches:
20 For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. 21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:
22 “Who committed no sin,
Nor was deceit found in His mouth”;
23 who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously …
The same people who believe in imprecatory prayers also often proof-text Jesus’ hostile dealings with the Pharisees. He called them snakes and vipers, they say. He condemned them to hell. He overturned tables in the temple. Isn’t Jesus our example, they ask?
Peter explicitly tells us how Jesus is our example — in not threatening. In not reviling in return. In suffering unjustly.
There are some things Jesus gets to do that we don’t, because He’s God and we’re not. His harsh words were spoken with perfect knowledge, perfect wisdom, perfect authority, and perfect love. Does that describe us? Chances are, we’re more like the sons of thunder. Pre-scription (“love your enemies,” “pray for those who persecute you”) overrides de-scription.
We need to remember that we deserve the horrors of imprecatory psalms just as much as anyone else. Any judgment we call for, any curse we invoke, any death we desire, is for us as well. Christians were once children of wrath, too (Ephesians 2:3). We were no better than they are before God, whose wrath is against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men (Romans 1:18).
No evil for evil
Jesus also exemplified what we should do: commit our judgment to God. Leave wrath for the Day of the Lord. Imprecation is not our job; our job as Christians is the good news of grace. This is taught in Romans 12:
17 Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. 18 If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 Therefore
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
If he is thirsty, give him a drink;
For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.”
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
We overcome evil with the good of the gospel. We overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony (Revelation 12:11). We overcome hate with love.
Related: Winning in the Bible: God defines it differently than us
Someday, when our mission is complete, when all the Lord’s sheep are brought in, only then will we take satisfaction in the condemnation of those who don’t repent. As the Lord carries out His fiery vengeance, we will exult in it and glorify Him: “Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God! For true and righteous are His judgments, because He has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication; and He has avenged on her the blood of His servants shed by her.” Again they said, “Alleluia! Her smoke rises up forever and ever!” (Revelation 19:1b-3).
That is how imprecatory psalms apply for Christians. They look forward to the day when God will shatter many teeth — in the end. Until then, the word of the Lord seems pretty clear that they’re not for today.
